Devoted to dairy for nearly a century

WATERTOWN, Wis. — Since 1929, the Kraemer family has specialized in bringing the taste of dairy to their community.

With roots firmly planted in the dairy industry, Kraemer Wisconsin Cheese Ltd. makes its home today in a 140-year-old converted dairy barn. The company makes cheese spread, cheese curds and fudge and also carries a wide selection of cheeses, which they cut and wrap into various sizes. Their cases are stocked with award-winning cheeses from all over Wisconsin.

“We’re lucky because Wisconsin has such great cheesemakers,” Mike Kraemer said. “The list of world championships won by our suppliers is huge.”

Kraemer Wisconsin Cheese also delivers milk, cheese and cheese curds to restaurants, schools, hospitals and other institutions.

Kraemer said their business relies heavily on the dairy industry, selling approximately 450,000 pounds of cheese and 50,000 pounds of cheese spread every year. They also distribute about 1,000 pounds of fresh curds per week and sell a large quantity of milk through deliveries and in-store as a distributor for different processors. The company also sells products all over the country and abroad through its online store.

“We’re moving that milk,” Kraemer said. “In this little family barn, we go through a lot of cheese. We’re so intertwined and interested in and promotive of the dairy industry. Many of the corporate gift boxes we sell are to ag-related companies. We also do a ton of business with farms that give gifts. We want to keep this industry going.”

Kraemer Wisconsin Cheese also has a store in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, which is where Kraemer’s parents vacationed after they retired.

“It’s been hugely successful,” Kraemer said.

The company makes more than 20 flavors of cheese spread. Kraemer said their most popular flavor by far is one that nobody else makes: apricot honey.

“It was one of the first ones my parents wanted to make, and it sounded so strange, but it’s 3:1 (in popularity) over any other flavor,” he said. “We get tons of corporate gift givers just because of that flavor, and I don’t think we would even be in business without it.”

The Kraemers use all-natural ingredients in their spreads. To achieve smoked flavors, the cheeses blended in the spread are taken to a local sausage maker and placed in his smokehouse.

“There are only natural ingredients in there, and you don’t see that anywhere in smoked cheese,” Kraemer said.

Their brandy old-fashioned flavor includes Korbel brandy, and their beer cheese is made with beer from Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee.

In 2010, Kraemer entered the World Cheese Championship for the first time and won a gold medal for his beer cheese spread.

“I tried making this nine times before but just couldn’t get it right,” Kraemer said. “A guy at World Dairy Expo told me to try a dark lager because nothing else would hold up. I learned from my father to take chances. Since I started making spreads, I started having fun with flavors. It works out well because we distribute now to people who have specific tastes that they can only get from us.”

Some of these unique flavors include cranberry pecan, buffalo Ranch and cheddar with pickle.

“We were the first people to make asiago; now everybody makes asiago,” Kraemer said. 

The Kraemers also make customized flavors for gift boxes.

“There are very few advantages to being our size, but flexibility is one of them,” Kraemer said. “I tell companies, ‘If you want something unique in your holiday gift baskets this year, tell me a flavor you don’t see anywhere, and I’ll make it for your gift box only.’ For example, I made a cranberry wine cheese spread for one of my biggest customers.”

Fudge is made weekly in small batches with flavors changing month to month to match seasons and holidays, such as mint varieties for St. Patrick’s Day; pastel-colored fudges for Easter; amaretto, red velvet and chocolate-covered cherry flavors for Valentine’s Day; and red, white and blue fudge for the 4th of July.

The family business traces back to Kraemer’s grandfather, Tony Kraemer — a dairy farmer who delivered milk door to door from his 36 Brown Swiss that he milked on the property now home to Kraemer Wisconsin Cheese.

Kraemer’s parents, James and Joanne Kraemer, bought the farm in 1955. They also milked 36 Brown Swiss and did door-to-door delivery until the late 1960s, when an issue with a tainted water supply caused by the growing town around them forced them to get rid of their cows.

“Instead of feeling sorry for himself, my father bought a distributorship to increase the size of our milk route,” Kraemer said.

In 1972, Kraemer’s parents opened a store in their old milkhouse, primarily selling dairy products. They stopped door-to-door delivery but still sold milk to institutions and restaurants.

In 1978, the business officially changed its name from Kraemer Dairy and became incorporated as Kraemer Wisconsin Cheese.

“My dad foresaw what was going on in the milk industry with the emergence of convenience stores and gas stations selling milk,” Kraemer said. “We had a really good cheese business, especially during the holidays when people give it as gifts, so in 1978 we changed our focus to cheese.”

In 1985, the family began making cheese spread.

“My dad was an incredible entrepreneur with amazing foresight,” Kraemer said. “We changed the nature of our business four times. If all those decisions were not made, and at the time he made them, we probably wouldn’t be here anymore. My brother, Rich, and I had a saying about my dad: ‘His ideas are crazy until they’re right.’ He was constantly thinking.”

Kraemer and Rich bought the business from their parents in 1998.

“What our parents did that was super smart was let me and my brother run the business for five years before we bought it,” Kraemer said. “We had to consult with them for the big decisions…The comfort of knowing it wasn’t going to be my fault if I did something wrong made me a better owner.”

Kraemer’s brother-in-law, Dan Christian, joined the business in 2003 and retired in 2021. Rich’s daughter, Megan Karl, took Christian’s spot in 2021, making Kraemer Wisconsin Cheese a fourth-generation company.

In 2014, the Kraemers remodeled the property’s original dairy barn after outgrowing the milkhouse. They built a loft where they now host wine and cheese tastings. The loft is also where they serve grilled cheese sandwiches on Fridays in the summer and on Wednesdays and Fridays during February and March.

Kraemer said he is proud to continue building upon the tradition his family started long ago.

“It’s quite a legacy they left us,” he said. “A small mom and pop business really has an amazing story.”