By Kathleen Hill
Vella Cheese Company just announced on social media that they are closing after 94 years in business.
As our daughter said, “That’s awful.” And I think lots of people will feel that way.
Most famous for their Dry Jack, the family said “Our business has never fully recovered from the challenges of COVID and the financial demands of operating a small, artisanal company in today’s fast-paced food industry have become more than we can sustain.”
Their historic stone building on Second Street East was built for a brewery in 1904. In 1931 Tom Vella, his wife, Zolita Clerici Vella, and Celso Viviani turned it into a cheese factory. After World War II Tom Vella moved cheese making to the Sonoma Mission Creamery building where Burgers & Vine is now located at the corner of First Street East and East Spain Street. Eventually the Viviani and Vella families split, and the Vivianis created the Sonoma Cheese Factory, which has not made cheese in years and is no longer owned by the Viviani family.
Vella’s, as we know it, has stopped making cheese and will continue to sell what they have already made at 315 Second Street East, Sonoma. (707) 938-3232.
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