It was about 20 years ago in the suburbs of Minneapolis that Big Al's Lemonade — Alexis Wingert's grade-school precursor to Grazing Gouda, Lincoln's answer to the charcuterie-board craze — came to be.
On the surface, Big Al's wasn't so different from any other lemonade stand in Any Town, U.S.A.
However, her lemonade stand was run differently. More efficiently. Dare we say, a bit more mature. Maybe it had something to do with her parents, both of whom are entrepreneurs and did their best to pass along their business acumen.
"We had coupons — buy three and get the fourth one free," said Wingert, the 27-year-old who left Minnesota to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and never returned north. "It was a seven-year run and the (lemonade) stand was profitable, which was great."
Looking at her today, you would have expected nothing less.
She came to Lincoln to become a school counselor and quickly learned she had no desire for such a career. Instead, she took a job as a marketing copywriter at Hudl while coaching the high jumpers at Lincoln High School for a few years until COVID-19 put a halt to that in 2020.
And all the while, she's dabbled in anything that would allow her to combine a gherkin with a Kraft single.Â
Grazing Gouda handles corporate outings, weddings, showers or any kind of celebration. It also offers its adult Lunchables, an assortment of meats, cheeses, crackers, nuts, fruit and chocolate for $15.
They're more hearty than they look, she said.
"People will say, 'I feel like I need more,' and then they can barely get through the box," she said.
It's an old approach to food that is celebrating a renaissance, and with Grazing Gouda, Wingert is betting that its popularity continues.
"I've had people ask me, 'How are you going to just make a living off of cheese and meat?'" Wingert said. "Well, we have been eating this way since the 15th century."
Keep in mind that cheese and crackers have been a part of just about every family gathering known to man.
In 1988, Oscar-Meyer created the Lunchable, a portable kid-size portion of meat, cheese and crackers, that — 35 years later — dominates with an 84% market share.
Kids aren't the only ones willing to nosh on finger food. In November 2020, there were roughly 500 charcuterie businesses in the United States. Three years later, that number has grown to 3,500.
While most of Wingert's business is online, Grazing Gouda is located inside of Scooter's Coffee, 2901 S. 84th St., which serves as a pickup place for some of her customers.
Her goal is to eventually have a space where she can both make charcuterie boards and also teach classes on how to make them. Right now, she is conducting corporate outings that offer instruction.
"I just wanted to do something where people can just gather around a table, whether it's with two people or 10 people, and just get into really good quality interaction," she said. "There have been some fun stories that come out of the workshops."
They might be strangers to start with, but by the end of one of Wingert's charcuterie workshops, friendships develop.
"By the end of the night, they're like, 'Oh, tell me when you go to Montana,' or they'll friend each other on Facebook, or they happen to know someone's friend of a friend," she said. "It's all pretty fun."