On this month’s episode, I join Ray Rumiano in Willows, California, home to Rumiano Cheese Company. Ray has a profound appreciation for the challenges faced by agriculture workers; his commitment to the family business is grounded in the connections between animals, farmers, and customers. This holistic perspective emphasizes the importance of sustainability and longevity which, in turn, produces quality products. Moreover, Ray’s dedication to his farmers and employees highlights the importance of ethically utilizing resources and appreciating the time offered in creating a quality product. The core of business operations resides in humane treatment, and this places Rumiano Cheese Company as a strong contender among large scale dairy farm operations. The passion and care trickles down to the treatment of their cows, which are grass-fed and free range. Even beyond that, Rumiano Cheese utilizes regenerative farming practices which keeps the soil nutrient rich and conserves water. Throughout our conversation, Ray and I connected through our shared values in commitment to serving our communities and offering gratitude to those that serve us in return; this sense of comradery, passion, and dedication results in quality products and customer service. The Rumiano family's unique approach to farming, combining traditional methods with environmental consciousness, continues their legacy in the cheesemaking industry. Please enjoy our conversation.
On this month’s episode, I join Ray Rumiano in Willows, California, home to Rumiano Cheese Company. Ray has a profound appreciation for the challenges faced by agriculture workers; his commitment to the family business is grounded in the connections between animals, farmers, and customers. This holistic perspective emphasizes the importance of sustainability and longevity which, in turn, produces quality products. Moreover, Ray’s dedication to his farmers and employees highlights the importance of ethically utilizing resources and appreciating the time offered in creating a quality product. The core of business operations resides in humane treatment, and this places Rumiano Cheese Company as a strong contender among large scale dairy farm operations. The passion and care trickles down to the treatment of their cows, which are grass-fed and free range. Even beyond that, Rumiano Cheese utilizes regenerative farming practices which keeps the soil nutrient rich and conserves water.
Throughout our conversation, Ray and I connected through our shared values in commitment to serving our communities and offering gratitude to those that serve us in return; this sense of comradery, passion, and dedication results in quality products and customer service. The Rumiano family's unique approach to farming, combining traditional methods with environmental consciousness, continues their legacy in the cheesemaking industry.
Rumiano Cheese Company website - https://rumianocheese.com/
This episode is sponsored by UnitedAg, one of the largest association health plans to offer healthcare to the agriculture industry of California and Arizona.
Kirti Mutatkar, President and CEO of UnitedAg.
Reach me at kmutatkar@unitedag.org, www.linkedin.com/in/kirtimutatkar
UnitedAg website - www.unitedag.org
Episode Contributors - Samantha Taylor, Kirti Mutatkar, Paul Lecrone, Melanie Larsen
The episode is also sponsored by Brent Eastman Insurance Services Inc. - https://brenteastman.com/Blue
Shield of California - https://www.blueshieldca.com/Elite
Medical - https://www.elitecorpmed.com/Gallagher
Medical https://sainmedical.com/
Kirti Mutatkar in conversation with Ray Rumiano
Raymond Rumiano : [00:02:30] Sure. So early 1900s, my great great grandfather, Marco Rumiano, he immigrated from northern Italy Piedmont [00:02:40] region, came, found his way to San Francisco. He ended up dabbling in a bunch of different kinds of gigs. I'm using air quotes there, but, you know, ultimately sending money back. [00:02:50] And after about a couple of years, I think 1911 was when his three sons, John, Fred, and Richard, were able to [00:03:00] come on over from Italy and they found work in the gold mines at Amador County. And that didn't last too long. I think they got really sick of that. And then they moved back to the San Francisco, the big [00:03:10] city, you know, and this is 1912, 1913. So it's really early days there. Allegedly, they dabbled in, you know, wine making and, you know, other things. [00:03:20] And then they ultimately saved up a bunch of money and decided to buy a little tiny creamery here in Willows, California, which is roughly two hours.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:03:27] 1914, this.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:03:29] Would have been 1919 [00:03:30] by 1919. So they spent quite a bit of time in the Bay Area. 1919 rolls around and they're like, All right, we saved up enough money. We're going to go buy what was then called the Rabbit Dairy here [00:03:40] in Willows, California. So the rabbit dairy was then turned into the Glenn County Dairy, which was a dairy production, Strictly Milk. And then they realized, [00:03:50] wait a minute, what are we going to do with all this milk? We've got a lot of milk and there's no refrigeration, you know, at least here. So, they decided to start making cheese and butter. And then that was really the trajectory. [00:04:00] That's how we shot from just you know, dairying into converting that dairy into a, you know, cheese. Right. It's much more having a little bit more shelf life, so [00:04:10] to speak, especially without refrigeration. Right. So, at our old facility right across I-5 from us now, that's the original dairy. So that was where we had