A grocery store, a restaurant, a yoga studio, and much more.
Golden Ears Cheesecrafters is truly a bit of all these things, and more, nestled near the heart of Maple Ridge.
Sisters Jenna and Emma Davison first started the local store on their family’s farm more than a decade ago and have since blossomed the business into a scenic and multi-faceted operation that is busy from open to close nearly every day.
And although they are extremely proud of every part of Golden Ears Cheesecrafters, Emma said that it’s the community activities they host that really bring their store to life.
“We have a beer festival and long table dinner in July, which are our most prestigious events of the year,” Emma noted.
In addition to their annual recurring events, temporary activities like their Pose and Pour series from August and September will be regularly introduced to the Maple Ridge store in partnership with other local vendors. Emma explained that she and Jenna typically discover new activities to host through the simple art of networking.
“We really pride ourselves on being able to network and connect with a lot of other local businesses and try to support one another symbiotically,” she said. “Anything that we can do that includes someone local and helps someone else succeed is what we want to do.”
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Emma elaborated: “At our beer festival, for example, we feature as many local breweries that would like to come. We had 29 pouring vendors, a live band, and then some food vendors as well. Taco Fan came out and Humble Roots came out, and they offered some really great meals for guests.”
It’s really the simple things that make Golden Ears Cheesecrafters so special, insisted Emma.
As the closest local cheese makers to Vancouver, the Maple Ridge sisters embraced a homegrown approach to their products, using milk from the hundreds of Jersey cows at their family’s farm, only a stone’s throw away from the shop.
Using such local ingredients means that the cheese-making sisters have nothing to hide from their customers.
“You can come here and actually watch the cheese being made,” said Emma. “There are windows inside and you can watch your cheese being made as you’re shopping around the store.
“We try and create a space where people can come and feel confident in the products that they’re buying and [we] only sell things that we would feed them to our families, as well. So they’re healthy, they’re local, they’re natural, and they’re family focused.”
But, as Emma explained, Golden Ears Cheesecrafters is so much more than a store selling local food and other goods.
“I don’t think many people know that we’re open as a restaurant as well,” she said. “We have our country kitchen, which is small, but we do a lot of takeaway meals.”
“There’s lots of mac and cheeses, and all of our soups, which have been very widely known in the community for a few years now. We’re actually known as the soup place. We bag them all up so people can buy them and take them home.”
And for those looking for something that is less comfort food and something more suited for a dinner party or date night, there are options for that as well.
“We also have a special cheese and chive scone recipe that we make in-house that is also something you can buy and go, and bake at home on the weekend for your family,” said Emma. “We do cheese plates and beautiful charcuterie boards to order, and they’re usually ready within 24 hours.”
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The homegrown charm of Golden Ears Cheesecrafters attracts people from all walks of life.
“The main thing about our customer base is it’s people who are looking for healthy, natural foods. And they want to be able to ask questions about the products that they’re buying, rather than buy it in a supermarket and not get to talk to anybody about what the product is, where it’s made, who’s involved in making it, or what chemicals may be involved in making it,” said Emma.
“We want to be able to provide that information to people, so everything is very transparent while they’re having their shopping experience.”
Golden Ears Cheesecrafters is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays through Sundays and is located at 22270 128th Ave., Maple Ridge.
Full details about their events and services are available at www.cheesecrafters.ca.