Finding new kinds of Harmony

By Mandee Ellis

What does it take to make the entire state part of your community?

Just ask the innovators at Harmony Cheese.

With their main office located in Athens, Harmony Cheese is set back off a quiet dirt road seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Looking at it, you’d never guess that the unassuming building housed dreamers of all kinds.

But with CEO and founder Jerry Haines at the helm, the team at Harmony Cheese is taking collaboration to a completely new level. Haines — whose team describes him as a charming blend of gouda, six pepper cheese and merlot cheddar since he gets better with age — purchased the operation a few years ago and knew he wanted to grow the business, which had already stood successfully for nearly a century.

Six months ago, longtime Harmony employee and honorary mascot Melissa Bornheimer was stalking the social media pages belonging to Brie Rehak of “That Girl, Brie” in Hudson.

Rehak crafts charcuterie boards, taking delight in using interesting cheese fusions and combinations, many of which she bought straight from Harmony. Bornheimer kept showing Rehak’s creations to Haines who eventually reached out to Rehak himself.

“I got a phone call from Jerry, and he said, ‘You buy a lot of cheese from me and you're selling a lot of cheese, I want to meet you and talk about a job,’” Rehak said.

Though Rehak didn’t have any intention of taking the position, she agreed to meet with Haines anyway and traveled to his home base in Green Bay from her place in Hudson.

Rehak left Green Bay with a job. “I absolutely adore Jerry,” Rehak said. “He’s trusting, encouraging, I’ve never met anyone like him.”

“He’s a really good cheerleader. I feel like he’s as excited as we are,” said Bornheimer.

The team has a theory about why their system works so well: Haines isn’t afraid to let his team mess up.

“You can make an error, and it’s not a big sit-down thing. He lets us grow,” Bornheimer continued. “Sometimes mistakes are the biggest blessings.”

Haines gave his crew their creative freedom and never looked back.

Rehak already had multiple contacts through her own business and took the opportunity to bring them on board with Harmony. And, with flavors like Bourbon Cheddar, courtesy of Lucky Guys Distillery bourbon, and Facepunch Foods 6 Pepper Cheddar, who can blame her? They even made a cheese to celebrate the NFL draft taking place in the dairy state, combining honey lager from Stillmank Brewing Company, located in Green Bay, with their own cheese.

By dovetailing products and collaborating with other small businesses, Rehak can get Harmony’s goods into places that people might not normally come across them. She uses the example of Facepunch Foods, which primarily deals in hot sauce and seasonings. Facepunch’s chief flavor officer Mark Petersen sells the cheese at farmers markets and craft shows around the Twin Cities while Harmony sells it in Wisconsin. Because Harmony and Facepunch combined their products, each vendor benefits with more exposure and more reach.

“I love a good collaboration,” Rehak said. “Everybody wins, a co-branded label gives everybody the recognition they want.”

Rehak and the Harmony team have gone on to join forces with a variety of other vendors, but they haven’t lost their small-town feel.

“The business is a dairy community,” Rehak said. “There’s a lot of opportunity that you could be very competitive in this arena, but the beautiful part of it is that cheese is so

See HARMONY/ page 5

MAGIC MAKERS - The people behind the scenes at Harmony Cheese are all dedicated to the process, not only by crafting a high-quality product, but by providing input and putting new flavors to the test. From left to right are Marvin Carrasco, Dariel Garcia, Arthur Hutchinson, Keith Lipinski, Alan Graveen, Dudley Talavera, Edward Talevera.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Harmony

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palate-specific, there's value in supporting each other.”

Bornheimer recalls walking to Harmony’s factory in Edgar herself as a child, stating, “My grandma would put a quarter in my hand and I would come get cream and she would make a big vat of soup.”

Harmony has maintained the same atmosphere that she experienced as a child, and as a key piece of the team, Bornheimer has worked to sustain that feeling.

“We don’t have this if we don’t have farmers,” she said.

They’re also fully aware that it’s a team effort, expressing gratitude for the staff that works tirelessly to create a quality product.

“The employees are the biggest part of what we're doing, the plant is as successful as it’s been, not for any other reason than the people who work here,” Rehak said.

Their method is still done mostly by hand as it has been for decades. Their secret weapon is cheesemaker Al Graveen, who has been with Harmony for 40 years. Cheese is in his blood, as he learned from his father and grandfather. He’s now passing those traditions to others within the Harmony network.

“He knows this place like the back of his hand,” said Rehak, reporting that Graveen doesn’t need fancy tools or gadgets to gauge the cheese as it goes through the process, but rather knows it by sight and feel.

Graveen’s passion is beyond question. A few years ago he fractured his finger on the job. When he noticed that his finger was crooked, he pushed it back into place and kept working for the next six hours.

“You just can’t stop,” Graveen said. That’s a Wisconsinite for you.

Rehak stated that picking Graveen’s brain is one of her favorite parts of the job. She gives him an idea and, before she knows it, he’s mixing and matching flavors and producing incredible combinations.

Since Rehak, Bornheimer, Graveen and Haines have partnered up, their curd sales have doubled, and they don’t have any intention of slowing the momentum. They have big plans for their future, including a punchy dill cheddar courtesy of Facepunch and cheese wizard Graveen. Customers might even be able to purchase Purse Cheese, an idea based upon the tidbits Bornheimer keeps in her purse for a quick snack.

Bornheimer and Rehak text late into the night, trading ideas and envisioning about what tomorrow will bring. There’s no stopping them as they even brainstormed new ideas during the interview for this feature, connecting and whispering excitedly like they weren’t in a room with several other people.

Harmony’s products are sold at their retail store in Athens as well as Green Bay, De Pere, River Falls and St. Paul, and their website is at harmonycheese.com. As they continue dreaming and scheming, there’s no doubt that before long the entire state will be their backyard.

“We just need to get the cheese into people’s mouths,” Rehak said. “We’re on the right path.”

CHEESY IDEAS - Delicious savory cheeses such as Green Bay draft beer cheese, bourbon cheddar and 6 pepper cheddar are all the result of collaborations with other Midwest businesses, a win-win for everyone involved.

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