dairy [00:04:20] and then they had started making cheese and then we had just kind of piecemeal expanded it to include our packaging and distribution. We no longer make cheese here in Willows. We ship [00:04:30] that we have that we no longer make cheese here in Willows. It's all made in Crescent City, California. So right where the Oregon California border meets the Pacific Ocean, a little tiny town on the California [00:04:40] side. And that's where we get our wondrous milk shed and the Humboldt and Del Norte counties. So, they make it all up there. They ship it down to us. We age it, cut the package, and then distribute it from willows. [00:04:50] It's a nice central location. It's, you know, halfway between LA and Portland, close to the bay, close to Reno. So, it's a real kind of central location. And it was, you know. Maybe some [00:05:00] excellent foresight from my ancestors, but they chose this location in the Crescent City location out of roughly nine different facilities throughout California and southern Oregon [00:05:10] to keep. So those two facilities are the ones they kept after some expansion and then, you know, closing some locations.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:05:16] So amazing. So you’re 100 more than 100 years old.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:05:19] Yeah. [00:05:20] So we claim 1919 was ours. Yeah. So, we're 104 roughly, you know. Yeah. It's interesting. Obviously, family owned the whole time. Right.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:05:28] So from your [00:05:30] perspective, right. So, coming in from your generation, how does that feel? I mean, there could be people, the same kind of generation as yours have moved away from [00:05:40] a family business. Why did you feel that you wanted to do this?
Raymond Rumiano : [00:05:44] Yeah, I think that's an interesting question. It's kind of a loaded question in a lot of ways. I think, [00:05:50] you know, frankly, when I started working, when I hit 15, my dad said, okay, Raymond, it's time to go to work. Where are you going to work? And I was like, oh, man, do I have to interview if I go [00:06:00] to the factory? No, you can just get a job. So, I'm like, oh, I'll go to the factory and work. So, I started working probably before I was 15, but, you know, labor laws and whatnot, we'll just say 15 [00:06:10] now. But you know, I started labeling cheese and working in our dry jack cellar, which is still over there. It's 100 years old. We age all our dry jack in there. So, I spent a lot of time in our cellar working [00:06:20] on our packaging lines, cutting cheese by hand, putting it into bags, sealing it up, labeling it, etcetera. And, you know, I spent probably close [00:06:30] to ten years in that kind of environment, whether, you know, I kind of moved around in terms of in roles and responsibilities. But ultimately, I think that is what calls me back to staying in. This is [00:06:40] my connection with the people doing the work on the floor, right. And understanding the tough effort that it is and the, you know, sometimes thankless.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:06:49] It's frankly [00:06:50] is thankless. Right. We see a package of cheese on the wall in the grocery store, but the effort and the commitment from people on the floor cutting and wrapping those cheeses, you [00:07:00] know, they're probably here more than they see their family. And it's and it's something that I want to strive for as to how do we make this a better place to work for them. And of course, our farmers, right? We've got 26, [00:07:10] 27 partner dairies in Del Norte and Humboldt County, and they're all family owned. They're generational, a lot of them. You know, I think the average farm [00:07:20] has roughly 300 cows compared to, you know, some of these giant corporations that have, you know, 75,000 cows in their herds. But we're really connected with [00:07:30] those farmers and we're their life, right? Because they can't sell their milk to anyone else. Right. So, there's just I think that's one really core driver for me in terms of like, why stick around and why I'm really [00:07:40] driven to be a part of this is there's so many people that our company affects and can affect that. To me, it's it's how do we optimize that and make sure that everyone's finding [00:07:50] a win out of this, right? So that's.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:07:51] Actually awesome. That's an awesome way of looking at it because that's what is making it fulfilling for you, right? It's like finding fulfillment because I [00:08:00] think deep down when you really think about it, we reflect, right? We all need financials, and we all need to do financially [00:08:10] well from a business, from personal standpoint, from all of that. But deep down, it's what you just said. This makes it fulfilling because helping other human beings [00:08:20] and live life to the fullest and enjoy what they're doing right. That's my life. Passion. That's your look. Seems like seems like it's yours. And the interesting thing that you [00:08:30] said was we see if you're in Orange County or wherever you see a cheese on the shelf and you buy it and you don't necessarily understand every [00:08:40] person who's touched this and where it had to go, what it had to go through to come to the point. It happens across the board in any agriculture, like you talk about lemons, you [00:08:50] talk about strawberries and all of that. Right? It’s a very interesting journey. So, can you I know you touched on it a little bit, but can you go a little bit deeper for somebody who does not even understand [00:09:00] the concept of how cheese is made?
