The Cheese School of San Francisco

About The Cheese School of San Francisco · San Francisco

The Cheese School of San Francisco is the nation's only independent institution devoted entirely to cheese education and appreciation. Founded in 2006 by Sara Vivenzio, the school teaches cheese tasting, pairing, cheesemaking, and the cultural history of artisan cheese to everyone from curious foodies to culinary professionals. Currently owned by cheesemonger Jeanine Egan, the school is now housed inside Daily Driver's flagship location in the Dogpatch neighborhood — San Francisco's only commercial cheesemaking creamery — where it shares a 7,000-square-foot space with wood-fired ovens and an urban dairy.

The Cheese School of San Francisco began in 2006 in a small residential flat on Powell Street in North Beach, founded by Sara Vivenzio, a former Manhattan advertising executive who retrained as a cheesemonger after being inspired by her Italian family's cheesemaking heritage and the artisanal cheese movement in the Bay Area. Within a few years, Vivenzio relocated the school to a historic 1907 brick building in North Beach, then later to a location on Valencia Street in the Mission (in the same building that housed the original Saison, now Stable Cafe). In 2011, Kiri Fisher — alongside cheese educator Daphne Zepos — bought the school from Vivenzio and managed the transition to a properly licensed business, expanded the class schedule, and in 2018 moved the school to the dramatic bay-view upper floor of Ghirardelli Square, where it became a destination for public cheese classes, a retail cheese counter, cafe, catering kitchen, and private event venue. The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the school's three-legged business model (classes, retail, and catering/events), and Fisher passed away from cancer in April 2024. Before the pandemic, Fisher had been in the process of selling the school to longtime employee and friend Jeanine Egan; when that sale fell through, Egan — a former corporate manager who had worked in Paris and Berlin before becoming a cheesemonger in 2012 — worked closely with Fisher to take over day-to-day operations and ultimately completed a lengthy transfer of ownership. Under Egan, the school pivoted to virtual classes reaching students across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, then left Ghirardelli Square in early 2023 and moved into Daily Driver's flagship creamery and bagel shop at 2535 Third Street in the Dogpatch, where the two businesses share the space with opposite operating schedules (Daily Driver runs 8am–2pm for breakfast/lunch; the Cheese School runs afternoons and evenings). The Dogpatch space gives the school access to a commercial cheesemaking facility and wood-fired ovens, enabling new cheesemaking and baking classes alongside its signature tastings, pairings, farm tours, and event catering. Egan has continued to expand the school's reach with pop-ups at Levi's Plaza, the Ferry Building, and Chase Center (the Golden State Warriors' arena), and the school remains known for its signature 'Eating is Learning' philosophy, a roster of certified cheese professionals, and its status as the only U.S. institution dedicated full-time to cheese education.

In business

19 (founded 2006; BBB records business started 5/15/2006)

Owner

Founded by Sara Vivenzio (2006); previously owned by the late Kiri Fisher (2011–early 2020s); currently owned by Jeanine Egan

Serves

San Francisco Bay Area; virtual classes ship experiences nationwide across the U.S., Canada, and Europe

Rating

Approximately 4.6–4.9 across platforms — 4.9 on WeddingWire (from 30+ reviews); ~4.6 average across 150 reviews (third-party aggregators); ~4.5 on Yahoo Local (45 reviews); 4.8+ on SageMenu (223 reviews); Yelp and Google ratings historically 4.5–5.0