How information leads consumers to select specialty foods when tasting is not an option

•Online consumers rely on cues like sensory descriptions, award stickers, photos.•We study the impact of such cues on consumer demand for artisanal cheese.•Cheese variety familiarity increases demand, as do sensory notes and awards.•A significant minority of consumers prefers novelty cheese and relies on award stickers. As the share of online grocery purchases grows, with 13% of grocery spending going to online retailers, the question of how information leads consumers to select foods becomes increasingly important. This is particularly true for specialty foods (e.g., wine, artisan cheese) where consumers face endless options of product varieties. In this study, we evaluated how sensory information (i.e., tasting and food pairing notes) and expert distinction (i.e., an award label) affect consumer demand for two familiar (Brie, Cheddar) and two unfamiliar (Coulommiers, Cantal) varieties of artisanal cheese in the U.S. A total of 488 specialty cheese consumers, 270 respondents from Pacific Northwest, and 218 respondents from the East Coast, participated in a discrete choice experiment that was conducted online. The results showed that in general consumers prefer familiar varieties and that both sensory information and an award label increase consumers’ willingness to pay for the cheese. Nevertheless, the study results also showed three distinct consumer segmentations who make choices differently, including some that value novelty flavors. These data have implication for the role that information plays in product purchase and further how food industry could use such information to promote their products.