Open Job Opportunity – Head Cheesemaker

This is a full-time, salaried, exempt, year-round position, reporting to the farm owner(s), supervising creamery support staff (2-3 people). Salary will be commensurate with experience, $40,000-50,000/year, with annual cost-of-living increase and annual bonus based on PFFC’s financial success for the season. On-site housing is available for interested candidates, with rent negotiated into salary. The work hours required will fluctuate with the seasonality of the farm – the busy season (spring through early fall) averages 40-50 hours/week, and the slow season (late fall and winter) averages ~30 hours/week. This position will be scheduled 5 days/week in coordination with creamery support staff to ensure full coverage of duties.

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Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery, LLC is a pasture-based goat dairy and artisan farmstead creamery located in Champaign, Illinois. Our award-winning creamery, established in 2005, is looking for a head cheesemaker to take charge of production. This is a very unique cheesemaking opportunity – you can jump right in and maintain our current line of products (https://www.prairiefruits.com/goat-cheese), and/or you can utilize our incredible raw milk to develop your own line of delicious artisan cheese and goat milk dairy products.

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The ideal candidate is interested in regenerative & sustainable agriculture and food production practices, creating exceptional dairy products for our customers to enjoy, and furthering our mission: to care for the land, our team, and our community, while practicing radical transparency, accountability, and sustainability.

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This opportunity would be best suited for a cheesemaker with 2 to 5 years of experience in cheesemaking – a candidate who understands what it takes to produce excellent dairy products safely in a small farmstead operation. In addition to all cheesemaking tasks, this position would be responsible for managing cheese and gelato inventory, managing wholesale accounts, supervising other creamery employees, and maintaining all relevant records related to production and food safety compliance.

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We also encourage those who aspire to a cheesemaking career to apply if they have significant experience in similar fields (culinary, food science, production of fermented foods/beverages, etc.) and have a clear motivation to follow this career path for the long-run. The new head cheesemaker will receive initial training from the current head cheesemaker and will gradually take over management-level duties once trained.

The head cheesemaker must have:

• an eye for detail

• excellent organizational skills

• dedication to maintain all creamery records

• ability to manage all food safety aspects of the creamery, including record keeping and routine testing

• supervisory skills

• an impeccable sense of hygiene

• the ability to be on their feet for 8-10 hours/day

• the ability to lift 50 lbs. or more

• the ability to work both independently and with a small creamery team (2-3 people)

• the ability to communicate & collaborate effectively with the larger PFFC team

DUTIES

• Performing daily creamery opening and closing procedures

• Milk transfer from bulk tanks to cheese vats

• Running CIP (clean-in-place system for pipe cleaning)

• Pasteurization

• Cheese culturing/renneting per recipes

• Cheese ladling, flipping

• Cheese salting and packing (chevre)

• Bloomy rind cheese brining, flipping, wrapping

• Maintaining optimum conditions for aging bloomy rind cheeses

• Performing daily, weekly, and monthly facility cleaning

• Maintaining basic food safety protocols and records related to food safety compliance (cleaning, environmental and product testing and managing product inventory to ensure freshness and purity)

• Running milk inhibitor test and other routine milk quality and environmental testing

• Managing/supervising creamery support staff

• Maintaining and building relationships with wholesale customers

• Managing ingredient and packaging inventory

• Managing cheese inventory to ensure product quality, freshness, and food safety

• Organizing cheeses for wholesale and retail sales

• Fulfilling cheese shipping orders (both wholesale and retail)

• Selling/managing the sales of cheese at farm and/or farmers’ market (as time permits)

• Maintaining routine open dialogue with Dairy Herd Manager to understand the relationships among goat husbandry, seasonal diet, milk quality/quantity and cheese quality

• Attending and participating in creamery and all-staff meetings as necessary

• Optional: Interested candidates can also take part in other PFFC projects, such as marketing and promotion, goat milking, agri-tourism, etc.

EXPECTATIONS

• Clear and timely communication

• Bringing concerns to attention of farm owner(s) as they arise

• Punctual arrival based on seasonal hour requirements

• Maintaining immaculate personal and facility hygienic conditions

• Maintain exceptional food safety standards and all records associated with dairy products production

• Effectively supervise creamery support staff and collaborate with full farm team

• Positive and professional attitude with customers and farm team

 

BENEFITS

Medical Insurance: Full-time employees receive health insurance with the cost split equally (50% employee-50% employer), after a probationary period of 30 days. The employee’s health insurance contribution will be deducted from their bi-monthly paycheck. The employee can select from available group plan options during the open enrollment period.

Paid leave: Three weeks total paid leave, including vacation/holiday and sick/personal leave. Holidays include New Years’ Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, as long as other staff or owner(s) can cover essential duties. Vacation requests must be made in writing at least one month prior to requested time off.

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This job description is not designed to cover or contain a complete or comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the head cheesemaker. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change, or new ones may be assigned at any time in response to the needs of the farm.

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***PFFC provides equal employment opportunity to all individuals regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal, or local law. PFFC takes affirmative action to ensure that applicants and employees are treated during the application process and post-hiring employment without regard to any of these characteristics. Discrimination of any type is not tolerated.***