Culture

When you hear the word “culture,” what do you think of first — people or microorganisms?

This week, both applications of that word have been top of mind. At the beginning of last week, I attended a Dairy Summit organized by the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC) in Albany. I was joined by many New England cheesemakers and met some cool yogurt makers, too. One of my ice cream friends, Kristina from Super Secret Ice Cream in New Hampshire (truly the pride of our industry — she’s a James Beard Semifinalist!), was also there. Both of our companies received grants from the NE-DBIC in the last couple of years.

Josh, Murray’s Cheese’s affineur and I on the last day of the Summit.

I went to this conference to learn more about the dairy ecosystem. I was hoping to meet some dairy farmers, too, but that was aspirational — what small farmer leaves their farm for a conference in the middle of calving season? Instead, I learned about policy on a state level impacting the dairy industry and how I can be a more active advocate. I also learned a lot of new terms, my favorite among them being “affineur.”

Do you know what affinage is, and what being an affineur means?

The former is the act of aging cheese; the latter is the person who does it. I met the head affineur of Murray’s Cheese and learned during our conversation that he is one of very few people who holds this title in the country. It’s a dying art in the States. In addition to a lot of cheese, I ate the most delicious — and good for you — Greek yogurt. It’s called Sourmilk, and it was founded by two young and impressive women who met at Stanford. Elan, one of the two, was also at the conference and was such a joy to chat with. Buy her yogurt. You will have zero regrets, and your microbiome will thank you.

Over those two days, I felt like I was becoming more immersed in ag and dairy culture. I came back using terms I’d never used before, like “offwintering,” and my corn and soybean farm-raised husband said, “Look at you!”

But now that I’m back in the city and ice cream season is knocking on my door, my attention has shifted back to culture as it relates to our company. Last May, I took over managing our front of house — not as a forever job, but to rebuild our company culture so that I can eventually hire assistant managers and store managers, ideally from within, who will have the tools and frameworks to manage and not just be firefighters reacting to whatever urgent issues require their attention. I feel we have made strides, but we have not arrived yet.

Image: Cheese, yogurt, and ice cream makers unite for dinner on the first evening.

Over the last 10 months, I’ve been reminded that our company culture hinges on the examples Nick and I model for our team, consistent communication with them, the ways we acknowledge and promote their efforts, and our work to connect them to each other.

I got a call today from one of our Shift Leads who had to leave her post suddenly last fall. She wanted to know if she could come back. Her wanting to come back made me happy. Sure, many people need jobs, but you usually only go back to places you enjoy. The emphasis we were putting on building a more cohesive company culture paid off.

Images: Snaps from the Summit, plus an amazing picture of Kristina taking store a block of cheese that the Vermont Cheese advocates shared with us after the cheese reception after the first day

When I was updating her on the different things we’ve implemented since she left — our quarterly company goals as a bingo card that result in fun activities if we hit bingo, our new employee management database to track promotions and title changes, new equipment, and more — I was pleased with our progress. I know it’s because of my focus on culture.

We honor culture in our ice cream, but we have now given more effort and energy to cultivating our company culture, and I know that will be what keeps us around for years to come.

As ice cream season approaches, I’m focused on the fact that my job this year is to further connect our team so that we operate like the microorganism cultures in our ice cream — creating a beautiful company culture that supports us all.

Petrushka

Your Local Ice Cream Lady/Business & Life Coach