Home of the first authentic vegan cheese cave in North America.
RIND by Dina & Joshua is a sofi™ Gold and New Product Award-winning, soft-ripened, French-style vegan cheese and became the first vegan cheese to be featured in Whole Foods Market's (NoMad NYC location) fine cheese case in 2022. RIND was named Best Blue Style Vegan Cheese by Cook's Illustrated (2021). RIND was founded in 2017 by Dina DiCenso and Joshua Katcher. Located in Brooklyn, NY, RIND is transforming the cheese market by combining vegan innovation with cheese-making traditions. Using a proprietary blend of plant-based ingredients, cultures and old world methods, RIND’s products are both delicious and conscientious. In addition to cave-aged cheeses, RIND offers spreads, slices and more.
We're a member!
WE MAKE PLANT-BASED, FRENCH-STYLE, SOFT-RIPENED & BLEU CHEESE
There's something about the taste of a fine cheese that activates our passions.
Rind is a plant-based cheese of the future that goes through a primordial process; bacteria break down the proteins & fats into many molecules that pack tons of flavors.
Rind uses a proprietary blend of ancient microbes, fats, proteins & sugars to make flavors that other vegan cheeses can only dream about.
RIND is wholesale only.
You can purchase RIND products at one of our fantastic retailers listed below, some of which ship nationally in the United States. We are in the process of introducing new products and expanding to an international customer-base, and we thank you for your patience while we grow! Is there a business in your area you'd like to carry RIND? Tell them to reach out to us! saycheese@rind.nyc
"We were especially wowed by one blue cheese–style vegan cheese, RIND by Dina & Joshua Classic Cambleu, thanks to its balanced funk and bright punch."
- Cook's Illustrated, 2021
WHERE TO BUY
CURRENT RETAILERS
ONLINE/ NATIONAL DELIVERY
Besties Vegan Paradise - online shop
DeVries & Co. - online shop
Harry & David - online shop
The Vreamery Artisan Vegan Cheese Shop - Paso Robles, CA
WebstaurantStore - online shop
CANADA/WORLDWIDE DELIVERY
Vegan Supply - Vancouver, BC; Surrey, BC; international delivery
UNITED STATES
NORTHEAST
Agata & Valentina - New York, NY
Brooklyn Fare - New York, NY
City Acres Market - Brooklyn, NY
Commissary - New Paltz, NY
CTown Supermarket (Graham Ave) - Brooklyn, NY
Culinary Architecture - Baltimore, MD
DC Vegan - Washington DC
Di Brunos Bros. - Philadelphia, PA area
East End Food Co-op - Pittsburgh, PA
Food Garden Market - Brooklyn, NY
Fresh Fix - Buffalo, NY
Garden of Eden (Union Square)- New York, NY
Good Beet - Westmont, NJ
Ground Provisions - West Chester, PA
Maison Jar - Brooklyn, NY
Orchard Grocer - New York, NY
Rising Tide Natural Market - Glen Cove, NY
Riverwards Produce - Philadelphia, PA
Ro's Diner - Brooklyn, NY
Samosa Shack - Kingston, NY
Seitan's Helper - Brooklyn, NY
Sickles Market - Red Bank, NJ
St. Mazie Bar & Supper Club - Brooklyn, NY
Sticky Fingers Bakery - Washington, DC and Takoma, MD
Sweet Maresa's - Kingston, NY
Tuffet - Brooklyn, NY
Terms of Endearment - Brooklyn, NY
Westside Market (Gramercy Park) - New York, NY
Whole Foods Market (6 locations in NYC. 1 location in CT): Columbus Circle, NoMad, One Wall Street, Third and 3rd (Brooklyn), Tribeca & Williamsburg; Danbury, CT
WEST
Besties Vegan Paradise - Los Angeles, CA
Crossroads Kitchen - Calabasas, CA
Crossroads Kitchen - Los Angeles, CA
Crossroads Kitchen - Las Vegas, NV
Elroy's Fine Foods - Monterey, CA
Erewhon - Los Angeles County, CA
Follow Your Heart Market & Café - Canoga Park, CA
Max's Market - Big Fork, MT
Plantiful Kitchen - Carlsbad, CA
Seedlings Vegan Provisions - Seattle, WA
Sinatra Italian Restaurant at WYNN - Las Vegas, NV
The Vreamery Artisan Vegan Cheese Shop - Paso Robles, CA
Vtopian - Portland, OR
WYNN Hotels & Restaurants - Las Vegas, NV
MIDWEST
Cleveland Vegan - Cleveland, OH
Devries & Co 1887 - Detroit, MI
Marchant Manor Cheese - Cleveland Heights, OH
Madame Zuzu's - Highland Park, IL
Spirit Elephant - Winnetka, IL
SOUTH
Babe & Butcher - Charlotte, NC
The Cheese Shop - Carrboro, NC
Flour + Time - Atlanta, GA
St. James Cheese Co. - New Orleans, LA
"Rind makes a striking centerpiece for a cheeseboard. Resembling a Camembert, but with dark bleu veins running through its rind, like a blue cheese, this cheese’s interior is soft, buttery, and yeasty. You might not guess by its appearance that the wedge is actually plant-based and vegan."
