The success stories of Austin businesses inspire us to greater and more enjoyable success ourselves. This year, we’re highlighting newer and younger businesses at our AIBA breakfast meetings. What energy they add to our town!
Antonelli’s Cheese Shop is a perfect example of younger people starting a business that really adds to Austin culture. Kendall Antonelli writes, “Two years after John Antonelli announced on our honeymoon that he wanted to quit his job and “do something in cheese,” we unlocked the front door to our very own cheese shop on February 11, 2010.
We’ve been asked many times since, “Why a Cheese Shop?” and the answer is simple. After putting ourselves through cheese bootcamps, running a cheese club out of our house, attending cheese conferences, interning for French affineur Herve Mons, journeying through Europe, and eating our way through thousands of tasty cheese morsels, we honed in on our true passions. Then, over a bottle of wine one evening, we realized that working together behind a cheese case would allow us to fulfill them all: eat great cheese, share the stories of artisanal producers, and spread joy through good bites. Ignoring all evidence of a down economy we went for it, determined to be led by our mission: Do Good. Eat Good.
Today, we have our flagship brick-and-mortar cheese shop in Hyde Park, a cheese house where we host 200+ public classes and private events yearly, a wholesale program sourcing for over 150 Central Texas chefs, and an e-commerce site selling and shipping nationwide our monthly cheese club, gifts, and cheese trays.
We’ve been grateful to receive numerous accolades, including Best Cheese Shops in America (Travel + Leisure Mag), Best Food Shop (Austin Chronicle, Austin Monthly), and Local Heros (Edible Austin). But even those accolades couldn’t keep us from opening – and closing – our second location in downtown Austin in 2018. We’ve had some major wins, some heartbreaks, and lots of lessons learned.”
Come enjoy cheeses and a stimulating talk and discussion with John and Kendall Antonelli! Free for AIBA members and prospective members. Thank you to Texas Coffee Traders for fabulous coffee and Tacodeli for delicious breakfast tacos to start our day off right!
Source: Events