Hesse’s father, John, was at the sale to help ring shoppers up; her parents attend almost every month. For many years, John worked as a chef at restaurants in Manhattan and on Long Island, where Hesse grew up. As a result, she was immersed in the food industry from a young age. “I always wanted to keep her out of the restaurant business,” John said. “And she managed to kind of sneak in the back door, and she’s in the food business.” Did his profession play a role in guiding her career? “I have a very sensitive palate, you know, I taste for a living. And she inherited that,” he added.
For Hesse, whose passion for her work has helped her persevere through the dark days and challenges of running a small business, the fact that hundreds of people came to Saturday’s sale made her reflect on why she started the warehouse sales in the first place. It was January 2023, and she was completely out of money. She just needed to sell some cheese to get some cash flow. Over the last couple years, she said, she was happy if a sale broke $1000. On Saturday, she made more than 10 times that.