Ropp Jersey Cheese closes

NORMAL, Ill. — After over 20 years in business, Ropp Jersey Cheese made its final batch of cheese Jan. 26 and will close its retail store Feb. 7.

“We’ve made some decisions as a family. Once you realize you start looking at some exit strategies for a small business like ours, it really makes you think and it makes you reminisce about what it’s been like over the last 20 plus years,” Ken Ropp said.

“Through a series of events, we had been talking with a couple other dairy producers in the state and it just wasn’t going to work out for them as far as purchasing Ropp Jersey Cheese.

“So, we’ve talked to our manufacturer and there are some people interested in equipment and things like that. They’re going to purchase and take back the big equipment that we’ve got here in the plant — the cheese-make vat, pasteurizer and all that.

“We’ve sold 90% of its cows. We kept a few of the good ones that we wanted that are our pets, per se. We’re still milking and doing everything that we normally do. It’s just, it’s time.”

He opted to keep the farm store open through Feb. 7 — Super Bowl weekend.

“I had made promises to a lot of our customers that we would make some fresh queso right up to Super Bowl, and so we’ll come through on that. We’ll run some store specials and such in between time and move product,” he said.

“It’s been a whirlwind, and this last week I think what has finally happened is once you realize where you’re at and what you need to do, there’s some relief and, at the same time, as my wife would often say, we gave birth to a cheese plant. And so it feels like you’re sending your kid off to college or even overseas or whatever.”

Multiple Generations

Ropp is the sixth generation on the farm where he lives with his wife, Becky, and their daughter, Leah. His parents, Ray and Carol Ropp, are still on the farm, as well.

On the dairy side, the Ropps milked 58 Jerseys that produced Ropp Jersey Cheese products.

The family’s ties to Jerseys and dairy go back multiple generations.

Ray joined the family dairy business with his father, Clarence, and brother, Gordie, in 1967 after returning home from the Army. That same year, they built a 96-stanchion barn with a parlor that could accommodate milking 12 cows at one time.

In 1983, Ray bought his father’s and brother’s share of the business.

After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1993, Ken spent seven years in sales before coming home to the farm in 2000.

The first steps toward producing cheese on-farm from their cows began in 2003. After going through the zoning process, financials and other aspects of the business, construction of the plant and other related facilities started in 2005.

The family started making cheese in October 2006, and the Ropp Jersey Cheese retail store opened about a month later. The Ropps were using 100% of their own milk for retail cheese — the first in the state to do so on-site.

“The public has been super about supporting Ropp Jersey cheese,” Ken Ropp said. “The unfortunate part is, I think that the world today is just, it’s not built for what can Ken do more than what he’s doing now? And when I say that, how do we do this? Do we expand. If, we do, what for?

“It’s a family operation and the last child is Leah, our daughter, and she really doesn’t see herself becoming a part of it, so the decision was a lot easier.”

Mixed Emotions

The move is bittersweet, in a sense, for Ropp. It’s a business that required long hours, traveling many miles delivering product and building longstanding friendships with customers.

“That was probably the hardest part for me because I like going out and kicking rocks with these guys, kind of behind the scenes. I don’t need to be in the front of the house. I love being in the back of the house. We’ve had a really neat relationship, really with the whole of our customers,” Ropp said.

“It’s mixed emotions. It really is. You can see the finality coming, but at the same time, prior to COVID, we didn’t see anything like this coming. But I think that the world is a lot different place right now and it’s just a matter of where we fit.

“I think that a little time off will be good for all of us. And it allows us to rest a little bit, to pay the bills and do things that need to be done and then move on from there. I’ll be 55 next year, so it’s just a matter of what we want to do.

“The icing on the cake for me was last Thursday (on Jan. 22). Matt Stoecker and I are doing some labeling and the printer went out on it. I looked at Matt and I said, I think this is the good Lord’s sense of humor of, it’s time. So, here we are. Where Ken is hand-writing labels. It’s kind of old-fashioned, but it’ll work and we’ll work through this supply.”

Ropp didn’t want to leave his customers without product as they transitioned to other suppliers.

“The other neat part is with today’s cheese make, we’ve got enough curd to keep our restaurants in good supply until they can work things out with their distributors. I don’t want to leave anybody high and dry. I don’t want to just shut the doors and say, sorry, or leave a note they see posted on the door,” he said.

“This is real. This is what it is. It’s a family business and we’re going to treat them like they’re family.”