We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jennifer Mason Golden. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jennifer below.
Jennifer, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Coming from a long line of academics and educators who have always valued home cooked family meals using high quality, nutrient-dense foods, The Vreamery’s story starts with the values of ‘family’ and ‘knowledge’.
Growing up in our family the kitchen was bustling, always serving as the center of the home, and we were always playing with food and experimenting with recipes. Despite this solid food foundation, we never would have imagined that we would find ourselves as local leaders in the plant based food revolution happening around the world. Yet here we are today, helping people to improve their health, enjoy food free from Animal Agriculture and in so doing also preserving and bringing healing to our currently fragile environment. We feel so grateful to be making a big difference in these ways and helping people achieve these goals by making positive conscientious changes just a little bit easier.
We all know that simple dietary changes can make huge impacts on our mother earth, and leave a better world for our children. That is where this all started for our family. My father, Stefan Mason, was diagnosed with Dementia in 2013. It didn’t make sense how he could have gotten it since he was a seemingly healthy individual. He was sober for more than 30 years, ate a Mediterranean Diet, meditated for an hour a day every morning, and was active his whole life both physically and socially. So as I began researching, a connection I couldn’t shake kept gnawing at me. The relationship between consumption of animal foods and the top illnesses in our country seemed to be intrinsically connected. Throughout my research, over and over again, it was clear that the top 15 killers in our country are food born illnesses and could be mitigated, and often reversed, by switching to a plant based lifestyle.
My father passed in 2015, but that relationship between dairy and deterioration of health stuck in my mind. As time went on I thought about how I could prevent other loved ones from a similar situation? That’s when I started experimenting with dairy alternatives, and especially the culturing of non-animal foods. There is a common misconception that cheese can only be made from animal milk. But the truth is we just need the right bacteria and you can get all the same probiotic benefits. So as I made these amazingly inventive products in the kitchen, more and more people told me that it ought to be made more widely available. In the process of getting the plant based dairy alternatives I knew that it would also help the environment.
That’s when I decided to start selling them at Farmers Markets throughout SLO County. Every market we see more and more people, just like me and my family, who just wanted to make those dietary changes that save the world a little bit easier. It warmed my heart as parents told me that lactose intolerant children could now enjoy pizza because of The Vreamery. Late 2018, I had the opportunity to attend PLANTLAB, an international Raw Vegan Culinary Academy, where I further expanded my education with culturing, vegan cheese making and raw food preparation.
As the Farmers Markets grew we were blessed with opportunities beyond our imagination as we were invited to VegFest events and into our current home of the Paso Market Walk! The community has been so exceptionally warm to our mission of making world changing differences, one meal at a time.
In August 2020, The Vreamery opened its first store front at the Paso Market Walk Public Market located in Paso Robles, California becoming the third Vegan Cheese Shop in the United States [the first west of Texas] to showcase a variety of small batch, plant-based artisan vegan cheese makers from all over the country.
In addition to curating the largest selection of artisan vegan cheeses online [delivered], The Vreamery storefront offers a small, seasonal, made-to-order menu featuring signature Panini, Custom Curated Grazing Boxes, cheese and charcuterie by the ounce and a selection of locally sourced Vegan Grab and Go.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
MY STORY
From 325lbs to 135lbs in 50 years!
From my earliest recollections, I have identified as “fat”. At my 7th birthday party, I wore a two-piece bathing suit and I was embarrassed by my rotund belly. Five years and many diet schemes later, I was sent to “Fat Camp” for two months because my parents wanted to give me chance at a “normal” middle school experience. I lost weight that summer, and then gained it back [like all the times before]. That was the pattern that continued to be my life for the next 20 years! I started college in 1995 and weighed 190 pounds and graduated five years later weighing 230. Fast forward to 2000, after having two children, I ballooned to 325 pounds!
In 2003, I was 35 years old and decided to have Gastric Bypass Surgery. That resulted in my going from 325 pounds to 165 pounds, however my habits prevailed and I slowly gained 100 pounds back. The second time was during the pandemic, when I went from 235 pounds to 135 pounds! Both instances were diametrically opposed in my mindset and methodology. The later was characterized by my keeping in the front of my mind a white hot intention to slowly and humanely develop new behaviors. After a life of fad diets and taking extreme measures, I knew my life depended on my embracing a new lifestyle rather than a really restrictive plan. I discovered Dr. Michael Greger, and NutritionFacts.org, and my passion for Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition was ignited.
What I have learned… Living a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle is a process, not an event!
Nowadays, the most important consideration with how I relate with myself is to be kind and loving… all ways, always. With regards to diet and nutrition, my primary intention is to continually level up my choices such that I eat a primarily unprocessed, sugar-free and whole food, plant-based diet. I suspect this will be a lifelong endeavor.
THE VREAMERY’s STORY
From Farmer’s Market to a Store & Ecommerce
Starting The Vreamery has been one of the most meaningful ventures I have ever endeavored! The company has come a long way since 2018 when I opened for business. Some of you were there when I first started as a maker crafting Artisan Vegan Cheese and selling at Farmer’s Markets in San Luis Obispo County… and it sure has been a “long hard climb”!
Navigating through the challenges of the pandemic was particularly hard, especially when we opened our storefront in August of 2020 at The Paso Market Walk in Paso Robles. Back then, employees were very tough to come by. That said, I had no alternative but to cease cheese making [it takes days to culture the cashews and then additional time to age] and pivot to offering vegan cheese from the handful of makers that were on the scene in 2020 – Thank you Cheezehound, Jule’s, Rebel, Reine, Virgin, Vtopian and Wendy’s! Today, I am so proud to say that The Vreamery showcases the largest selection of Artisan Vegan Cheese in the country with doorstep delivery.
I am so grateful to be entrenched in a community of people who care about the health and welfare of all beings and who are making a meaningful difference towards improving the well being of people, animals and the environment. Your support means the world to us and to all the talented artisan makers we feature on our website. Every purchase matters deeply, making a significant impact towards fostering positive change with human health, animal welfare, and environmental healing. Thank you for being a part of this meaningful journey with us!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
We opened our storefront in 2020 at the height of Covid so that was a huge challenge. No one wanted a job, and I could only find high school students wanting to work and in each instance it was their first job! 2021 was a great year with regards to sales and since, 2022 and 2023 sales have declined 20% plus each year, presumably due to less tourism in our town with people being able to travel outside of the country! Our pivot was to start ecommerce, which now supersedes in store sales.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
I have created a very special work place culture. I am inspired by and driven in my life by the core value of love. I believe in kindness and compassion and treating others as I would want to be treated. At The Vreamery, we are “Framily” and we all work in service to creating and growing a synergistic and harmonious workplace. I am inspired by thought leaders like Tony Robbins, Maryanne Williamson, Byron Katie, Dr. Joe Dispenza, and other thought leaders who teach about living our life from an orientation of being mindful of our thinking, embracing the Law of Attraction consciousness, consistently meditating and training the brain in service to encouraging neuroplasticity and practicing being of service.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thevreamery.com
- Instagram: thevreamery
- Facebook: thevreamery
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-mason-golden/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-vreamery-paso-robles
Image Credits
These are all my images except for the one with the Blue Cheese but have permission to use it.