Student workers at the Cal Poly Creamery made about 1,300 holiday cheese boxes

With her hand deep in a bin of fresh, crumbly Fromage cheese, dairy science sophomore Darby Kroes works as a production assistant at the Cal Poly Creamery. She laughs and talks with her coworkers as they work to fill more than 100 seven-ounce containers.  

With the holidays coming up, student employees at the creamery work to prepare and ship out their annual holiday cheese boxes. 

According to dairy science senior and sales and marketing manager for the Cal Poly Creamery Nicole Spaletta, the creamery makes the most money during this time of year. 

This year they sold approximately 1,300 holiday boxes. They start preparing for this season months in advance to ensure that they have enough cheese to package up and send out. 

“We start amping up our cheese production to prepare for this season because we have to cut so much cheese and we sell so much, so in the past couple months, we’ve been making extra wheels,” Spaletta said. 

Spaletta says that with the money they receive from the sales of their holiday boxes, the creamery pays for labor, products, packaging, and other facility expenses. 

Everyone who makes the cheese and ice cream at the facility is a hired student, making the facility and its products particularly unique, according to Spaletta. 

“Cal Poly cheese is super special because everything is student-made,” Spaletta said. “The cows are milked by students, and then students pick up the milk, and students make the cheese.”

Kroes has worked at the Cal Poly Creamery since her freshman year in October of 2022. In that time, she has made several different types of cheeses and even ice creams. 

While Kroes says that she enjoys making cheese, her favorite part of working at the creamery is the community. 

“What I enjoy, is honestly just hanging out with my coworkers, like that’s honestly my favorite part of my job because it’s all college students,” Kroes said. 

Though this year’s holiday cheese box sales have ended, Cal Poly cheese can be found at Market Poly Canyon, California Fresh Market and other local grocery stores. 

More information can be found on their website.