Editor’s note: Recently, Milt and Dodie Malueg, of the Caroline/Marion area, went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to look for a winter home and satellite office for their M.H. Malueg Trucking Co. LLC. They stopped in Tucumcari, New Mexico, to talk with Chuck Krause, Morgan native and the founder and owner of Tucumcari Mountain Cheese Factory. Here is her report.
From 1938-1988, Chuck Krause’s dad made cheese for Kraft. After his dad passed away, Chuck went to work for Frigo Cheese in Lena. Frigo asked him to go west to troubleshoot cheese plants in California.
When he found there was a need for cheese makers in eastern New Mexico, the “all natural” Tucumcari Cheese Factory was born in 1995. He bought a vacant Coca Cola plant and converted it to his cheese factory and purchased most of his equipment from Wisconsin.
He started the plant with only five employees and to date has 28.
While attending a world cheese conference and a wedding in Greece, he was relaxing on a beach on the island of Ithaki. He noticed the name Ithaki on a beach towel and realized that would be a perfect name for his feta cheese, hence a trademark of his largest product, Ithaki Feta Cheese.
For 16 years, every other week he ships Ithaki Feta Cheese to Chicago, Cleveland and Boston markets. He also ships products to LaMontinita, who markets his cheese in Albuquerque. Daphne Restaurants in San Diego uses his label Olympus Feta Cheese.
Some of his others products are Gouda, Romano and mild white cheddar cheeses. He receives most of his raw milk from an 8,000-cow dairy farm in Clovis, New Mexico. The proteins are removed from the milk, and the whey byproduct is then sold back to the dairy, mixed with hay and fed to dry cows.
Chuck has plans to expand the office, refrigeration cooler, storage area and loading docks. Recently Gov. Susana Martinez visited the facility in honor of the expansion project.
His wife, Sylvia, and her children have been a big part of the operation and future expansion. He also has a son and daughter from his first marriage who are in the cheese production and marketing business, working for BelGioioso Cheese in Northeast Wisconsin.
It was certainly a pleasure meeting and sharing Chuck’s life story. Many of you know how hard it is to be an entrepreneur of a small business. Chuck’s hard work and perseverance will be an example to his children and grandchildren for years to come.
We wish the best of luck to Chuck and his family. Anyone wishing to e-mail Chuck may do so at sylkrause@yahoo.com. or www.tucumcaricheese.com.
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