Friday, October 20, 2006

Laura Chenel sells her company to Rians Group!!!

Wow -- Laura Chenel -- probably our most famous American maker of goat cheeses -- has sold her company to a French corporation. French companies are buying American cheeses? What is this world coming to?

I'm not surprised to hear that Chenel is ready to lay down the burden of running the place, but of course the question is, what does this mean for American artisanal cheesemakers? Is this the end or just the beginning?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I found you through Cindy at Food Migration. I read this news in the Chicago Tribune last week about Laura Chenel with great interest. Here in the Chicagoland area I can easily find her cheese at Whole Foods. Or should I say "past tense" as in the past 10 days, they have not had any. I will be watching with great interest. It's bad enough that it is hard to find Cowgirl Creamery anywhere easily around here.

Mary Ellen Hunt said...

We'll hope for the best. In the mean time -- I envy all the wonderful cheeses from the Midwest that you have in your area -- a lot of that stuff we never see in the Bay Area. The Carr Valley Marisa, the Capri Goats...It's even hard to find that tasty Pleasant Ridge Reserve sometimes!