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

Jenny, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The funny thing about ideas is that they never just pop into your head in one instant. Rarely is there a light blub clicking on. They slow burn. The idea of a cheese shop was one of those. It marinated and grew so slowly that I didn’t even know I had the idea because it was always in my head. Have a cheese shop. Okay.

When we moved to Phoenix eight years ago from Des Moines, we assumed there would be a cheese shop. Of course, there would be because we were moving from a medium city in Iowa with a cheese shop, so a big city in Arizona would have one. But Google search after Google search proved us wrong. No dedicated cheese shop. There were cheese counters, and a few of those counters were cutting cheese but no dedicated cheese shop. Shocking is an understatement.

But time went by, and as a freelance photographer, so did jobs and businesses. Like most people, March of 2020 brought a screeching halt to life as we knew it. My job disappeared with office work life, and my adventure business was also left on the wave of pandemic closures. I spent the next two years looking for work, but at 51 years old, it was challenging even to land an interview. Photography jobs were going to younger people. I finally got a job as an adventure guide, and again at 51 years old, I knew that wasn’t going to be sustainable. I began to explore my “ideas” and tried to look for something I could do instead.

The cheese shop came back around in the discussion, and I seriously just said why not. I found a place to rent that was small and affordable. So affordable that I knew if the shop failed, I would still be able to pay the rent with a crappy job. The risk was low, and living in this cheese desert, I knew the reward would be high. After signing the lease in April of 2022, we had the shop open by November of 2022. It went fast and slow at the same time.

Because I worried that a stand-alone cheese shop wouldn’t work (because where were the cheese shops in this city?) I wanted to diversify the revenue streams as much as possible. Cheese counter, drinks, gifts, and one-stop shopping for cheese boards. Not every gift is cheese related which is what I love so much about this shop. I selected things I loved. People can come in and grab a Grateful AF deck of cards or a cheese knife. Anything.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an accidental entreprenuer. There is a small part of me who wishes that were not true. A part that thinks it’s all on purpose and by design, but that’s not true. I never intent to open businesses. They simply open themselves. From the yoga studio, online adventure business, to the current small cut to order cheese shop in Phoenix, Arizona.

Did I know anything about opening a cheese shop? Nope. I didn’t know anything about any of my other businesses either, but when I want something in my life it seems that other people want that same thing. Toni Morrison said “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it,” I do that with businesses.

I moved to Phoenix eight years ago and was shocked to find a city this size didn’t have a sign dedicated cheese shop. I cried over the loss for years and made peace with shopping for cheese at Trader Joes. But one pandemic and two years into learning about cheese I decided I want my own retail business. As crazy as that sounds to most, it made perfect sense to me.

That was the start of Shea Cheese. A small dedicated cut to order cheese shop in North Phoenix. We specialize in American aritisan cheese and gifts. We are a one stop shop for your cheese board needs. I had no idea this would be as popular as it is, but then again, of course it is popular. Who doesn’t love cheese and cheesy gifts.

All of these accidental businesses have led up to this moment. This business. I learned from every single one of them and integrated those learnings into my tiny shop. Because in the end all of those businesses were never about what they were supposed to be about. They were all about building community. Even this little cheese shop is a community of cheese lovers. People quickly became regulars and when we close the shop and open it for classes, we sit at the big table that takes up the center of the shop and share stories and cheese.

Maybe my businesses are not so accidental after all.

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

The original idea for Shea Cheese was a grazing board company, so I started a little Instagram account and email newsletter for that. It was pretty much dead in the water competing with millions of other board companies, so my accounts sat there with a couple of hundred followers and no new updates.

Grazing board companies were a dime a dozen in Phoenix, and I thought hard about what was missing from the market here. When I thought about how many different stores I had to go to for interesting cheeses, I toyed with the idea of a cheese shop.

After I had the idea, I met someone who owned two shops in New Jersey. I started following him on Instagram, and he said if I had any questions about cheese shops, let me know. I did that. I emailed him, and he replied with the longest email I had ever seen, and it was basically a guide on how to open a cheese shop. What luck! The idea was sparked, and I started looking for locations. I had a little money in savings and naively thought it would be enough. It wasn’t, but my husband joined the cheese journey, and we found the money.

People love our little shop, and we are the only dedicated cut-to-order cheese shop in the valley, making this the best pivot I have ever made.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When my husband decided to join the cheese shop, we each had $10,000 in our individual savings accounts. We planned to pool our money and open the shop. I read several articles online about how people did just that. No problem! However, I signed a lease on our spot, not realizing that because it wasn’t a food establishment before, we would have a 42929 city hoops to jump through.

So we started looking for help. We found a restaurant designer who helped with the process, and when we got quotes back from contractors, we realized we were way in over our heads. It was a difficult decision, but we took out a line of credit on our house. It was incredibly scary, but we were in a good place with equity, so we did it.

The business has been incredibly success in the first four months of opening. We plan to take out an official business loan to pay off the equity line of credit and separate our house from our business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sheacheese.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shea_cheese_phx/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/shea-cheese-phoenix