Students debut Cheese Bus in Watkins

WATKINS GLEN--It's not often that new business owners have to rush back to school to attend gym class after a ribbon-cutting, but such was the circumstance of Watkins Glen seniors and Cheese Bus owners Cale Sutterby and Silas Farrell Friday, June 11. While the idea for the Cheese Bus, a mobile artisanal cheese stand that travels between local wineries and events, started in a light-hearted way amongst advisors and fellow students in the New Visions Honor Academy program, the idea quickly ended up becoming a reality.
"We were talking about it one night after school, and [we] were just kind of like 'that could work really well'," said Sutterby. "So we talked about it to a ton of people and got everything squared away before we pulled the trigger on anything and we are really happy with how everything turned out."
At a total initial investment of roughly $15,000, the students not only put their own money into the business but also received help from a local entrepreneur.
"We both put our own money in it and we have another partner named Matt Hufnagel," Sutterby added. "We met him through the new visions program and he helped fund it as well... the bus was a lot less than we thought at about $7,000, and a lot of it was money we saved up working over the last few summers."
Along with putting their own cash into the project, it took some elbow grease as well by retrofitting the bus to store and serve cheese instead of transporting children.
While the official ribbon cutting, which was hosted by the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, of which the young men are now members, took place on Friday, the business has been up and running since April.
"Cale and I have already paid back most of our debts, so right now is time to slowly pay back our other partner and then we will start paying ourselves," said Farrell. "It's all worked out pretty well, and no bank loan means we don't have a specific amount of time to pay it back."
Along with showcasing their new business in Watkins Glen, the ribbon-cutting also gave Farrell and Sutterby a chance to meet local leaders such as County Administrator Tim O'Hearn, who was very impressed and interested in the Cheese Bus venture and discussed it at length with Paul Richmond, the students' teacher at New Vision Honor Academy at Greater Central Tier BOCES.
"The (three partners) keep (all the profits), they are in an LLC," Richmond told O'Hearn.
"So the school is not financially involved at all? Just the academic side? Cool, what a good partnership... collaboration that's the key," O'Hearn said.
While Richmond said that the new vision program has had students create businesses in the past, nothing has been on the scale of what Sutterby and Farrell have done.
"They thought why not me and I have some entrepreneurs who mentor the students and Matt Hufnagel said why don't we really do this so the three of them partnered up and now we have the Cheese Bus...I'm super proud," Richmond said.
With the business having hit the ground running, Sutterby and Farrell said they already have their eyes set not only on expansion but also brand recognition.
"This summer we will run it ourselves, next summer get another bus and hire out," said Farrell. "[We have to] figure out the whole payroll thing and have a bus on every main Finger Lake... and Matt is in contact with (Cornell Cooperative Extension) about getting our own branded Cheese Bus cheese."
"It will be the best in the region," chimed Sutterby.
Looking around at everyone at the ribbon cutting both Sutterby and Farrell seemed acutely aware of how rare and unusual their circumstance is.
"Everything here is so professional, and I have gym class in two hours," said Farrell.