Raymond Rumiano : [00:09:02] Sure. Well, let's start with the dairy, because that's really where it starts, right. I think it would be a disservice to our dairy producers. But any dairy producer out there if we didn't [00:09:10] start there. So, we it's funny because we always say it doesn't matter if it's your birthday or if it's a holiday that you celebrate. The cows need to be milked and they need to be cared for, right? So, dairying [00:09:20] is really kind of one of those thankless jobs that you're producing milk. And we really, we at Rumiano really cherish our dairy partners because for one, they have a lot of familiar [00:09:30] kind of generational effort that they've put in over the generations. But aside from that, the practices that they follow with, you know, pasture-based grazing and there's [00:09:40] a lot of sustainability and regenerative practices that they're already implementing that are just traditional methods, right? And also, the humane treatment of those animals is like such a key component of that, right? But all that [00:09:50] effort that goes into just making sure their cows are happy and healthy and producing high-quality milk, that's a job in itself. You know, I talked to dairymen here and there and. Dairywoman. And it is thankless, [00:10:00] right? As you know, they're providing an interesting product for us. And then we convert that into a value-added product for ourselves. And a [00:10:10] lot of times, you know, in a lot of industries, those ingredient makers use similar quotes there, but they're not getting the real fulfilling kind of, you know, the value add that [00:10:20] somebody else might get with processing.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:10:21] So I think just nothing like the dairying itself is a day in and day out job. It's a commitment, it's a true hands-on job every single day. And then going to [00:10:30] our manufacturing facility in Crescent City, right. We've got, you know, 5 to 6 days a week. They're making cheese. And there's a team of roughly about 50 people up there. And, you know, the cheese makers [00:10:40] get up at 2 a.m. or they're there by 2 a.m. in the morning to start the cheese making process. And there's a lot of documentation now it's a little more automated nowadays, which is super handy and great for consistency, [00:10:50] but also a little less hand on. Right? It gives everyone a little bit of a break. But you know, that's also an intense job. It's hot and humid in there and it's not easy, you know, and a lot of the ways we use make [00:11:00] our dry Jack, for example, is a very manual process. There's no automation besides the making of the curd itself. And then everything from that point on is hand rolling, pressing everything, right? [00:11:10] And again, you know, those communities aren't, you know, our community and willows with Glenn County, the communities up there in Del Norte County, Humboldt, they're not particularly like wealthy communities. So, we [00:11:20] have a responsibility, I think, of, you know, giving back to those in those communities via these roles and jobs. And then when you bring it all back here, you know, you've got the logistics, the truck [00:11:30] drivers spending days apart from their family.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:11:32] Right. And they're bringing the cheese down to us in Willows, California, which is, you know, 5.5 hours roughly from Crescent City. But and [00:11:40] then it gets here and then it's stashed in our warehouse for aging. And then when it's getting ready to go, you know, we've our office team, we have schedulers preparing for what to run, what needs to go down, [00:11:50] what line. And and then the people out on the floor that are handling the cheese, you know, they're here at, you know, working ten-hour days up to, you know, six days a week, sometimes. And it is, [00:12:00] you know, again, thankless. Right? They're physically grabbing these £40 blocks. They're loading them up. They're documenting all this important traceability information. They're sending it down that line. It's being packaged and then it’s put [00:12:10] into a box and then put into our warehouse and then ultimately sent out to those distributors or retailers where you just see it on the shelf. You're like, oh, beautiful, six slices in a package. I will take that beautiful. [00:12:20] And you don't really think about it, right? And that certainly just, you know, I haven't mentioned even our sales teams and the marketing and the efforts that the kind of mid management must put in all that effort to make sure [00:12:30] all that runs fluidly. There's just so much effort that goes into that that I think, you know, I'm speaking for cheese, but, you know, we can recognize that that transcends this is food, [00:12:40] I think, in a lot of ways. Right.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:12:41] Exactly.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:12:42] So anyway, that's true.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:12:44] And you when you pick that, it's interesting. I don't know if you feel this way, but the taste [00:12:50] why a cheese is a cheese is because of all the journey that cheese has gone through a little bit. Right. Because if you don't start off with a happy cow, [00:13:00] right? I mean, that cheese is not going to be, and it my ethnicity is Indian, and cows are considered very sacred. I mean, they are like we are it's basically [00:13:10] like a we call it. It's the mother of our mom. Right. So that because you're feeding everything, that's how a cow is seen as very sacred. But you [00:13:20] start off with that, you treat that well, make sure that's and then that ends up being in the superior cheese that we eat.
