4 Cheese Selling Tips from Down Under

One of the interesting parallels with the UK is the trend among top chefs to move away from fine dining experiences and towards more casual concepts. People can enjoy exceptionally high quality of food in a more relaxed setting.

The common theme among the regions is the huge commitment to creating a great cheese industry, which in a really tangible sense is being done by provoking people’s thinking, palate by palate! Businesses such as Calendar Cheese in Melbourne are playing a long game by investing heavily in tasting events, pairings and education for anyone that shows interest.

One of the things that really stood out for me was the dominance of imported cheeses. That said, there were some truly world class examples of cheeses made Down Under, such as the Holy Goat Cheeses from Sutton Grange Organic Farm in Victoria which are divine little mould ripened goat cheeses – delectable when enjoyed in the sunshine with locally grown salads as we experienced them!

It was interesting seeing the variations in how cheese is being visually merchandised. What made the great cheese shops really sing were the staff and their knowledge. Some shops were very contemporary with lots of white tiles and immaculate slate, while others were more shabby-chic or farmers’ market style. However, what counted for me most in the whole experience was people enthusing and informing their customers about great cheese. I think we do this so well in the UK, but there’s undoubtedly always scope to improve.