Cheese News and Views with Alyssa Gilbert

 

Alyssa Gilbert wears many hats in the world of artisan cheese. Her Oakland shop, Ollie’s American Cheese + Provisions, is a great place to go learn about and buy locally and nationally made craft cheeses, and it’s also a catering kitchen that designs cheese and charcuterie boards and grazing tables for events both large and small.

In addition, Gilbert is the new executive director of the California Artisan Cheese Guild, which means she’s very busy getting ready for the 20th Annual California Artisan Cheese Festival, coming up on March 20–22 in Sonoma. We spent some time with Gilbert to learn more about her background, the shop, and festival highlights.

Can you describe the history behind your shop and your interest in cheese?

Alyssa Gilbert: I grew up with grandparents who were small farmers, so from the get-go, I’ve been very integrated in knowing where food comes from and being appreciative of the high quality, small-batch kind of producers that make all the wonderful food, which kind-of translates into the cheese makers I now support. But it happened during Covid. I was a little bit burned out from what I was doing, which was not in the food sector. And just always loving cheese and loving hosting and entertaining and food. I wanted to find a way to get a little bit more involved in that as a career. I initially started as a catering company where we focused on cheese boards and grazing tables, all focusing and specializing in artisan and American cheese—just trying to amplify those smaller cheese makers from across the country and trying to get them in front of more people. Ones that you wouldn’t typically find at your big box stores, things like that.

Are the grazing tables like an extension of a cheese board?

AG: Yes, a good way to think about it is they’re essentially a cheese board for just a lot of people. So, if you had a hundred-person cheese board, it’s now a table.

 

 

Can you say a little more about your grandparents and their farm?

AG:  My grandparents actually grew up in Hawaii. My grandpa was a cowboy by trade, but when they moved to California, he veered off of the rancher path and we lived on a small family farm where he raised cows for meat. And we had goats and horses and a vegetable garden that we got most of our vegetables from and a ton of fruit trees. So it just allowed us to enjoy that on a small scale. It wasn’t commercial at all, but it definitely instilled in us the value of real good food.

What happened once you started your catering business?

AG: I started a catering company just to dip my toe in the water and see if it was something I actually wanted to do, if people cared about what I thought would be cool, bringing artisan and American cheese to the people, if you will. And it grew pretty rapidly. I was working out of a shared commercial kitchen in Oakland and it got to the point where I was outgrowing the space and it seemed like I needed my own kitchen in order to set my own hours and to make it financially feasible to do orders of all sizes, which is when I started toying with the idea of doing a twofold brick-and-mortar cheese shop and catering operation out of the same location. My real passion when it came to the catering was the cheese, and having a cut-to-order cheese shop and being able to talk to people about the cheese a little bit more one-on-one versus when you cater, you don’t really get the opportunity to talk to people about the food as much.

When I was looking for a new kitchen space, there were a couple places that were popping up that seemed to fit the bill on both directions, where I had a small retail space, but also a kitchen in the back where I could continue the catering operation. When I found our place downtown in Oakland, it was perfect. We still cater out of the back. We do our tables and our boards and now people can order for next day pickup for cheese boards, which is really nice. They can order cheese online and we’ll have it cut and wrapped and ready for them to pick up, or we’ll deliver cheese to their door, which is a fun thing we do. We’re in downtown Oakland, so it’s a little bit hard sometimes for people to get to and parking can be tricky, but people realize then that they can just order, have their cheese shop experience online if they want to.

Nice to have your favorite cheese coming to your door.

AG: Exactly. Or they can order it for curbside pickup and we’ll bring it out to their car.

 

 

Can you describe the catering options?

AG: It’s all cheese focused. We do weddings and birthdays and a lot of corporate events and everything in between. Cheese wheel cakes are really popular lately for weddings or birthdays. You stack wheels of cheese like you would tiers of cake. If you imagine the bottom wheel is eight inches, the next wheel will be six, the next will be four. So it will look kind-of like a cake and then we’ll decorate it with florals and some honeycomb and some fresh fruit. It looks really beautiful. And then instead of a traditional dessert cake, people will present the cheese wheel cake and they do the cake cutting and then everyone has a cheese course for the dessert, which is fun.

