Artist Profile: Brian Wasik on Cheese, Family Values, and Customer Service

Brian Wasik — the head cheesemonger of Wasik’s Cheese Shop in Wellesley, Mass. — is passionate about cheese and the day-to-day interactions that his job brings. As co-owners of the business, Wasik and his brother, Brad, carry on their father’s legacy of providing exemplary customer service and high-quality products.

Wasik’s father, Steve Wasik — who was the original owner of Wasik’s Cheese Shop — grew up in Greenwich, Conn. as the son of Polish immigrants. With his grandfather making little money as a high school janitor, Wasik described how his grandmother practically “kicked my dad out” to go find a job when he was about 15 years old.

The first job that hired Wasik’s father involved sweeping floors at a cheese shop on Greenwich Ave. His father eventually worked his way up to becoming vice president of the store’s greater franchise — Cheese Shop International — which boasted over 100 stores across the country. Although the Cheese Shop International franchise no longer exists today, some of the storefronts that the company once owned are now operated by small businesses, like Wasik’s shop.

Between flying within the U.S. to open new locations for the franchise and traveling to France to find new cheeses and vendors, Wasik’s father was a very busy man. Eventually, he decided to settle down and move the family to Wellesley, where they bought their own cheese shop.

Speaking fondly of his childhood in the shop, Wasik said, “I was born here, basically.”

Wasik got involved in the business from a young age, and he and his siblings worked in the store throughout high school and college. Because it is a family business, they need all hands on deck to make sure the store operates smoothly.

“As soon as you are old enough to carry a box, you carry the box. So I spent a lot of time in this back room before I was allowed to go out front and start helping customers and things of that nature,” Wasik said.

Wasik attended Saint Michael’s College in Vermont to study Business Administration, but also nurtured a passion for writing while he was there. Wasik took an introductory writing class but did poorly — which he attributes to his dislike of the professor — so he switched to journalism and wrote for his school newspaper, “The Defender.” His monthly column featured everything from local restaurant reviews to prohibited hot-plate dorm recipes.

After college, there was never a question as to whether Wasik would join the family business. Luckily, he was able to carry over his love for writing into the shop and began writing a lengthy newsletter to advertise the store’s products. He would visit the store’s cheesemakers and other suppliers, write about them, and then seal and mail all of the pamphlets out.

“It was exhausting. And now all we have to do is take a picture, add three words, and put it on Instagram,” Wasik said, laughing.

As soon as Wasik graduated from college, his father gave him the important responsibility of purchasing cheese for the store, a system that Wasik has mastered.

“A lot of people have computers with spreadsheets and things that they’ve done nearly a year prior and based their ordering off of that. I don’t. It’s all up in my head and I play it by ear,” Wasik said.

Wasik’s sells a variety of products from around the world including crackers, preserves, chocolates, and more. And, as of 2014, Wasik’s is licensed to sell beer and wine, a result of a vote to change Wellesley’s bylaws and a larger trend of relaxing old Blue Laws in Massachusetts. Although the store’s main focus is cheese, this licensing has allowed the business to expand and offer cheese and alcohol pairing classes. While Brian handles the cheese purchasing, his brother spearheads the alcohol sales.

When asked how he chooses vendors and products he replied, “A lot of our cheeses are European. And the reason behind that is because they’ve been doing it for centuries. And they’re fantastic.”

Wasik looks for two things when working with domestic producers: “quality and consistency.” While he admitted that he does expect seasonal differences in taste because of cheese’s reliance on environmental factors, he still always wants to have cheeses that are “consistently good.”

Moreover, most of Wasik’s vendors are people with whom he has built strong connections with over the years. One of his top vendors “used to bounce [him] on her knee” when he was a baby and also worked for his father. He emphasized the importance of loyalty and maintaining relationships with good people and vendors in such a small industry.

“If your product is fantastic and you’re just not a good person, I don’t buy from you,” Wasik said.

While it is difficult to compete with the low prices of bigger grocery stores like Whole Foods or Wegmans, Wasik is confident that although competitors sell similar products, his are of higher quality. Wasik explained that cheese is “a living breathing thing,” similar to produce. By the time the product moves from a boat, to a warehouse, and finally to the store, it no longer tastes how the original producer intended. Because Wasik flies most of his cheese over from Europe, he is able to have more oversight of his product compared to the larger grocers.

“Cheese has four stages of ripeness — one, two, three, four — I’m getting that cheese at stage two,” Wasik said.

With soft cheeses, once he receives them, Wasik puts them in the store’s cellar where they ripen and age in a regulated environment.

“Every cheese that goes out the front door I’m extraordinarily proud and happy about. And hopefully my customers are too,” Wasik added.

Although the restaurant industry is not his target audience, Wasik does supply cheese to Boston-area restaurants. Wasik and his staff love it when chefs come into the store because they all enjoy cooking as well; in fact, many of Wasik’s employees originally worked in the restaurant business — with one even coming from a Michelin-star restaurant in New York.

Wasik understands the importance of having a good staff; the newest staff member at the store has been working there for roughly five years and the oldest around 26 years.

“We’re all family here,” Wasik said.

And when asked if he sees his kids taking on the family business one day — as his oldest is starting to look at colleges — he was unsure but hopeful.

“I like to say my kids are too smart to do this. But if they wanted to come in — I wouldn’t force them — but I would love it if they did,” he said.

Ultimately, Wasik’s approach to the business and his craft is one of all-encompassing care. He brings his kind-heartedness and generosity into work with him every day, and it shows. While it is not a dream of his “to get big,” Wasik is committed to advancing the business with his strong family values at the forefront of his mind.