- The Boston Globe, 2020
MELTY SLICES ARE HERE.
RIND is excited to introduce our sofi™ Award-winning, delectable Carrot Cheese Slices that will make you melt! Winning the 2022 New Product Award from the speciality Food Association, these are made with real carrots. Vegan, gluten-free, nut-free and soy-free. Creamy, robust and cheesy flavor with a melty, gooey and luscious texture when heated. Available in retail and food-service sizes. For more information, contact us: saycheese@rind.nyc
DAIRY IN DECLINE
WHAT MOOVES US
The dairy industry is in a downward spiral. In November 2019, one of the largest dairy manufacturers, Dean Foods, filed for bankruptcy, confirming the global trend away from dairy and dairy products. Livestock and dairy experts have recently said their industry would be gone in ten years due to the "vegan tide"*. With veganism up 500% since 2014* and with an expanding groundswell of lucrative plant-based milk options, major companies are now acquiring smaller plant-based start-ups left and right.
Dairy farmers have seen the writing on the wall and some are even transitioning to plant-based milk operations, with great success. After 90 years in business, New York State's Elmhurst Dairy switched over to nut-milk*, in Sweden, Orebro stopped milking cows & now milks oats, and in 2019, Giacomazzi Dairy*, a 125 year old California dairy farm, switched over to growing almonds.*
With dairy in decline, the global vegan cheese market size is currently values at 2.2 billion USD and is expected to reach USD 5.64 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 12.4% over the forecast period.* RIND is perfectly positioned to fill a major void in the market: bloomy, European-style, aged, plant-based cheeses. The vegan cheese market has a lot of players, but there are no current companies making aged and bloomy, soft-ripened, non-dairy cheese quite like ours.
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Every year around 9 million cows suffer in the US dairy industry. Cows must be artificially inseminated & like all mammals, give birth in order to produce milk. Babies are torn from mothers so that humans can drink the cow's milk intended by nature for calves. Babies, if they're male, are tethered or otherwise constricted so their muscles remain tender for the veal industry, & females become baby & milk machines, themselves. All are sooner or later slaughtered when their milk production slows.
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~460b cubic meters of water are used for the US dairy industry annually.
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Dairy farms pollute the air, water and land, impacting the communities by causing illness and disease. The dairy industry accounts for about 4% of total global anthropogenic GHG emissions.
"WE WILL NOT HAVE A DAIRY INDUSTRY IN FIVE TO TEN YEARS."
-Dr Judith Capper, a livestock sustainability consultant
FOUNDERS
RIND is a team of experienced vegan entrepreneurs transforming the cheese market.
Dina DiCenso is the founder of Gristle Tattoo, an all-vegan tattoo studio in Brooklyn, NY. She's also an NP & founded Brooklyn Nurse Practitioners, a plant-based primary care clinic. She has a PhD in Economics & an MS in Finance.
Joshua Katcher is a designer, educator, author & lifestyle expert who founded the popular website The Discerning Brute in 2008, & the award-winning Brave GentleMan label in 2010; a sustainable, vegan luxury fashion brand that has appeared in Vogue & on the cover of GQ. Katcher published an award-winning book, Fashion Animals in 2019.
