UK Alum's Locally Made Cheese Showcases Commitment to Ky. Food Economy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 29, 2016) — Ed Puterbaugh, owner of Boone Creek Creamery, the first artisan cheese producer in the state of Kentucky, is also a University of Kentucky alumus. As a proud Kentuckian, Puterbaugh not only sells cheese made in-house in his Lexington shop, but also a variety of locally made products in his Kentucky Proud store.

Puterbaugh received his degree from UK in microbiology, allowing him to thoroughly understand and oversee the biological processes involved in cheese-making.

“Our cheese is as natural as you can get,” said Puterbaugh. “We don’t use any of the junk that factory cheeses use: chemicals, enzymes, steroids or hormones.”

Boone Creek Creamery is one of the University of Kentucky’s local food partners. They provide cheese for catered events and football games, and even supply all the mozzarella cheese for pizzas made at two of UK Dining’s locations, The 90 and Blazer Cafe.

MK Cole, senior operations chair for UK Dining, said the partnership with Boone Creek Creamery exemplifies UK’s two-fold commitment to supporting the local food economy and providing the highest quality meals for students.

“We’ve been out exploring new partnerships to bring in more Kentucky pride and local purchases and vendors.” Cole said. “Obviously we serve a lot of pizzas here, so one of the first things we wanted to do was make a Kentucky Proud pizza.”

As part of the partnership between Aramark and the University of Kentucky, UK Dining is dedicated to engaging and supporting local businesses. In the first year of the institution’s dining contract, not including beverages, UK increased its local food purchases by approximately 20 percent. Moreover, UK is the only university in America with a global food partner who has made a multimillion-dollar commitment to growing the local food economy.

“I am extremely proud of the university and Aramark for taking the initiative to do that,” Puterbaugh said. “I really think that’s quite remarkable.”

Local food purchases will continue to increase throughout the duration of the contract.

“Right now we're just working to build our vendor pool and partnerships,” said Cole. “With some of the farms here, we have to tell them in advance many, many years so that they can actually grow the products.”

In addition to local food partners, the University of Kentucky also has an academic partnership, the Food Connection. The Food Connection is an unprecedented public-private partnership between UK and Aramark, housed in the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. It is designed to leverage the innovation and research of UK and the market position of Aramark to substantively grow a vibrant food economy in Kentucky.

“For me, it’s kind of a full circle,” said Puterbaugh. “In a lot of ways I feel that I am returning that education back to the university with a product that wouldn’t have existed without that education. It’s cool on so many levels.”

As the University for Kentucky, UK is dedicated to continue growing its local partnerships, supporting the Kentucky food economy and providing quality, nutritional dining options for the UK community.

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can support continued investment in your university and the Commonwealth, go to: uky.edu/uk4ky. #uk4ky #seeblue

MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Geegan, 859-257-5365; sarah.geegan@uky.edu