We believe in cheese.

It guides everything we do. We’ve witnessed cheese’s natural ability to bring human beings joy and inspire sincere connection, from gatherings to gift-giving. We work to do gouda every day, making products that make people happy and fostering genuine relationships with customers, partners, teammates, and our community.

Our mission is simple: craft a new kind of cheese brand, based on a culture of kindness and a passion for the positive bonds formed when all walks of life share the love of honest food and heartfelt gifts with one another.

Our History A Family Tradition

Cheeses you can't help but share

Spread cheesy cheer and savor memories with family, friends, and fellow foodies over our high-quality, natural, and delicious Wisconsin cheeses, paired with our personally curated accompaniments from independent local purveyors.

Cheese Brothers crafts classic cheeses you know and love, as well as some bold flavor innovations you must taste and try. And we package it up with pride, shipping nationwide from small-town Wisconsin.

Meet the
Cheese Brothers

Hi there! We're Eric Ludy and Gene Graf, co-founders of Cheese Brothers. We're two guys from Wisconsin with a cheesy side and Dairy State spirit. You could say it's in our blood. Eric's great-grandfather, a Swiss cheesemaker named Fred Ludy, started the family's first cheese factory in Wisconsin in 1919. Gene learned the trade from Tom Ludy, Eric's dad. We're not brothers by birth, but ever since we launched our company in 2015, we've been bonded by the brotherhood of great cheese.

We know we’re sharing something more than just our cheeses.
E-commerce can be cold and impersonal. Food is a source of camaraderie. Our thoughtful, unpretentious approach is an expression of authenticity, offering a refreshingly human online shopping experience. Because accessible, quality cheese belongs at every table, and every customer interaction deserves the utmost care.

And Cheese Brothers cares.

We thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts, for all of your support! Onward and forward to another hundred years!

Our History

A century of cheesemaking tradition

1919

Fred “Fritz” and Rosa Ludy move to Barron, Wisconsin from a village near Bern, Switzerland. At 24, Fritz is already a skilled cheesemaker. He opens one of the area’s first cheese factories.

1950's

Fritz’s health fails and his youngest son John takes over the business. Over 30 years, John modernizes the cheese plant and becomes one of the largest producers of hard Italian-style cheeses in the country.

2001

John’s son Tom opens a new cheese factory in nearby Turtle Lake, WI. Eric works there while in high school. Gene comes on to oversee the packaging line.

2005

Gene opens Barron County Cheese, which cuts, smokes and packages cheese from small producers in the area and ships it to retail stores nationwide. Eric moves away from home.

2013

Eric comes for a family visit and reconnects with Gene. The concept of Cheese Brothers is born.

2015

After several successful street fairs, Eric and Gene open a store at the Mall of America. Following three memorable years in bricks and mortar, they decide to close the physical locations and create an e-commerce presence, allowing previous customers to receive cheese by mail.

2017

Eric continues to sell products at fairs and festivals, earning fans and receiving a great reception, traveling to 40 cities a year. Doesn’t see his family much!

2020

COVID-19 shuts down street fairs and in-person retail experiences overnight. The business shifts entirely to e-commerce. Eric moves the operation to his parents’ garage and overwhelms the post office. The company relocates to a new facility in Barron, WI and hires a dedicated staff who work insane hours to ship all the holiday orders to fans celebrating at home.

2024

The team transitions operations from Barron to Almena, WI, to a new and improved facility that doubles e-commerce fulfillment capacity.

Our pride and joy

Family innovation meets
tasty innovation

We keep it simple:

Milk, salt, natural cultures. Our products are never processed or artificial in any way. Just good, old-fashioned Wisconsin cheese from old-school Wisconsin folks. Seasonings are always natural with simple ingredients, not fabricated flavors.

We practice time-honored techniques

Our cheese has been made the same way since 1919, when Eric’s great-grandfather, Fred, immigrated to the United States from Switzerland – although we now work with a bit fancier equipment. The milk comes in, cheesemakers add the cultures, and curd is formed. Any seasonings or ingredients are added for flavor. The cheese is then pressed into blocks and allowed to cure, usually for several months or sometimes years for aged varieties. The cheese is then cut and wrapped, labeled, and shipped from the Dairy State to your door.

We delight in the details

Nobody does dairy like we do in Wisconsin. We consider our official Wisconsin Cheese badge of authenticity, issued by the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, a badge of honor on all our products. That's how you know we've got the good stuff!⁠

As small Wisconsin cheese producers committed to working with rBST-free milk from family farms, you can taste the amount of care and attention that goes into our cheeses.

The farmers who provide the milk for our cheeses share the sentiment that they have an ethical and moral obligation to be attentive to all aspects of their cows' health and well-being. They adhere to strict standards regarding the treatment and housing of the animals.

We experiment with intention

We’re constantly innovating, and we’ve developed our own methods for crafting delicious and distinctive cheeses.

Smoking the competition - We cold-smoke our cheeses, low and slow, with hardwood. This infuses the cheese with rich, smoky flavor while preserving the texture and integrity. Most brands smoke their cheeses with heat or, worse, artificial liquid smoke - yuck!

Flavor fanatics - As proud cheeseheads, we’re constantly searching for interesting flavors that make our cheese sing, like Honey Sriracha and Mango Habanero.

Exclusive blends - We work with fellow cheesemakers to combine different techniques. The result: amazing, dynamic cheeses like Rhapsody, a cross between Cheddar and Parmesan, or Fratello, which blends Asiago and Parmesan but is softer and more mouthwateringly meltable.

Our Values

Cultures aren't just for making cheese

Relationships Matter

Our mission from inception has been to cultivate an approachable type of cheese company– one that utilizes farmers' markets and festivals to share our cheese and connect directly with people. Since going entirely digital, we’ve never lost sight of our commitment to building meaningful connections with our customers and community.

Personal Customer Service

We loathe robotic, impersonal customer service, so we aim to be its antithesis. Our team is here to answer any questions you have, and we love nothing more than a happy, satisfied customer! We never outsource customer service or take shortcuts when it comes to our correspondence. If you call, you’ll hear a friendly Wisconsin accent on the other line.

Small team. Big hearts.

We value our relationships with each other just as much as our customer relationships. We consider Cheese Brothers team members as part of our family, and all opportunities with us provide a living wage.

Community Support

We pay it forward regularly by donating products and a portion of proceeds to various non-profit organizations. Complementary items in our gift boxes (jams, mustards, etc.) are always Wisconsin-made by small businesses and local artisans like us. Even down to the crackers!