“Summer Sun, something’s begun” sings John Travolta (Danny Zuko) about his summer romance at the beach with Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) during the song “Summer Nights,” one of the many popular hit songs in the 1978 musical “Grease.” 

Travolta goes on to sing, “Summer lovin,’ had me a blast,” during the same tune. When exploring the State of the Industry of cheese, it’s “summer lovin’” for the $68.1 billion cheese category, which has been bolstered by strengthened per capita income, enabling consumers to “trade up” for more artisanal premium cheese.

For instance, Rogue Creamery announced that its 2024 vintage of its Championship-winning Rogue River Blue cheese is available. Released every year during the fall Equinox (Sept. 22), it is the Southern Oregon artisanal cheesemaker’s seasonal specialty, with flavors reflecting the Central Point, Ore., locale. Made by hand, the organic blue cheese is the first and only USA-made cheese to be crowned World Champion at the World Cheese Awards, receiving this top honor in cheesemaking at the 2019-2020 ceremony held in Bergamo, Italy, the company says.  

Cheese processors’ cheese creations have performed well in recent years, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.5% from 2018-2023 to barely a whisper of growth, at 0.5%, expected from 2023-2028 to reach $69.7 billion by 2028, states Los Angeles-based IBISWorld in its May 2023 report, “Cheese Production in the US.”