SONOMA VALLEY, CA — The news hit hard when Fourth-generation cheesemaker Gabe Luddy announced that the Vella Cheese Co. would be closing retail shop once the last morsel had been bought.
The closing scenario happened sooner than he expected.
Vella announced the last day for the Sonoma retail shop on Sept. 4, ending a 94-year run sooner than owners had planned.
"Sadly this will be our last day in the retail store," the company posted that day. "We have had such an overwhelming response to closing, our inventory sold out much faster than we expected."
The shop said it would stay open until 2 p.m. and sell non-Vella products at half price while supplies lasted.
Customers near and far responded with memories of the family's cheeses. One woman said she first tasted them on an Amtrak train and had ordered them by mail for years. "How will we go on without Dry Jack?!?!!" she wrote.
Another customer recalled bringing Vella cheese to her 96-year-old mother on visits. Her mother favored the habanero Jack, she said, and a wheel of Dry Jack was a hit at her 80th retirement party. A third thanked "Chicky, Gabe and family of workers" for keeping the business going.
Local company Sonoma Custom Goods also made Vella Cheese Co. Legacy Hats.
Luddy had earlier said the family stopped taking in milk and making cheese because continuing the business was no longer financially feasible.
At the time, he expected the store might remain open for a few months while it sold its remaining inventory.
"We've really tried and exhausted all options," Luddy said, citing partnerships and branding efforts. "We've used up all of our savings."
Luddy, who has worked as a cheesemaker for about 26 years, said Vella was the only remaining producer of Dry Jack. The family considered other ways to keep the business open, but another operator could choose to stop making it.
"Dry Jack is not a profitable product, and we're a little too big and a lot too small to compete on the higher stage," he said.
The Vella family said the business never fully recovered from the challenges of COVID and could no longer sustain the costs of operating a small artisanal company.
The company began in 1931, after local dairymen offered Gaetano "Tom" Vella the milk to start his own cheese factory. Generations of the family made cheese by hand in a stone building just off Sonoma Plaza, using its old curing rooms and longstanding techniques.
"It has been a pleasure and a privilege to share Vella Cheese with you," the family said in its closing announcement.
MORE: Cherished Cheese Company Confirms Closing After 94 Years
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