Anne Saxelby in Brooklyn, NY
Founded Saxelby’s Cheese in 2006
Anne Saxelby, a fellow leader of the cheese farm to table movement, died on Saturday at her home in Brooklyn New York City. She was 40.
When Anne got into the industry in 2006 with Saxelby’s Cheese, a small shop she opened in NYC, the farm to table industry was non-existent. Maybe 100 makers in the entire state of NY were growing organic produce and there were only a few farmers markets in NYC at the time, let along the state. That’s how early Anne was pioneering the movement.
Her tiny store in NYCEDC’s Essex Street Market was no more than a little window with room for a tiny fridge – but she was the only one doing this, so the store exploded in the first year.
By 2017, Anne and Saxelby’s Cheese was outgrowing her space at Essex Market, and she expanded to Chelsea Market while also running a burgeoning Wholesale business. She left Chelsea in 2019 with her partner Benoit Breal, and opened a warehouse space in the Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Anne and I faced eachother , running Saxelby’s Cheese and Farm2Me’s Miracle on Essex Holiday Popup, across from one another in the same aisle in Essex Market in 2015. She advised me many times on cheeses we should carry and was very influential in the early days of 2010. Anne was an inspiration and 1 of only 3 other retailers that I knew of in the US that were supporting the small batch locally sourced farm to table movement . That’s how non-existent the farm to table or sustainability movement was, back then.
Though we help a lot of the same farmers, there is something special when you meet someone who you trust is fighting the same fight as you are. It was a small world of us in 2010, and I respected Anne very much for how much she cared. I still do to this day, 10 years later.
I’ve had the privilege of working with many cheese shop owners since we started – and many of them were originally Cheesemongers at Saxelby’s to start their careers. Leaving a legacy is a big part of our work these days, and there’s no one I know that will leave a larger legacy than Anne.
If you’re reading this, go check out Saxelby’s Cheese and support a local producer. Anne wouldn’t want it any other way! Or pick up her revolutionary book and let’s get to work!