On Jan. 2, Fromager Corinne Zinn will officially step away from her cheese company, closing the chapter on Park City Creamery as she sells the business to Ballerina Farm. Zinn said her plan was always to sell the company as a move toward retirement, but when she listed the business for sale, she thought it would have taken another couple of years. “My idea in the beginning was to start a business, make it run properly, have the right employees, and since I started that in my late 50s, I’m getting near retirement, so the idea was to sell and retire,” she said. “I posted a few months ago for sale, and I thought it’s going to take probably a year or two before it will be gone. But Ballerina Farm got very interested, and they jumped on it.” The purchase by Ballerina Farm follows the Kamas-based brand’s launch of a full production dairy in 2024. By March, the facility housed 118 cows. Bringing the Park City Creamery business into the fold, Ballerina Farm will produce Zinn’s same cheeses, now under its own brand and made with milk from its cows — a similar strategy the brand used earlier this year with the lease of Gold Creek Farms cheesemaking facility, where Ballerina Farm also hired those cheesemakers and purchased 42 cows. With the Park City Creamery facility and technology, Ballerina Farm will also explore new product options like smoked mozzarella and burrata, and source high-quality goat and sheep’s milk for additional options. Zinn said she’ll help with the transition for a few weeks before officially moving on. Overall, it’s the best case scenario, Zinn said. “I was looking for somebody who would keep producing the same cheeses with the same quality, and bring it to the next level,” she said. “I think it’s the right marriage. They have the farm. They have the cows. I have the recipe, the cheese, the process, the production, all the equipment. It’s perfect for them. It’s perfect for me.” Ballerina Farm — founded by now-influencer couple Hannah and Daniel Neeleman — produces milk with Brown Swiss and Jersey cows, both breeds whose milk is extra creamy and yellower in color because of the keratin from being grass fed, Zinn said. While it’s a different milk than she’s used for Park City Creamery, the test batches made with her recipes are just as tasty, she said. Ballerina Farm opened its dairy in 2024, and with its purchase of Park City Creamery, the brand will use the milk to expand cheese production. Credit: Park Record file photo by Clayton Steward “It’s a really very nice, creamy milk, and that’s perfect for the type of cheese I’m making here,” she said. Regulars of Park City Creamery will know her wheels: “Silver Queen,” a goat cheese dusted in vegetable ash, “Treasure,” a brie-style cheese, and “Hidden Treasure,” a brie made with truffles. In addition to the facility and the recipes, Ballerina Farm will retain the creamery’s employees, something that Zinn said was important to her. Steve Delplace, a cheesemaker from France, and cheesemaker Christopher Homer from Massachusetts are two of those staff that will now work for Ballerina Farm, along with Ashley Hafer, who has worked at the creamery wrapping the cheese.  Zinn thanked those three employees, without whom the creamery wouldn’t be what it is today, she said. Another big thank you is to her husband, David, “for all his support and patience with the long hours I spent at the creamery,” Zinn said. Going forward, she hopes that the two can spend more time together. Though she doesn’t see herself going full-on retirement just yet. “He’s working two or three days a week. So he’s spent a lot of time by himself as I was working almost seven days a week here,” she said. “Maybe travel a little more and then go camping and do some fun stuff a little more.” Reflecting on her seven years with the Park City Creamery, Zinn said the Small Business Administration was a priceless resource as she got her small business off the ground. “I had a mentor … Jim Herrin, who I consulted right from the beginning. He helped me to set up the business and gave me a lot of good recommendations, and all that was even before I started the business. He really pushed me to do it, and I’m very happy I did,” she said. After she refined her cheese recipes and tested the market in Park City, Zinn and Herrin put together a business plan and got a small loan from the Utah Microloan Fund to start the business in November 2018. The “Silver Queen” is Zinn’s most decorated cheese, a goat cheese dusted with vegetable ash. Credit: Photo courtesy of Park City Creamery And then it was the customers who kept her going, through highs like multiple gold, silver, bronze and best of show Utah Cheese Awards, and lows like COVID. Restaurants especially backed her vision, Zinn said, excited to have European-style cheeses made right in the neighborhood, different from the usual hard cheeses and cheddars from nearby producers.  “I really want to deeply thank everybody, all my customers and restaurants and stores for all their support since the very beginning. … I had a lot of support from the community,” she said.  There are a few more chances to purchase Park City Creamery-branded cheese from Zinn herself before the official Jan. 2 close. The company will have a booth at the Dec. 27 Saturday Downtown Farmers Market in Salt Lake City, or locals can swing by the creamery — 1200 W Lori Lane, A3, Heber City — between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays until Jan. 1. And then it’s off on the next adventure, Zinn said. “I have no doubt that Ballerina Farm will keep doing outstanding products and will even bring some novelties to the market,” Zinn said. “​​I’m feeling like I’m handing my teenager kids off to college. It’s going to grow up and it’s going to make something very nice.” The post Park City Creamery sells business to Ballerina Farm appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less