Raymond Rumiano: [00:13:27] That's the key, right, is the treatment of [00:13:30] the animal, not to mention the food. Right. And if you can't we can get into the milk shed up there a little later.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:13:33] Yeah. Yeah. It's awesome. And it's again done right by the people. I think the interesting part [00:13:40] with UnitedAg so we started 40 years ago and the way United started with was a bunch of dairies so interesting. We had a few dairies and then that was the birth [00:13:50] of UnitedAg as a health plan for dairy industry. So, it's very interesting. But the thing was, I think since then what has happened is a lot of dairies are now leaving California. [00:14:00] Do you see any pressure from what's going on? Is there I mean; you guys are flourishing. You're doing an amazing job and growing. What's happening to what do [00:14:10] you think? Is it hard to do business here?
Raymond Rumiano : [00:14:12] I think, frankly, dairying in general is pretty tough. You know, I think, yeah, we could get into the is it tough to do business in California? [00:14:20] But I think just generally back to that dairying as a thankless job and it's not a, you know, high paying job, so to speak. Right. And it's difficult. You know, we had I [00:14:30] mean, there's been numerous times where there's, you know, this mass, you know, milk essentially. You know, there's these companies that are essentially buying, you know, massive amounts of milk from these regions, [00:14:40] and then they'll pull out of the region. And now you've left hundreds of dairy folks out of business, right? They have no way to sell their milk. Right. And, you know, it's kind of heartbreaking because [00:14:50] it's like these are generational diaries, especially in our region. There, you know, families came from Italy and Portugal or wherever in Europe. Right. And stayed. Here and now, they're seeing [00:15:00] all this value that I've built with my brand and my company and my dairy and putting in all this effort. And now it's all gone because nobody's buying my milk and we can't buy every milk. [00:15:10] All of the milk. We can only buy so much, right? So, it's hard. And we've seen a lot of dairy people go out of business, you know, especially in the last ten years. I'd say it's a drastic hit. Right. And we've had a couple [00:15:20] big milk buyers pull out of California, the Northern Redwood Coast and whatnot. And, you know, it's crisis time for them, you know, and I think, you know, that's kind of frankly, [00:15:30] I think as a cheesemaker, it's kind of our responsibility just to, like bring them along with us, you know, make sure that the dairy industry is being, you know, paid back, so to speak. [00:15:40] Right.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:15:40] So and you right. It is generations and generations and its history and what they bring. Right. I mean, it's the whole [00:15:50] like even the farm, like the entire farming from Italy, from Portugal, from other places, and coming making California their home. And now you feel like, oh, [00:16:00] what now? Right. Exactly.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:16:01] I can only imagine. It's kind of earth shattering. Right? Right. You know, so sad.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:16:05] Yeah, it's sad. And you see that across the board in other ag products [00:16:10] right now. And the importance I keep telling anybody who can hear me, or I talk to, they buy California grown and bright because this is [00:16:20] what we have here as a natural resource. And what has helped all this is amazing. There was a reason why your ancestors came in and settled in California and did it here, right? I mean, there's you create superior [00:16:30] product here, right? Yeah. So, from your role as kind of you’re the marketing communications role at here, what [00:16:40] are your challenges? What do you see as your challenge?
