Miyoko's Creamery, formerly Miyoko's Kitchen, is an American food producer founded by

Miyoko Schinner Miyoko Schinner (née Nishimoto; born 1957) is an American-Japanese vegan chef, cookbook author, activist, cooking show host and social entrepreneur. Since 2024, she has been a Faculty Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas S ...

in 2014.

Overview

''Miyoko's Creamery'' specializes in dairy-free products including

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

and a wide variety of different types of

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

s using traditional cheesemaking

cultures Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and techniques, chiefly out of

cashew Cashew is the common name of a tropical evergreen tree ''Anacardium occidentale'', in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to South America and is the source of the cashew nut and the cashew apple, an accessory fruit. The tree can grow as t ...

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seeds ...

s and

chickpea flour Besan or gram flour is a pulse flour made from chana dal or chickpea flour (split Bengal gram) or brown/ ''kaala chana'', a chickpea. It is a staple ingredient in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, including Indian, Bangladeshi, Burmese, ...

History

initially started a vegan food company named Now and Zen in 1997, but could not get anyone to invest in the business. She closed that company in 2003. In 2014, Schinner established "Miyoko's Kitchen", but later changed its name to "Miyoko's Creamery". The startup swiftly accrued $1 million in

seed money Seed money, also known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor puts capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' suggest ...

, first being invested in by Seth Tibbott, the founder of

Tofurky Tofurky is the brand name of an American vegan turkey replacement (also known as a meat analogue, or, more specifically, tofurkey) made from a blend of wheat protein and organic tofu. Tofurky brand was officially introduced in 1995. Tofurky is ...

. Fundraising continued to grow: in 2017, it obtained $6 million in funding, for a total of $12 million. In December of that year, it moved from a 4,000-square-foot facility to a 29,000-square-foot facility, located in

Petaluma Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 census. Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village named ''Péta ...

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...

and

Portia de Rossi Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; 31 January 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi, is an Australian-American former actress. She played Nelle Porter on the American drama series ''Ally McBeal'' (1998–2002), for wh ...

made an investment in Miyoko's Creamery in November 2019. In addition to vending within the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, Miyoko's Creamery expanded its market in 2019, distributing to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In November 2023 Miyoko’s Creamery announced plans to raise $12 million in funding and explore the potential sale of the business, as reported by

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

. In a letter to shareholders, CEO Stuart Kronauge outlined a "financial stabilisation plan" aimed at increasing profits and considering strategic alternatives, including selling the company.

Food Truck

Miyoko's Food Truck, in a Cross Country Tour starting from March 4, 2020, distributed 15,000 free grilled cheese sandwiches around the

in order to promote

cruelty-free In the animal rights movement, cruelty-free is a label for products or activities that do not harm or kill animals anywhere in the world. Products animal testing, tested on animals or made from animals are not considered cruelty-free, since these ...

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

cheese in the Country.

Legal

In August 2021, Miyoko's Creamery prevailed on

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

grounds in their lawsuit against the California Department of Food and Agriculture's attempts to force the company to cease using the words "Cheese" and "Butter" among others in the marketing of their products. In February 2023, Miyoko's Creamery announced that Schinner was no longer CEO, and that it and Schinner had parted ways. A few weeks later, on February 16, Miyoko's Creamery filed a lawsuit against Schinner, alleging that she misappropriated confidential information and copied the data to her personal cloud after the board of directors voted to terminate her as CEO. The case was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Case 3:23-cv-00711. In response, on March 3, Schinner's attorney

Lisa Bloom Lisa Read Bloom (née Bray; born September 20, 1961) is an American attorney known for advising Harvey Weinstein amid various sexual abuse allegations, and for representing women whose sexual harassment claims precipitated the firing of Bill ...

announced that she would be filing a wrongful termination counter lawsuit. Bloom stated: “The company's behavior in forcing her out of the company she created and built, then trashing her via an outrageously malicious and misleading lawsuit will be met with facts and witnesses showing that Miyoko's own complaints of toxic and sexist behavior by certain male executives were swept under the rug, and then she was demoted and fired.” On May 18 Miyoko's Creamery and Schinner made a joint announcement that both lawsuits were resolved. The announcement states: "Miyoko’s Creamery and Miyoko Schinner are pleased that they have resolved all legal disputes between them and that they have withdrawn all legal claims made against each other. Miyoko’s Creamery acknowledges the tremendous creativity, hard work, and integrity of its founder, Miyoko Schinner, a true pioneer in vegan creamery products, and appreciates her many contributions to the company over the years. Miyoko Schinner appreciates the dedicated team of people at Miyoko’s Creamery and their commitment to continuing her legacy through sustained and continued excellence in manufacturing, developing and selling vegan creamery products." It also states that they both “wish each other well as they go their separate ways.”

References

{{Vegetarianism Food and drink companies of the United States Veganism Cheese analogues 2014 establishments in California Companies based in California Agriculture companies of the United States Vegan brands Food and drink companies based in California Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area Food and drink companies established in 2014