We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steffen Kenney. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steffen below.

Steffen , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Finding those key vendors can often be make or break for a brand. Can you talk to us about how you found your key vendors?

I’m often asked how I source my cheeses, and I have a feeling people envision me traveling to places like Switzerland, France, and Italy to taste things and make decisions on what I might want to carry in my shop. Unfortunately, it’s far less adventurous than that, at least from my experience. Before opening Stand Alone Cheese I had roughly 15 years of experience working in the industry, tasting cheeses, talking to people, and learning what I like and what sells. When I decided to pursue opening my own store I already had a good grasp on what to carry and who I would get it from. Most specialty food stores get their products from distributors who do the importing and show off their delicious products at convention halls where shop owners and buyers for larger chains gather to taste and talk. Many things can factor in to who you buy from but ultimately price and quality make the final decision. Some vendors have a large portfolio of products and others can be more specific to one country. Recently, with the growth of quality cheese being produced in the United States, we’ve been able to get cheeses shipped directly from the cheesemakers. Shipping costs and materials have improved over the years to assure quality product can arrive directly, cutting out the middle man who’s been storing the cheese in a warehouse for who knows how long. From a price and quality standpoint this works very well and it’s also nice to have a relationship with the people making your products.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I worked in cheese for 22 years. I didn’t plan on selling cheese for so long, but it got to a point where I either needed to move on and find something else or do this cheesy thing my own way. Before opening up my own shop, I had spent about 15 years selling cheese as a job to make ends meet. It started while attending film school in Philadelphia where I was offered a job at a cheese stand called Downtown Cheese in the Reading Terminal Market. Already having an usher job at an art house movie theater and a full load of classes, I had more curiosity than time and said yes. Growing up, our fridge didn’t have much other than mozzarella, sliced American, and fresh ricotta that my mom used for lasagna, so artisanal cheese was all very new to me. I immediately loved it, it clicked; the world of cheese blew my mind and my taste buds at the same time. I had thought I already achieved my dream job while working at a video store in high school, but this was another cool job I didn’t mind bringing home with me, since it involved eating cheese. When it was time to graduate, I moved to NYC to pursue a career in film and lined up a day job at a cheese shop since film work was scarce and often paid little or no money. My film ambitions slowly faded, leaving me directionless until I considered opening a cheese shop. Despite loving cheese sales as a career, I resisted embracing it, simply because it wasn’t my original plan.

One thing I knew was that I wanted to be in Queens, a borough I had now lived in for many years and had grown to love. There seemed to be a lack of cheese shops in many Queens neighborhoods inhabited by folks who pride themselves on knowing good food. I spent many years looking at spaces, business planning, and contemplating how this would happen, all the while selling cheese for someone else but wanting more. I had friends who owned a wine store in Jackson Heights, a neighborhood known for its diversity, and would encourage me to look in that area. I wasn’t always sure if that was the right place but fate stepped in and a space that was operating as a deli wanted to close. I had looked at this exact space six years prior but didn’t feel ready, and the fact that it was available again felt right. It was time to get ready. On a shoestring budget with what little money I had saved up over the years (and skipping a planned honeymoon to France), I was able to purchase the equipment already in place, make some cosmetic changes, and fill the shop with cheese.

On June 1, 2019–only a month and a half after signing the lease–Stand Alone Cheese opened its doors and I’ve barely had a moment to relax since. I didn’t enter this with any business IQ, just cheese knowledge, so it’s been a learning process every step of the way as far as being a small business owner, and as stressful as it can be, it’s been amazing. We’ve created a welcoming space that brings people joy, and I’m proud of that. I’ve been fortunate to surround myself with an amazing staff of people who care as much about the shop and the community as I do, and I’m also proud of that. I have a passion for the products I sell, the neighborhood where I sell them, and the people I sell them to, even though I won’t be remembered as the filmmaker I set out to be, I’ll be remembered as a cheesemonger and shop owner in a community of wonderful people.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

It was March of 2020, and we had just come off our first holiday season, which is the busiest time of year for any specialty food store. I felt like everything was heading in the right direction. I still had that new-business-owner adrenaline running through me to get past the exhaustion, the ideas were flowing, and I was excited about what might be next. Without warning the world changed when Covid hit and we were faced with some tough decisions. Since we sold food items, we were considered an essential business and could remain open, but we knew people might not feel comfortable shopping in our very small space, so we had to make adjustments. At first it was impossible to wrap my head around the idea of not letting people into the store. I was so used to providing a full experience, tastes of cheese, and a full breakdown of what it is. How could we do that without letting people in? There really didn’t seem to be time to ask questions and public safety was at risk, we had to find another way. We pivoted to a pick up only system using a Google form since we did not have an e-commerce setup yet. Although it was very rudimentary, it turned out to be successful for the time being. The location of our shop is in the shadow of Elmhurst Hospital, which was being considered an epicenter of Covid in the news, making people in the neighborhood very worried and staying inside their apartments. When stimulus money came in, customers splurged on cheese, making me overwhelmed but grateful that we were still operating. Time dragged on and weeks turned into months. There would be several more times during Covid that we would have to pivot and make hard decisions based on what was best for our employees, customers, and the business.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The main thing that helped us build our reputation is our friends and neighbors in the Jackson Heights community where Stand Alone Cheese is located. I was led to this community by friends who own a wine shop in the neighborhood called Table Wine, which is luckily just across the street. Having friends in the neighborhood who are fellow business owners is invaluable in so many ways. They are someone who you can confide in, commiserate with, and just ask simple business questions, which makes you feel like you’re not alone. And, since cheese and wine notoriously go together, it seemed like a perfect place to be. Not only are our wine and cheese businesses compatible, but the cheese shop was immediately vouched for, and able to piggy back off of them being established for ten years in the neighborhood before we even opened our doors. Without this we would not have had as quick and confident a start as we did.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.standalonecheese.com
• Instagram: @standalonecheese @snackinkenney
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/standalonecheese/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/stand-alone-cheese-jackson-heights