Rise of Adelaide Hills artisan cheese maker is an Udder Delight
Behind the heritage listed walls of the former woollen mill that has stood since 1872, the humble beginnings of South Australian cheesemaker Udder Delights is ever-present.
The humble beginnings of South Australian cheesemaker Udder Delights is ever-present at its historic Adelaide Hills factory.
Behind the heritage listed walls of the former woollen mill that has stood since 1872, workers still hand-stir and cut the curd, and even hand-wrap cheese.
Two-thirds of the milk supply comes from farms only 15 minutes away.
The artisan feel remains strong, the food miles short, yet the business can no longer be described as niche following monumental growth in the past five years.
Udder Delights is now a leading producer of cheese in South Australia, processing seven million litres of milk a year and producing 800,000 kilograms of cheese.
It retails at all the major stores including Costco, Coles and Woolworths.
HEADSTART
Trevor and Estelle Dunford could never have imagined such growth when they started the business 25 years ago on their small patch of land at Lobethal with just two goats – Nora and Nell.
The goats were originally bought to eat cane clippings from their raspberry patch and never intended for milking but the Dunfords gave it a go and Udder Delights was born.
Trevor built a small cheese making room – the size of a shipping container – and their daughter Sheree took on the cheese making.
Despite having little experience in the field, they learnt from trial and error.
In 2004, Sheree and her husband Saul Sullivan took on the family business, branching out into cow’s milk cheeses and setting the framework for the success that was to come.
They created an award-winning cheese cellar door at Hahndorf and honed their cheese making skills, becoming the first Australian cheese maker to legally produce and sell raw milk blue cheese – King Saul Raw Blue.
Estelle Dunford passed away in 2011 from a brain tumour, aged 58, and the Sullivans sold Udder Delights to Japanese company, Megmilk Snow Brand Group in 2017.
The Sullivans continued the family legacy by opening the Udder Delights flagship store at Grunthal Brew on Mount Barker Road where they host cheesemaking classes and celebrate all things cheese, wine, beer and gin.
TAKING OFF
Udder Delights general manager marketing and sales Phil Donnellan said the Dunfords and Sullivans were responsible for growing the brand to what it is today and despite the new ownership, very little had changed in the daily running of the business.
“There is no interference from a corporate head office – we are still run in the same entrepreneurial way that the Sullivans ran it,” Phil said.
The business did take a big hit in December 2019 when the Cudlee Creek bushfire burnt within 50 metres of the Lobethal factory and they were forced to bin pallets of smoke damaged and spoiled cheese.
The business lost almost $2 million and more than 48 tonnes of cheese.
Phil said it was a difficult period of operation but they came back stronger.
The home grown and local aspect of Udder Delights was a driving force behind the business “taking off” during the Covid period when production doubled.
“A lot of cheese out of Europe wasn’t available at that time and people were asking for Australian made products,” Phil said.
“The brand itself has great provenance and it is a real paddock to plate story for those who care where their food comes from.”
DOUBLING DOWN
Udder Delights retails more than 10 different artisanal creations, specialising in white mould cheeses like camembert and its award-winning ash brie, but also blue vein.
Production has been steadily increasing during the past decade but since 2017 has doubled.
In 2013, Udder Delights processed 1.1 million litres, averaging 21,000 litres a week, now it processes seven million litres and averages 120,000 litres a week.
In 2013 that equated to about 125,000kg of cheese sold a year compared to 800 tonnes now.
“Over that time we have gone from getting milk from one farm – and intermittently spot buying milk as required – to having contracts with seven farmers,” Phil said.
Nurturing relationships with local dairies was key to their success. Most suppliers were smaller farms with 150 cows or less.
“We value those smaller farmers because we are after long term relationships and partnerships with suppliers,” Phil said.
“The farmers are the real heroes in the dairy process – what they do, I wouldn’t do it for quids. Milking 365 days a year and on Christmas Day – without them, we wouldn’t be here and anything we can do to support them in this space, we are happy to do.”
The Chandler family – fourth generation farmers at Mulgundawa Dairy – have worked with Udder Delights for more than 15 years.
They have worked collaboratively towards producing high quality milk that is used to produce specialty small batch “single herd” cheeses in their classic varieties including camembert and triple cream brie.
Udder Delights has also partnered with the National Centre for Farm Health on a range of cheese at Coles where 20 cents from every unit sold goes to the charity.
STRING TO THE BOW
The number of employees at Udder Delights varies throughout the year depending on supply but averages about 60.
“Udder Delights is handmade cheese and we stand by that – it is our point of difference,” Phil said.
“We have human intervention in the production process and that gives our product the character that we love. It is a product that is different from other brands out there and we are proud of that.”
Head cheesemaker Simon Dreckow joined Udder Delights small team in 2009, rising at 3.30am to manage the milk pasteurisation process.
Like most of the team, Simon had no prior experience in cheesemaking and is entirely self-taught, growing with the business through trial and error.
“When I started we were a very small team, maybe six or seven of us and at most were producing 4000 litres of milk,” Simon said.
“Now we have 60 team members across the whole business and can produce 140,000 litres of milk in one week.
“We’ve had dramatic growth and we’ve had to adapt accordingly. My early morning starts have become easier … where I’ve had to be on site at 4am in the past, I can now check the pasteurisation levels from my phone.
“Although we’ve welcomed lots of growth, we wouldn’t be where we are today without our share of learning opportunities.”
Udder Delights was recently granted $5000 for education, training and development which it will use in conjunction with the Australian Artisan Cheese Making Academy under TAFE SA to upskill future cheesemakers.
The grant was part of their 2023 Dairysafe Food Safety Culture Award, which recognised their excellence in operating to food safety standards throughout their entire production process.
FUTURE DELIGHTS
The factory has grown in size over the years to a three-building complex and there are further plans to expand on the site to increase capacity over the next five years.
“We are bursting at the seams a bit but there are plans for future growth,” Phil said.
“The goal is a 20 per cent increase in capacity but there are a lot of steps needed to go into that including increased silo capacity, increased floor space and warehousing.
“We are extremely thrilled and excited to be reaching this milestone while continuing to grow our team and practise hand making our beloved, quality cheeses in the Hills.”
Sports streamer DAZN buys Foxtel in blockbuster $3.4bn deal
New ownership for subscription giant Foxtel and its hit brands Kayo and BINGE is set to shake up Australia’s media and sport landscape.
SunRice half-yearly profits increase
The second half of the financial year has shown an increase in profits for SunRice. See what was unveiled to shareholders.