A record number of sandwiches were sold this year at the annual student-run grilled cheese stand during the 2015 World Dairy Expo.

The stand is an annual tradition that offers attendees the opportunity to pay one dollar for freshly-made grilled cheese sandwiches and chocolate milkshakes. This year’s stand sold more than 28,080 sandwiches during the six-day expo, surpassing the previous record by over 600 sandwiches.

The cheese stand acts as the main annual fundraiser for The Collegiate Farm Bureau at UW-Madison and The Badger Dairy Club, the two student organizations from The University of Wisconsin-Madison that manage and organize the stand. Two current UW-Madison students put extra effort into the organization of this year’s stand, serving as the 2015 World Dairy Expo Cheese Stand Interns. Cody Getschel, a senior studying Dairy Science, and Sydney Endres, a junior studying Dairy Science and Life Sciences Communications, held the intern titles this year.

Endres worked with the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB) and American Milk Producers, Inc. (AMPI), who provide the cheese for the stand each year, on a special promotion for 2015; in addition to the traditional American and Swiss sandwiches offered each day, a different specialty cheese sandwich was featured on five of the six days of operation. The roster of specialty cheeses included Provolone, Tomato Basil, Cheddar, Gouda, Havarti with Dill, and Pepper Jack. The promotion was extremely well-received, as the additional one hundred pounds of specialty cheese sold out each day.

The student organizations plan to use the proceeds from this year’s stand for the organization of campus-wide events that will help to promote agriculture to UW-Madison students on a large scale, as well as to help club members attend educational field trips at a diverse selection of dairy farms across Wisconsin.

The clubs continue to thank the industry for its support in making the annual cheese stand a success. A special thank-you goes out to the major sponsors of the event: SCR Dairy, Lallemand Animal Nutrition, Mycogen, and Grassland Dairy Products, Inc.. We look forward to seeing you at the 50th annual World Dairy Expo.