Raymond Rumiano : [00:16:42] That's a great question. You know, I do kind of wear a lot of hats. I think right now I'm very tapped into [00:16:50] our marketing kind of efforts. And I think that there's in terms of marketing our product or just generally, I think marketing any sort of food products, especially dairy at this point, I find [00:17:00] it difficult to not necessarily difficult. I think that there's kind of this shift going where, you know, dairy doesn't always have the best kind of connotations. When you hear the term, you're like, oh, great, [00:17:10] you know, they're treating cows poorly. They're all standing on concrete slabs all day. You're using hundreds of gallons of water per cow every day to just keep that place going in terms of feed. And I think, [00:17:20] you know, for me, the way Rumiano's milk producers have done it is so drastically different. But that's what they call traditional, right? Nowadays, we [00:17:30] see traditional is like down, you know, the Central Valley. And those cows are essentially in a feedlot all day. And it's very different. I'm not to say it's bad or good one way or another by [00:17:40] any means but educating the consumer on what different looks like. Right, the very this very different kind of way of doing dairy. And granted, everyone doesn't have access to [00:17:50] the lush green pastures that our cows do every year, you know, one 365 days a year, they have open pastures to go graze on.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:17:56] Granted, some days they just want to stay in the barn because it's raining. But you [00:18:00] know, that's probably the hardest part, I think is differentiating and making sure that there are people understand like, you know, yeah, we see, you know, the Netflix documentary about the horrors of dairy and meat production [00:18:10] and stuff. And that's real. That's all-real stuff. And also, there's a very different way of doing it. And that goes with agriculture as well. You know, I think of like regenerative agriculture and how it's really kind of taking hold [00:18:20] and understanding of like how we're not just sustaining, but we're regenerating and we're taking, you know, sequestering GHGs and, and doing things through essentially [00:18:30] these fairly, you know, old school traditional farming practices that we've kind of lost track of. Right? So, I don't know. It's just interesting. It feels like we're all kind of cyclically going back [00:18:40] into these old traditional methods that are much more kind of working with the Earth versus kind of this is ours and we're going to use it for what we want, right?
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:18:47] That's such a great perspective. The couple [00:18:50] things I want to tease out from there, but just going back to your last point, I interviewed the owner of BAPE Farms up in Santa Maria, and he had the same things to say. The traditional [00:19:00] way of agriculture, the way we did it, the way that's the norm. Right. Because we understood you must take care of Earth. You must be sustainable [00:19:10] because this is it's like the mother. I said, the cow you give back, you have to have these are your resources that have to give giving not just for you, [00:19:20] your kids, your grandkids, and you're creating a multi-generational product right here. So how would you abuse that? Because if you abuse that, you might lose [00:19:30] it in your own generation and not have it for your kids and your grandkids and stuff. But these look at your 19, 19, and that's when this started. So, they had this. So that's like a from [00:19:40] across the board in agriculture, that's a thing. Going back to something that you said, the negative connotation with dairy and agriculture, [00:19:50] you made a good point that we all put it in one bucket. We call it the ag agriculture industry. But there are different ways. Different [00:20:00] people are doing different things. It's great for the documentaries and making a great news article to splash things across. And because that makes a great statement that [00:20:10] this is happening. But maybe people need to educate themselves, dig a little deeper for every industry out there. The different ways of doing things. So, can you talk a little bit [00:20:20] more about that?
Raymond Rumiano : [00:20:21] Sure. Let me share a little anecdote that I cherish this story, but it kind of leans into what you're talking about. And I think so, you know, our friend that does [00:20:30] vegan was anti dairy and understandably right. But through the times of like getting to know her more and sharing kind of what my family's cheese company [00:20:40] produces and how it's produced and stuff. There was a time where we picked her up from the airport one time and she's like, hey, Ray, I've decided I'm going to eat cheese now, but only from Rumiano Cheese. [00:20:50] And I literally almost cried because it was such a notion of, you know, I trust and respect her perspectives. And I totally understood where she came from. The fact that she was [00:21:00] able to, like, take the steps to think through what it meant to her, the humane treatment of the animals, the sustainable aspects that, you know, being part of that ecosystem, [00:21:10] building the communities. Right. It was probably one of the most charming moments of my life. I look back on that very fondly, but I think just, you know, kind of echoing what [00:21:20] you were mentioning, is there is a lot out there. And again, I'm not trying to discredit any of those negative perspectives or anything out there because let's face it, you know, not everyone's got [00:21:30] the best interest of the resources and the earth in their mind or the communities, especially at that or their employees. But, you know, it was just really it signaled to me like, okay, Rumiano does [00:21:40] have something here, like we are doing something right, right.
