PARKOUR! Partiers at Stepladder Creamery in Cambria, CA, celebrate hay bales, sunshine, and PCC funding that brought increases in production, modernized processing, and a full line of exact weight cheeses and two new cheese types, expanding production of small batch artisan cheeses by roughly 35%. Stepladder is a small artisan farmstead goat dairy and creamery that partners with Cal Poly SLO and is the second largest non-seasonal employer in the small rural community. Here’s the contact page.
Grantees in the News (And PCC’s help):
- How an Ice Cream Obsessive Recreated the Choco Taco: The New York Times described Salt & Straw co-founder Tyler Malek as an “ice cream savant” who has created the Tacolate as a revival of the childhood favorite Choco Taco. Salt & Straw services 51 stores in eight states out of a central kitchen in Portland.
“PCC funded a grant for us to send two of our managers to the Penn State Ice Cream short course this winter. We are known for doing ice cream flavors and concepts from the most creative parts of the culinary mind,” said Juan Cummings, head of manufacturing. “But we also have an intimate knowledge of the science of dairy processing. That’s the key to our future growth and innovation, and grants helps us level up our leadership.” For more info: hello@saltandstraw.com.
- Views, Moos, and One Cheesy Scandal: The Automobile Association of America featured the Cheese Trail on the AAA Via Podcast, which reaches more than seven million listeners, then turning its spotlight into a cover story for AAA Via Magazine, reaching 3.2 million subscribers and highlighting 13 cheesemakers from California, Oregon, and Washington. In 2025 alone, Cheese Trail secured 20+ feature articles and stories highlighting cheesemakers and their cheeses, now collaborating with cheese guilds, dairy boards, and agricultural organizations to expand this visibility nationwide, continuing to champion the farmers, makers, and communities behind America’s great cheeses.According to Founder and Managing Partner Viv Strauss: “The PCC grant made possible a major upgrade to our website infrastructure, enabling a far more robust, searchable, and filterable cheese directory. This upgrade also laid the foundation for expanding beyond California into five additional Western states—supporting more than 150 cheesemakers regionally and paving the way to reach up to 1,000 cheesemakers nationwide. PCC’s investment has been instrumental in developing a one-of-a-kind resource that benefits local economies, dairy farmers, and the national artisan cheese community. Their support is helping establish a model that will serve as a lasting platform for discovery, education, and connection across the U.S. cheese industry.” For more info: hello@CheeseTrail.org