MY LIGHT BULB MOMENT
Patricia Michelson, 69, opened her alpine cheese business, la Fromagerie, 27 years ago from her garden shed. she lives in london with her husband, Danny, and has two daughters and three grandchildren. STARTING my cheese business happened by chance. We went on a family skiing holiday to Meribel, France, in 1990. The weather was awful and, at the top of a mountain, I lost sight of my husband and fell.
I went off-piste, climbing over ice and rocks for hours, and eventually reached the treeline, where skiers directed me to the village.
I arrived exhausted and starving. I walked shakily into a cheese shop called La Fromagerie. I had only ten francs (£1.50), but it bought me a piece of the local cheese, called Beaufort. As I nibbled it on the way back to the chalet, I couldn’t believe how much better I felt.
I decided to buy some cheese to take back to Britain and ordered
une pièce of Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage — without realising that meant an entire 35kg wheel of cheese. The cheesemonger drove up the hill in his little van to deliver it, and I couldn’t bear to send him away, so we stuffed it in the car. My two daughters had to sit next to this cheese for a 16-hour drive!
Back in London, I stored it in my shed, where it was cold, like the mountains. I started giving it away, including to some restaurants.
When they told me how much they adored it, a light went on and I thought: ‘Wow, this has the makings of a fantastic business.’
The chalet owner in Meribel was a friend, so he sent over local cheese. I started a market stall in Camden at the weekends and my daughters, Rose and Kate, then seven and 17, came with me to help. I found a French wholesaler who could transport farmhouse cheeses over every week.
In 1991, I gave up my job as a PA, my husband quit his business and we sold our house to rent our first shop in Highbury, North London. Food writer Nigel Slater was one of my first customers — he gave us lots of coverage. In 2002, we opened our flagship Marylebone shop.
I eat cheese every day. Parmesan is the best hangover cure. I’ve got good teeth, strong hair — you name it. I put it all down to cheese.
lafromagerie.co.uk