Raymond Rumiano: [00:21:42] It helped me kind of shift my perspective and take myself out of kind of drop my ego, take a step back and look at the bigger picture. And it's like, okay, there's something here [00:21:50] that not a lot of other people have. And, you know, from a marketing perspective, that's super handy because now we have a differentiating factor. But on just like an ethical sort of like a human [00:22:00] element, it was powerful to me. So, I would implore people to really understand where their food comes from, right? Just understand it. At least understand. I'm not telling you what decisions [00:22:10] to make by any means, but just look. Right? Understand where that came from. And you know, that's to say like, I just drank some awesome tea from China. It's magical tea. It's magnificent. [00:22:20] And that's okay, right? It doesn't mean it's not bad or good. It just is. And I've taken the time to understand where it comes from and how it was made. Right? So, I chose that tea. So, you know, I think [00:22:30] self-education is important. And, you know, headlines are headlines for a reason, right? They're certainly trying to get your attention. So, I think, you know, looking beyond that and taking the statistics [00:22:40] can be morphed into however you really want it to read. Right? So, yeah, just looking a little deeper into that and understanding a little more is key, right?
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:22:48] And once you do [00:22:50] that, I think the enjoyment goes its triple fold. I feel right because you really get it, you understand it, and with every taste. I mean, it sounds like a commercial, but it's not [00:23:00] really a commercial. But I think you do taste that. And one of the things that I found attractive and the reason I'm here today is I had dinner with Patrick [00:23:10] and Marlene. Marlene. Marlene Yep. And we were talking about the kind of we got a tour and Patrick, and they were talking about kind of your culture [00:23:20] and what you do. And that was extremely attractive to me because they like what you are talking about, a negative connotation. The same thing happens [00:23:30] with health insurance companies, right? So, you come in like, oh, a health plan is a health plan. All we're going to do is no, no, no, how do I cut my cost? How do we do this? [00:23:40] And as I was earlier telling you, the thing with UnitedAg is that we're trying to test how would we do right by the people, right? If we are diagnosed with something or we [00:23:50] have something happen, how would you like to be treated? And let's create a sustainable business that works for the patient, that works for the business and that works for anybody [00:24:00] associated with that. And that's the challenge. That's the fulfilling part of it. The easy thing is to say no and make lots of money. But is that the right thing to do? So, I hope, like your friend, the [00:24:10] vegan friend, I hope people will say some similar things about United AG and say, okay, the cheese. I don't really like health insurance, but I like United AG. That [00:24:20] would be awesome because that's through UnitedAg, through what you're doing, through Rumiano Cheese. You're trying to change people's mind and say by doing [00:24:30] right by the people, it can be done. So, others please listen and do it the right way. Right, right, right. I mean, that's, that's the.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:24:37] Message of influencing.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:24:38] Right?
Raymond Rumiano : [00:24:38] That's essentially what we're.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:24:39] Trying to do, [00:24:40] correct?
Raymond Rumiano : [00:24:41] Yeah. And I think, again, we never intended to do that. You know, we literally generational farms have been doing it the same way our families and making the cheese the same way. [00:24:50] And granted, I think, you know, in terms of like employee culture and the culture of the company and how has that shifting over the time? It's perpetually evolving almost. All the time. Right. But I truly appreciate [00:25:00] what you're saying. You know, I'm going through that right now. You know, frankly, I'm trying to find a therapist. And that whole struggle is so difficult. It's so cold and inhuman that it makes it really [00:25:10] tough. Right. And I appreciate the effort that you're putting into the intention and the drive.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:25:15] Right. Especially mental health and especially in I [00:25:20] think it was more so in our agriculture industry because we were the front. We had to be out there right during Covid time. So, we went through a lot more and it was still [00:25:30] considered a little bit of a taboo in this industry than more so in other industries. And so, we are going through all of that and there is a need for it. And so, through United [00:25:40] we exploring a lot of things to kind of help because and people kind of again, very similar to when you say people tend to put things in buckets, right? [00:25:50] People like classifying things. So mental health and behavioral health becomes a bucket. But is that really your needs could be very different than my needs, my needs and the two of us. The [00:26:00] third need is totally different. But I'm going to solve it one way. Is it doable? No. Right. So, we are exploring some options where array calling in [00:26:10] could have a very different need and a calling and could have a different need. And how do we guide that person to the right care? Sure. Right. But again, that's going back to [00:26:20] understanding first, going deeper, which sometimes we all don't tend to do because easier thing is not going to go deeper and understand. How about that? And the other thing [00:26:30] is just kind of being human. We are humans. We're all this together. We all this too. Yeah, exactly. I think Covid has taught us more to be that. That was [00:26:40] a wakeup calls for all of us. Right? So going back to your cheese. So what? What is your favorite cheese?
