#137 Got Goat's Milk? - Emily Davidson, Portland Creamery

Meaningful Marketplace Podcast

In 2011, Liz Albeth started Portland Creamery, a goat cheese (ch’evre if you are in the know) and whey producer. Not just any goat cheese mind you, but the best quality from a single herd of prized goats and cheese made on the farm using traditional practices. This herd is internationally ranked and considered one of the finest in the US. In 2018, she sold the operation to Shawn Fels a cheese industry veteran who wanted to spread more quality cheese to more consumers and, in his words on the website, “while maintaining its roots as a delicious and ethically produced food that nurtures ones love for food with every bite.” This fervor for quality has made their brand a outstanding part of fine foods as they have blended their cheeses with many complimentary flavors all of which are sublime. Control is the key to quality and the Portland Creamery is a farmstead operation. That means the herd, milking parlor and cheese making is all done not only on the same farm, but in the same building. There are only two walls separating the goats from the cheese processing; you can’t get more stringent quality control than that. During the unfolding of the creamery’s story was the story of Emily Davidson, currently the CEO. Starting out as a ¨Bovine Beautician¨ prepping cows for competition, Emily worked on dairies during college and eventually found her “whey” as a cheesemaker (and a lover of good puns). After living in France in 2019, she joined Portland Creamery and moved up to CEO in January of 2022. With all the verve, passion and vision of the Portland Creamery history, Emily embodies the company’s goals and has been the driver to take their fine product out to the world. One of Emily’s company directives is to build the whey portion of the product line. She’s done this by developing whey caramel syrups. Beautifully bottled, these syrups infuse whey and other flavors into caramel to create a unique taste that simply must be sampled. Similar to real maple syrup in some ways, these syrups offer a warm, homey flavor to all foods and recipes where syrups are used. Emily was the driving force in repackaging the syrups, adding new flavors to increase the line and emphasizing they had an extended shelf life for salability. This process does more than expand the company’s sales. Whey is about 80% of the milk, so utilizing the whey instead of disposing of it is a fabulous way to stop waste. But distribution is the key to sales for any company and Emily is working on expanding it. Both the cheeses and the syrups are available online at https://portlandcreamery.com. They are sold in restaurants mostly in the Portland, Oregon area. You can find their products on the shelves of grocery stores in much of Oregon and in Farmers’ Markets in Oregon as well. In addition to their website, find out more on Instagram: @portlandcreamery and @friendincheese and Facebook: @portlandcreamery. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall.