MAKE CHEESE OR DIE TRYING - The final chapter
We finally got into Whole Foods, only to decide to shut down the business
It’s not the ending I imagined after six years of building Stockeld Dreamery, but it’s the right one.
Anja and I started Noquo Foods back in 2019 with a bold idea: to reinvent the foods we love, starting with cheese. We dove deep into fermentation and legumes, raised $20M, and built a passionate team around a simple belief — that we could help people eat more sustainably (cheese is 2% of global emissions) and remove disgusting factory farming from the supply chain.
We built great products and a strong brand. We were able to get the blessing of some of the most iconic bagel shops and burger joints in the world, followed by A-list retailers, reaching about 500 locations.
But the intense decline in plant-based these last years made it nearly impossible for an independent cheese company to grow.
Even worse, our ambitions to sell our cheese to dairy eaters feel further away than ever.
As we prepared for another fundraise, we saw that we simply didn’t have the momentum to justify more capital, so we decided to close in a responsible way.
We knew success would demand something extraordinary and we came close, but as the market fell, it just got so much harder than we ever expected.
I’m deeply grateful to everyone who’s been part of this journey!
- Our team for obsessing over making the best cheeses possible, scaling manufacturing, selling relentlessly, and sharing our story everywhere.
- Our investors for their patience, understanding, and respectful rebellion when needed.
- Our customers for championing us early and being flexible with a growing company.
- Our community for the support, the hugs, and the vibes.
Of everything we built, the culture is what I’m most proud of. It brought out the best in us — a unique combination of trust, creativity, and joy, even in hard times. It has been a privilege to experience that kind of authenticity and flow together.
Our entire team stayed on to support the wind down, selling equipment, closing offices and labs, and selling through our remaining inventory. We’ll gradually be taken off menus and shelves in the next few months.
We’re having a few conversations about a new home for our IP and would welcome others who might be interested.
All in all, it’s bittersweet to let go. But I’m proud we built something real, with purpose, integrity, and joy.
Personally, I don’t have concrete plans yet, but I want to keep working on climate impact, whether through food or other ways. I’m sure this blog will be used once more to articulate different ideas. Stay tuned and don’t be a stranger!
