The cows grazing on the pastures behind Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese in Austin, Kentucky, are working hard, but the pay-off will take months before the milk they produce becomes the Kentucky Bleu, Colby, Norwood, Tomato Basil Cheddar, or Smoked Gouda and arrives at stores and restaurants across Kentucky.
When you think of Kentucky food with strong ties to the farm, one of the first that comes to mind is Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese. A master of cheese-making, Kenny Mattingly and his family put in years of hard work and sweat equity to develop a product that is known across the Commonwealth. As a 19-year-old Kenny Mattingly and his family moved to Kentucky in 1976 from Indiana to begin the Mattingly Dairy Farm. Kenny remembers immediately loving the dairy life and all things farming. However, it would take an off-farm job, a trip to Europe, his passion for farm life and 30 plus years before Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese would be what we see today.
In 1998, Kenny started the cheese business to have a stable market to pay the farm for their milk. "Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese is an incorporated business located on the farm that buys the Mattingly Farm milk," Kenny shared. "We pay ourselves a premium for our milk to make both entities work."
Currently they have over 26 types and varieties of cheeses and plan to expand into shredded cheeses, a project KCARD helped develop with a business and marketing plan. On average, they produce between 9,000 and 10,000 pounds of cheese per month. Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese can be purchased at the farm in their cheese shop, various retail outlets, on many restaurant menus or through their online store. Whether it’s original gouda or their popular tomato basil cheddar, there is something for every cheese lover. They even have gift boxes with a variety of flavors.
In 2008 they were introduced to KCARD. "A team came to the farm and did a basic business analysis for us," Kenny recalls. The group spent 3 or 4 days watching the workers, seeing how things operated and getting a good feel for the business. "At the end of that time," Kenny remembers, "They sat down with myself and my wife Beverly and said, Kenny you need to be a CEO and stop micromanaging everything."
This was the first time Kenny and Beverly began to think of the cheese making as a business. The Mattingly’s realized that their employees were good, and they need a strong organization to keep those employees. "For the first time, we began to think of operating procedures and writing down how things should be done, not just relying on doing it how ‘Kenny’ always did it,” Kenny recalls.
The expansion of the cheese house in 2012 created a new creamery with an additional cheese vat, new packing and shipping room with a loading dock, additional storage and aging rooms, and retail store front. Former KCARD staff person Rich Laing helped Kenny with the layout of the cheese house to improve efficiency and meet Kenny’s goals for the facility.
Over the years Kenny has consistently turned to KCARD’s Senior Business Development Specialist Brent Lackey who was on the original team that visited the business and who helped develop the cost worksheets on the business’s profit margins. "We still use those same cheese files today," Kenny said. He shared that Brent really helped them understand the finances.
A few years back Kenny and Beverly hired Cory and Marissa Rago. "Cory has the same passion for this farm as I do," Kenny shared. "His dad and I are longtime friends, and he (Cory) spent his summers playing on this farm as a kid".
About two years ago, Kenny contacted KCARD for assistance in developing a management transition plan. Since then, they have been meeting monthly with Brent.
Meanwhile, the Mattingly Dairy Farm and Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese both continue to grow and expand. Two Airbnb apartments over the barn stay full a majority of the year. The cheese shop continues to experiment with flavors and cheeses for their customer base.
Recently Kenny accepted a position as a member of the Board of Directors of Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development. “I was honored to be asked and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for KCARD,” Kenny says excitedly.
Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese grew from Kenny Mattingly's love of the dairy farm and his vision to keep the farm small and to produce high quality products.