It sounds like the business has really taken off.

AG:  The catering has held pretty strong, but retail has been a bit of an uphill battle. I think everywhere in Oakland right now, retail is facing a struggle and we’re definitely seeing that lack of foot traffic. I think people are generally just a little more cognizant of how much they’re spending right now. And I know it’s not an isolated experience for us. All of our retail friends are in the same boat. Thankfully, I have the catering side of the business that will help.

In terms of the cheeses, do you find that people are not so knowledgeable about the variety of American cheeses?

AG: I have noticed that it does seem to be a bit of a foreign concept. We have a big sign outside of our shop that says, “Eat more American cheese,” and underneath it says, “craft, not Kraft,” but people will come in often and say, “What’s American cheese?” Or, “Like the orange stuff?” And they don’t quite understand what we’re talking about. So I think a lot of people just don’t know that we make artisan cheese here in the United States. So that’s a really great way for us to start that conversation and we have our cheese case and we can talk to them about all the different makers we have in there. They can taste different cheeses and readjust their frame on what American cheese is.

It’s also great because we’re able to amplify a lot of the really small producers who don’t have visibility in the bigger stores. It’s just buying power and cost. And we have a pretty niche clientele where they’re willing to pay a premium for premium cheese. And I think that sets us apart from the bigger box cheese shops, the cheese counters at stores where they’re kind-of all about the bottom line. And obviously as a business I have to be mindful of the bottom line, but what I’m really here for is to stand by the cheese makers.

 

 

That leads into the cheese festival and the cheese guild. I understand you’re the new executive director.

AG: Yes, I served on the board for two years on the cheese guild and it just seamlessly ties into my why for the shop, which is just supporting the cheese makers and amplifying their voices and getting the word out that California also has really great cheese and fantastic cheese makers. And they’re stewards of the land and it’s more than just the cheese. It’s sustainable agriculture and it’s preservation and it’s all the good things that go along with that. And being able to share their stories and get them more visibility, I think is really fulfilling.

What’s your role in terms of the festival?

AG: The Guild is responsible for planning and putting on the Artisan Cheese Festival now. So, in conjunction with an event planner who’s helping with the marketplace, we’re planning our tours and seminars, cheese crawl, and marketplace and just making it a whole weekend of California cheese fun.

Maybe you can recommend certain activities or events?

AG: On Friday, March 20, we hold our farm and producer tours, and those are a really great way to get that one-on-one, boots-on-the-ground interaction with creameries and producers in the Sonoma County area and beyond. We have four tours. One is sold out, one is almost sold out, and then two more have just a few tickets left. So, they’re a hot commodity in the scope of the cheese festival. I highly recommend getting your ticket sooner rather than later.

Saturday, we have our educational seminars. We have a few new offerings this year. We’re doing a raclette experience seminar where the attendees will learn about the history of raclette and have a raclette party. Then we have our beer and cheese pairing and a caviar and cheese pairing, which is really nice. That’s a new offering this year.

 

 

Anything else you want to recommend?

AG: Yes! At our Marketplace on Sunday we’ll have 100 vendors, about 20 or so cheese vendors, and they all have their cheeses out that you can try and purchase and take home. You can talk to the cheese makers, which is really cool. I know Point Reyes has just come out with a new brie, which is fantastic. They have both the regular brie and a truffle, which is delightful. Mt. Eitan will be there and I know everything they make is fantastic and they’re a little bit harder to find. So that’s a great opportunity to try their cheeses and chat with their cheese maker, who’s wonderful.

We also have our VIP Bubbles and Bites experience before the Marketplace on Sunday. And those are a fun way to see how you can apply using California cheeses in food and in appetizers. And then when you attend Bubbles and Bites, you get into the Marketplace an hour early, so it’s a great way to get a fun experience beforehand and also get in before the crowds.

Learn more about the March 20–22, 2026 20th Annual California Artisan Cheese Festival here.

And make sure to pay a visit to Ollie’s American Cheese + Provisions at 396 11th Street in Oakland. More info here.