When the pandemic picked up steam last spring, Ray Rumiano found a whole new gig. His family’s century-old business, Rumiano Cheese, was doing just fine in lockdown, producing the mid-priced jack cheeses that supermarket shoppers were stockpiling. But Ray knew that some of his friends who made artisan cheese were in dire straits as their restaurant and catering sales plummeted. What could he do to help them through this crisis?
“I saw a lot of cheesemakers not able to pivot and have a direct-to-consumer site,” says Ray. “Board at Home was a reaction to that, a way to pay it forward to artisans who were struggling.”
The idea was that Rumiano would purchase cheese and accompaniments from some of these troubled California producers and assemble them in themed kits for consumers. “At Rumiano we were privileged in our busy-ness,” says Ray. “We have the equipment to cut and wrap cheese, and we could inject a little cash flow into these companies.”
Early days: Rumiano Cheese co-founder Richard Rumiano (left) with son-in-law
Board at Home took off and consumes most of Ray’s time these days. Initially focusing on home delivery in the Bay Area, the business now ships nationally and offers virtual tastings that coordinate with the shipments. What’s more, Rumiano donates 5 percent of Board at Home sales to the LEE Initiative, a relief program for restaurant industry workers.
Ray shipped me Board at Home’s “Man(chego) of La Mancha” collection (pictured above) recently. Here’s what I unpacked:
Rumiano Dry Jack, the company’s signature aged cow’s milk wheel, aged 6 to 9 months, with a cocoa coating
Stuyt Dairy Farmstead El Capitan, a firm aged raw cow’s milk wheel with a nutty flavor
Cypress Grove Creamery’s Little Red Corvette: a spreadable goat cheese flavored with garlic and chermoula
Rustic Bakery’s Olive Oil & Sel Gris Flatbread Bites
Napa Nuts Marcona Almonds, the Spanish variety but California grown
Temecula Valley Olive Oil Company Late Harvest Olive Medley, a mixture of California-grown fruit
Golden State Pickle Works Pickled Red Onions, pickled with red wine vinegar and hibiscus
Llano Seco Ranch Californiano Salami, a mildly seasoned dried pork sausage
With the pandemic slowing (or so we hope) and people anxious to move about, will Board at Home and similar virtual-tasting companies continue to thrive?
“I personally think this is going to continue past the pandemic,” predicts Ray. “Now that the door’s open, it’s not necessarily going to close.”