Raymond Rumiano: [00:26:46] Oh, my. Um, I get shunned in the industry [00:26:50] for saying this, but I really love American cheese. We used to have a lot of cheese, so we have this thing called trim. It's essentially when you take a £40 [00:27:00] block and cut it into an eight-ounce bar, you're bound to have little bits left over that can't sell. So, we used to sell that and turn it into an American cheese. It was an organic American cheese.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:27:08] That was your favorite.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:27:09] It was amazing. [00:27:10] I think we don't have that anymore. But, you know, it's hard to say. I think a really good well, if we're not speaking about Rumiano [00:27:20] Cheese specifically, I think a really good triple cream Camembert Brie sort of is a bloomy rind of any sorts is really my go to.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:27:28] So you're not a cheese snob then? [00:27:30]
Raymond Rumiano : [00:27:30] No, certainly not. I spent just kind of before this roll that I'm on now. I was a general manager of an e-commerce project through Rumiano, so it was called Bored at Home. And [00:27:40] we essentially the goal was to this was started up just early 2020 March 2020 was when we spun this up. But the goal was to highlight a bunch of artisan cheese makers throughout California [00:27:50] that didn't have the ability to have, you know, storefronts buying their cheese and selling it. And they didn't have the cheesemongers they didn't have their farmers markets, right. They had no outlet for these cheeses. So [00:28:00] my goal was to, well, the team's goal that helped set this up was really to how do we highlight them and get people drive to their e-commerce sites and and buy their products in the store. And that evolved [00:28:10] into doing about 300 different cheese tasting events virtually with, you know, assorted, you know, tech giants and, you know, insurance companies and, [00:28:20] you know, consulting firms that are, you know, the big three, a lot of different ones. And I always started those kinds of events just saying there's no wrong way to enjoy what you're [00:28:30] eating. Like, seriously, if you don't like something, that's okay. But, you know, I always said I'm not a cheese snob. I'm not pretentious about cheese. So, but that was like a big, important thing to me. [00:28:40] It was just like, you know, again, part of that educating the consumer earlier is just, you know, I had some people say like, I've never, ever thought about cheese this way or I've never even thought about food this way. Right? And it was like, [00:28:50] wow, right. You're doing more than just telling people about cheese. You’re changing the way people taste and eat their product, right? Like, that was something special. So that's.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:28:59] Pretty cool. [00:29:00] We should do something like that with you, right? That's because I think that's true when you are just the way you eat and getting people to understand it, especially what's and how it impacts, [00:29:10] right? Everything else.
Raymond Rumiano: [00:29:11] We called it tasting with intention, right? So, it's really taking a minute to understand like behind where it came from, but also, you know, every second [00:29:20] of that taste of that piece of cheese or that wine or that bread, whatever it is, right? It transcends cheese, but it's just thinking about it. And [00:29:30] it's and that can kind of lay into every aspect of your life just thinking like, what's my intention here? But that's another podcast. Mindful mindfulness is mindful it’s really a mindfulness [00:29:40] exercise in a lot of ways.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:29:41] But going back to your mindfulness, I wonder through cheese and what you do, like you said, it relates back to everything [00:29:50] that we do, right being have an intention, be mindful of what you do, right? So, an act of eating cheese and. Enjoying it. You don't have to rush through it. [00:30:00] We all are in this rat race. We all want to get somewhere. Some people my age is talking about retiring and whatever, right? I'm like, live life today. Like you're [00:30:10] retired today. Why can't you live? I mean, you create crafts your life around it, right? So, we are always thinking, what next? What's tomorrow? What's this? What? My next hour. Sit down and just enjoy the piece of [00:30:20] cheese. Yeah, exactly right. It's like, be here now. Good. That's pretty. That's cool.
