New Distribution
Treasure Cave, the Wisconsin-made blue cheese brand that traces its origins to Minnesota cave-aging in 1935, has secured shelf placement across Tops Friendly Markets' 152-store network spanning New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont — adding meaningful reach in the competitive Northeast specialty cheese corridor.
Six products are now on offer: three crumbled and wedge formats in the dairy section — a 5-ounce blue cheese crumble, a 5-ounce naturally smoked blue cheese crumble, and a naturally smoked blue cheese wedge — alongside three dip-and-spread SKUs in the deli: original blue cheese, caramelized onion blue cheese, and hot honey blue cheese. A limited-edition 5-ounce crumbled blue cheese in Buffalo Bills co-branded packaging is slated to arrive in Tops deli sections in November, positioning the brand ahead of the NFL regular season and holiday entertaining windows.
The Promotional Push
To accelerate trial at shelf, Tops ran a buy-one, get-one-free promotion on all Treasure Cave blue cheese dip-and-spread products from August 22 through 27, timed to the brand's debut as Official Crumbly Blue Cheese of the National Buffalo Wing Festival — a two-day event held August 29–30 at which Tops serves as official grocer. The BOGO window gave retailers and the brand a low-friction vehicle to drive basket conversion before the festival drew consumer attention to the category.
At the festival, Treasure Cave operated a booth serving a specialty blue cheese mac and cheese prepared by Ilio DiPaolo's Restaurant, with proceeds directed to the Response to Love Food Pantry. The brand also staged an Influencer Wing Sauce-Off, inviting content creators to develop signature wing sauces built around Treasure Cave crumbled blue cheese — a tactic increasingly common in specialty food marketing as brands seek organic social amplification without traditional media spend. Six participating restaurants featured the cheese in menu items across the event.
Retail Context
Blue cheese remains a high-margin specialty category in grocery dairy and deli, benefiting from sustained consumer interest in bold, aged flavors and growth in wing-adjacent snack occasions. Tops' 14,000-associate footprint and regional dominance in Western New York make it a strategically meaningful partner for a brand whose geographic story — originally cave-aged in Minnesota, now produced in Almena, Wisconsin — plays well in food-focused regional markets.
"Blue cheese and buffalo wings have always gone hand in hand, so expanding our presence at Tops and participating in the National Buffalo Wing Festival are meaningful milestones," said Samina Kirchen, Treasure Cave brand manager. The November Buffalo Bills packaging further anchors the brand to the regional identity of its largest new retail partner's core market.
For retailers and foodservice operators tracking specialty cheese distribution trends, the Tops placement illustrates how regional grocery chains are differentiating their deli and dairy sets with heritage-brand storytelling. Treasure Cave's dual placement — dairy crumbles and deli dips — also reflects a broader category strategy of capturing multiple purchase occasions within a single retail partner.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
