" I rouse $ 7,000 for a cheese board , and I ’m gon na state you why . "

For those of you who love charcuterie boards and spendwaytoo much time on TikTok, you might be familiar withSophisticated Spreads— a company focused on creating aesthetically pleasing cheese boards and grazing tables run by 22-year-old USC student Emmy Rener.

In case you’re not intimately familiar with cheese board TikTok: With over 300,000 TikTok followers, Emmy’s account is easily one of the most-followed cheese board pages on the app. Recently, she went viral for showcasing a $7,000 grazing table she catered for an engagement party. Thevideoreceived over 5 million views and quite a lot of backlash from commenters who found the price point to be egregiously high.

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Commenters made it clear that they could not fathom paying $7,000 for a cheese board, and were noticeably confused by the pricing with one person commenting, “That’s about $6,500 too much.”

“The math is not mathing,” someone else wrote.

Some even claimed to have had a similar spread attheirwedding for a fraction of the cost.

Despite the backlash, Emmy was quick to respond and break down the price point for her grazing table. “I charged $7,000 for a cheese board, and I’m gonna tell you why,” she says in a follow-upvideo. She continues, “I’m making it clear to the other business owners who don’t know their worth: You can charge whatever you want! And if people are booking it and your clients are happy, then you’re doing it right.”

Emmy goes on to list all of the factors that went into the cost of her infamous grazing table. She specifies that the table was 25 feet long and that it was the only food being served at a 150-person engagement party. The client added a garland that was “hand-woven by a florist” and chose to have artisan cheeses, both of which incur an additional charge.

Emmy makes a point to focus on quality for her boards and sources locally from small businesses in the area. “We’ve kind of cherry-picked who we source from, and we try to support small businesses and artisan companies,” she told BuzzFeed. “It’s definitely been a process trying to find reliable and amazing products, but I think that’s what really elevates the spread beyond just what you could maybe get at the grocery store.”

And after giving this glimpse into what goes into her event catering, viewers were a bit more understanding of the price. “The math is absolutely mathing for a 25-FOOT CHEESE BOARD!? FOR 150 PEOPLE??” one commenter wrote.

“This isn’t just a cheese board. This is a buffet table. Considering the hotel for a team and the handmade garlands, I think $7k is reasonable,” wrote another.

Some even told Emmy that they actually thought she wasunderchargingfor her grazing table, with one person commenting that they “would expect to pay 9–10k for this.”

However, people still accused Emmy of pocketing a ridiculously high profit from her grazing table. So, naturally, she made anotherTikTok. This time, she broke down the exact cost of all the food, decor, labor, and travel for the specific event. In her video, she mentions the minimal profit margins in the food industry in general. “Let’s keep in mind that the profit margins in the food industry are not great, guys,” she says, “It’s about 20–30%.”

It’s definitely a stark contrast to when she first started her business with her dad and was only charging $250 for her grazing tables. “When we started, I basically did not know anything about cheese boards,” she said. Now, Sophisticated Spreads has a team of four delivery drivers, four employees who work on prep and events, and one employee who handles their website as well as a graphic designer.

While Emmy knows that a $7,000 grazing table isn’t accessible to everyone — after all, she told BuzzFeed that she owes much of her early success to shoutouts from celebrities — she still hopes that people can view her company’s cheese boards as a small luxury. “We’re not trying to only cater to celebrities or be something you can only have if you save up your entire budget for the month. That’s not realistic or what we’re striving for,” she said.

Let us know your thoughts on this $7,000 cheese board.