Raymond Rumiano: [00:30:25] That's it was in retrospect, it's very interesting. I always heard my wife would always tell me, be [00:30:30] where your hands are. And that was interesting because that is, you know, where your cheese is in a sense. Right. But that helped. You know, cheese was the vessel, right? That it really wasn't about cheese in a [00:30:40] lot of ways like it was. It was so much more about connection with humans. Obviously, we're all doing this virtually. But yeah, it really is. It's about intention, right? It's about just taking a minute and thinking [00:30:50] about, okay, like appreciate where you're at if you can. You know, some people aren't privileged enough to have the ability to appreciate where they're at, right? So, I've got to take that with the scope of, [00:31:00] you know, lens that I have.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:31:01] But that's awesome. We would love to do something like a virtual event because that's awesome because it connects at so many [00:31:10] different levels, so many different levels.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:31:12] It really does.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:31:13] Now, I think I asked you earlier on, what do you find fulfilling about this job? I think I have [00:31:20] my answer because you just looking at your body language and your passion for what you do when you this is your fulfillment. This is [00:31:30] your passion.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:31:30] Yeah. It's something, you know, it's not easy every day by any means. And there's with family business, there's always complications. Right. But it can be really fulfilling, [00:31:40] you know, And I think that that is that, frankly, was a struggle for me to understand how I find fulfillment. Right? And I was really privileged and lucky enough to have, for one, this opportunity [00:31:50] and for two, some great mentors along the way. Right. And that really helped me understand kind of how to guide my own path [00:32:00] and the best I can to get to a position where if I'm dedicated to sticking around, I need to make sure I'm doing something meaningful for not only me, but the company, Right? And yeah, [00:32:10] it's always evolving, right? You're always kind of chasing that fulfillment and understanding how do you continue on with it but also grow it, right? So yeah, that's.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:32:18] What we're all striving to do every day. [00:32:20] That's true. So is it anything else you want to say that we missed? Any other stories?
Raymond Rumiano : [00:32:25] You know, don't know mean? Not really. I mean, you know, we have the history [00:32:30] of rumiano but I don't know if that's really that pertinent. We talked a little bit about how we started. And, you know, my my father and my uncle, they took over in the 80s and ever since then, they're still involved. But, you know, I've [00:32:40] got my two cousins that are the fourth generation and my my brother, my twin brother actually lives in France now. Oh, he does. Working for another cheese Affineur, who is that's [00:32:50] a essentially a cheese major, somebody that ages cheese. Right. But he couldn't get out of the cheese industry, moved to France, tried to tried to get out. But he still works for Rodolph. [00:33:00] Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, yeah, no, for the most part, I think I covered everything. But I mean, do you have any other questions for me?
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:33:07] No. I think we covered the negative connotations we covered [00:33:10] like people not knowing where the food comes from. Kind of the concept. I love the way you connect it to mindfulness and the way we live our lives because [00:33:20] that's what is missing. So I think unless anything from you want to get it out there for your social media needs or whatever, anything. [00:33:30]
Raymond Rumiano : [00:33:30] Yeah, I mean, if everyone's interested in seeing our journey, you know, Rumiano's always evolving. We're aiming for a carbon neutral by [00:33:40] 2030. I think we're we've got some work to do in terms of data collection. But I think the data collection that we will be doing is really helpful. But if you want to see our journey kind of through that, [00:33:50] plus the growth of, you know, our organic brand and where to find it, you know, follow us on all the socials is at Rumiano Cheese dot [00:34:00] Rumiano cheese.com is our website and yeah we hope we've inspired some people to really think about their product and you know I'm not even saying buy Rumiano just buy [00:34:10] artisan buy local that's they always that's always a great option as well.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:34:14] So thank you Ray This was awesome. I think just usually when I go through these interviews, [00:34:20] I keep it open because I'm curious and I want to see what I learn from it. But your message about the mindfulness and what we do in our lives [00:34:30] and with an intention and I think what you be where your hand is or be where your cheese is, was beautiful because I'm going to remember [00:34:40] that every time, not just eating cheese, but anything, right? Because when you moms and working moms and all kinds of I mean, we have all these things, you're always [00:34:50] on a go, go, go. But just to take that and maybe taste that. Yeah. The first cow who produced the. Milk, right? I mean, what awesome. We [00:35:00] don't even mean that's a mindfulness exercise. Yeah, right. So, thank you for that. Thank you for that pleasure.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:35:06] I'm, you know, perpetual challenge to commit to doing that on a always [00:35:10] basis. But, you know, that's the beauty of it. Yes.
Kirti Mutatkar: [00:35:13] The practice and looks like you this has been really, exciting because I can see your energy. I can see your passion, and [00:35:20] I'm feeling energized by that. And this is super exciting. So, thank you for doing this. And I'm glad I came down here to meet with you. Well, thanks.
Raymond Rumiano : [00:35:28] For journeying all this way. I [00:35:30] appreciate it. I know it's not much here, so we appreciate you are here.
Speaker3: [00:35:35] Come on. Thank you. Yeah.