Some businesses feel like they were always meant to exist in the Rivertowns — Bloomy Cheese & Provisions is one of them. Shaped by Jessica Bloom Galen’s experience in some of the most iconic corners of the cheese world, Bloomy became something real as a pop-up in residence at HudCo.
In this installment of our HudCo as Incubator series, we sat down with Bloomy’s founder to talk about the moment cheese became more than a passion, how the HudCo community helped turn an idea into a storefront, and why supporting small businesses has never mattered more.
Photo by @larufoto
What sparked your passion for cheese — and when did you first imagine turning it into a business?
I was in grad school for food studies starting in 2012 and got a job at a tiny cheese shop in New Haven called Caseus. The shop prominently featured American artisan cheeses. My fate in cheese was sealed when I tasted a Vermont goat cheese called Twig Farm Tomme, which completely blew my mind.
I also fell in love with retail at Caseus, and the opportunity a cheese shop presents to share a taste experience with a customer. I dreamed of having a cheese shop of my own ever since then, but until my family and I put down roots in Dobbs Ferry, I couldn’t picture how or where it would happen.
Luckily when I started strategizing about this idea more concretely in 2021, HudCo was there to help me prototype and test out Bloomy’s first concept as a pop-up in residence.
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You’ve worked in some iconic cheese environments. How did those experiences shape the vision of Bloomy?
I’ve been really fortunate to have a variety of experiences in the cheese world. I made cheese at Cato Corner Farm, a farmstead producer in Connecticut, alongside my first cheesemongering shifts at Caseus. I spent three months in the caves at Murray’s Cheese, learning about affinage (cheese aging) and caring for the living, breathing food that cheese is.
After that, I ran a cheese shop and wine bar called Lucy’s Whey on the Upper East Side. My Master’s thesis was on cheese consumption during pregnancy, and I contributed a number of entries to the Oxford Companion to Cheese.
My experiences reinforced that bringing small-production cheese to a wider audience is all about supporting farmers, producers, and landscapes. As the last link in the supply chain, we convey the importance of supporting those folks and appreciating their efforts by eating cheese that prioritizes regionality and seasonality.
Photo by @larufoto
How did the concept of Bloomy evolve during your pop-up at HudCo and what role did the community play in launching your permanent shop?
Having a pop-up at HudCo for a year was not only a true pleasure from start to finish, it helped me rethink a number of assumptions I had taken for granted about my eventual brick and mortar.
For example, the entire pop up needed to be able to be moved when HudCo had events, so all of my furnishings were on wheels. ‘Everything on wheels’ became a guiding concept for me in the buildout of the shop; I realized I didn’t need to have a gigantic space, I just needed a flexible space.
It also gave me the opportunity to facilitate collaborations with other local small businesses and entrepreneurs, which has become central to how Bloomy operates.
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Was there a moment during your pop-up when you realized Bloomy could become a permanent home in the community?
More than a moment, the year at HudCo gave me the confidence to step into the risks of taking on a brick and mortar. I got to test out so many ideas before I took any significant financial or programmatic risks.
It also helped me gauge whether the Rivertowns community was interested in the type of cheese shop I wanted to create, and I found that the answer was a resounding yes!
What has been your proudest moment since opening the permanent location?
It’s when I overhear my kids proudly telling their friends that their mom owns the cheese shop in Dobbs Ferry. It feels like everything has come together in such a rich and incredible way that could only be possible here, with such a tight-knit and supportive community.
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How can we continue to support Bloomy and businesses like yours?
Everyone is so busy, and we have so many options for getting things delivered and shopping online. But — it has never been more important to support small businesses in our downtowns. Business owners are working so hard to keep things going against all odds, and we need the community to take that extra minute to park and come in for something that you could have gotten at a big box store or online.
We’re all in this together, and without our communities, these businesses won’t be around for long.
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What advice would you give to other people dreaming about turning their passion project into a business?
Test it out and lean on your HudCo community to help you prototype it, you have a golden opportunity there. Without HudCo, I definitely could not have made Bloomy happen, and I rely on insights from my time as a pop-up every single day.
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Have a HudCo incubator story of your own? We’d love to share it.