July 13, 2012
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Kelly’s Kitchen line expands with cheese-infused olives and tapenades

EXPANDING PRODUCT LINE — Sugar Brook Farms offers gourmet cheese spreads, cheese balls and logs, cheese fudge, dessert bites, stuffed peppadew and — recent additions, stuffed olives and tapenades. The products are sold under the Sugar Brook and Kelly’s Kitchen labels.

NEW TWIST FOR CHEESE — The Kelly’s Kitchen brand recently introduced two tapenades with cheese, one featuring Feta and the other featuring goat’s milk cheese. Excitement around these products already has the company planning two more flavors to add to the line.

By Kate Sander

VERONA, Wis. — Kelly Longseth grew up in the cheese business. Her father, Steve McKeon, was president of Roth Käse and owned a number of other dairy businesses as well. So when as a young adult Longseth said she wanted to try her hand at dairy company management, McKeon handed her the reigns of a business that “we weren’t doing a lot with” and told her to see what she could do.

Longseth had her hands full with little-known Sugar Brook Farms. On the one hand, there was potential: The company offered quality cold pack cheese and cheese balls. On the other hand, there was no real infrastructure and no sales team.

She rose to the challenge. Today, Sugar Brook Farms is a growing business with a wide selection of products. Starting with the cold pack cheeses of more than a decade ago, under the direction of Longseth the company’s product line has grown to include gourmet cheese spreads, cheese balls and logs, cheese fudge, dessert bites, stuffed peppadew and olives, and tapenades.

Not only does Longseth manage the company’s day-to-day operations as vice president and general manager, a picture of her graces many of the products’ packages ­— something she says she certainly never envisioned. But when she first came up with the idea of going beyond cheese balls into all-natural cheese spreads and balls, the line needed a name. Several names were considered and rejected. McKeon finally came up with the idea while traveling in New York and called her. “Kelly’s Kitchen,” he said. And she should use her picture on the label.

While Longseth balked a bit at first, the idea stuck. The first labels had a picture of a young Longseth as a little girl, but now, depending on the product, an adult photo of her is featured on many of the products.

And indeed, Kelly Longseth is the driving force behind the development of many of the products, making the name a perfect one.

A family affair through and through, it’s easy to see father and daughter’s passion for dairy as they share their many ideas for new products and uses for cheese. The ideas fly back and forth in easy give and take conversation, and it’s evident there aren’t quite enough hours in a day to try them all. It’s not just McKeon and Longseth either. Sugar Brook Farms was founded in 1997 by McKeon and Paul McShane, who passed away earlier this year. Today, six of McKeon and McShane’s children are directly involved in the business. That includes Kelly’s husband, J.P. Longseth, who is the national sales director.

The business also directly benefits from partnerships with other cheese companies in which family members operate. Kelly also works for Family Fresh Pack, another business owned by the McKeon and McShane families and Fermo Jaeckle. Family Fresh Pack operates two plants located in Green County, Wis., and it’s where many of Sugar Brook Farms’ products are produced. Cheese for the products is sourced from Wisconsin cheese companies including Emmi Roth and Klondike Cheese Co. Emmi Roth partners with Sugar Brook to handle Sugar Brook’s sales and marketing on the foodservice side of the business.

Kelly’s Kitchen products start with Wisconsin cheeses and combine with unique flavors like pears,

red peppers, garlic and spinach. Each product is sealed in a modified atmosphere package, allowing the taste and freshness to be sealed in and extending the shelf life to 120 days. The clear trays capitalize on the products’ homemade, natural appearance.

Gourmet cheese spread flavors include Asiago with Red Bell Peppers, Garlic and Herb (a silver medal winner at the 2011 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest), Spinach Florentine, and Creamy Blue Cheese with Chunky Pear.

Dessert spreads include Cranberry Almond (which won a bronze in this year’s World Championship Cheese Contest) and Pumpkin Spice. Dessert Bite flavors offered are Strawberry Cheesecake, Cookies n’ Cream, Pumpkin Pie and Tiramisu.

Meanwhile, Kelly’s Kitchen chocolate cheese fudge is a unique combination of Wisconsin Havarti, cocoa and cream.

For retail, the gourmet cheese and dessert spreads and cheese fudge are available in 7-ounce packages. The Dessert Bites come in 5-ounce packages. Kelly’s Kitchen and Sugar Brook products are offered in foodservice sizes as well.

Sugar Brook Farms also is well known for its Chedda-Spread line, which combines Cheddar with unique flavors and has won multiple awards. The award-winning line is available in three flavors — CheddaBlu (Blue and Cheddar spread), CheddaBrew (Amber Bock Cheddar spread) and CheddaDew (Peppadew Cheddar spread). The company recently updated the packaging for a new modern look.

For several years, the Kelly’s Kitchen line also has offered Cheese Stuffed Peppadew, injected with Wisconsin cheese spreads including Blue cheese spread, cream cheese and Garlic & Herb spread. The sweet yet spicy stuffed peppadew are created to be an appetizer or garnish for a cocktail.

Adding on to the stuffed peppadew, the company’s most recent additions were inspired by Kelly and J.P. Longseth’s travels to Spain. Kelly’s Kitchen now has developed four new items released earlier this year and featured at last month’s International Dairy-Deli-Bake Show: stuffed olives and tapenades.

Starting with olives imported from the same area in which the Longseths visited, using special new equipment especially purchased for this product line, the olives are stuffed with a Buttermilk Blue or Ostenborg Horseradish Havarti. These cheeses are products of the acclaimed cheesemakers at Emmi Roth, and their logos are featured prominently on the label. The machinery can stuff up to 1,500 olives a minute, and the product is sold in 5-ounce packages. Serving suggestions for the stuffed olives include using the Ostenborg Horseradish Havarti with a Bloody Mary and the Buttermilk Blue with a martini.

Kelly Longseth also had the opportunity to sample many dishes unique to Spain and created two tapenades as a result.

The Traditional tapenade is made with green and kalamata olives, capers, spices, olive oil and crumbled Odyssey Feta from Klondike Cheese Co. The Mediterranean tapenade blends peppadew, black olives, spices and olive oil and — because this is a cheese company after all — is topped with crumbled goat cheese. Serving suggestions for the tapenades include serving them with pita bread, toast or steak, or on a burger or panini.

McKeon is excited by these new twists on cheese.

“There’s no other product quite like them,” he says.

With the products being so well received, the company already is working on developing two new tapenade flavors to add to the line.

McKeon says the company will continue to grow, and he is looking forward to future developments.

In 2013, Kelly’s Kitchen will be introducing a few other new items including Key Lime cheese spread to add to its sweet spread line. In addition, the company will be opening a new research and development facility and kitchen in Belleville, Wis., to work on new concepts for the future, McKeon says.

CMN