Sue Conley is the co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery along with Peggy Smith. [1]
Both women are credited with their roles as catalysts of Northern California's artisan cheese industry. [2] In 2006, along with Smith, she won a James Beard award for "significant and lasting achievements and contributions to the food and beverage industry for ten or more years." [3]
Conley was born in Washington, D.C., where her grandfather managed the cafeteria Sholl's Colonial. [4] She attended the University of Tennessee, where she met Smith. [5]
After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1976, Conley worked in restaurants before co-founding Bette's Oceanview Diner. [6] After selling her shares in Bette's Oceanview Diner, she co-founded Tomales Bay Foods, a distributor and marketer of West Marin-produced foods, and Cowgirl Creamery, a manufacturer and distributor of artisan cheese, along with Smith. [7] Conley has credited her travels to Europe as well as Peggy Smith's work at Chez Panisse as amplifying their interest in regional, artisan food production. [8]
According to Conley, they founded the cheese-making company as a way of creating a product which showcased the organic milk produced by Albert Straus at Straus Family Creamery: "We saw the need to showcase great quality organic milk. The farm economy could not survive the state it was in, so we saw a need to preserve land in agriculture." [9]
Conley is a member of the California Artisan Cheese Guild. With Smith, she wrote Cowgirl Creamery Cooks. [10]
In 2016, Conley and Smith sold Cowgirl Creamery to Emmi, a Swiss dairy firm. [11]
Sue Conley is the co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery along with Peggy Smith. [1]
Both women are credited with their roles as catalysts of Northern California's artisan cheese industry. [2] In 2006, along with Smith, she won a James Beard award for "significant and lasting achievements and contributions to the food and beverage industry for ten or more years." [3]
Conley was born in Washington, D.C., where her grandfather managed the cafeteria Sholl's Colonial. [4] She attended the University of Tennessee, where she met Smith. [5]
After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1976, Conley worked in restaurants before co-founding Bette's Oceanview Diner. [6] After selling her shares in Bette's Oceanview Diner, she co-founded Tomales Bay Foods, a distributor and marketer of West Marin-produced foods, and Cowgirl Creamery, a manufacturer and distributor of artisan cheese, along with Smith. [7] Conley has credited her travels to Europe as well as Peggy Smith's work at Chez Panisse as amplifying their interest in regional, artisan food production. [8]
According to Conley, they founded the cheese-making company as a way of creating a product which showcased the organic milk produced by Albert Straus at Straus Family Creamery: "We saw the need to showcase great quality organic milk. The farm economy could not survive the state it was in, so we saw a need to preserve land in agriculture." [9]
Conley is a member of the California Artisan Cheese Guild. With Smith, she wrote Cowgirl Creamery Cooks. [10]
In 2016, Conley and Smith sold Cowgirl Creamery to Emmi, a Swiss dairy firm. [11]