“Train staff and they leave; but even worse – don’t train them and they stay “

Town Crier with

Justin Tunstall

Retail consultant, shares with us his cheese selling experience

• “Sticky fingers”
• “Everyone’s a winner”
• “Myths and legends of Turophilia”
• “When ‘cheese’ is not cheese”
• “Don’t disrespect the Cheddar”

My wife is a physiotherapist (good call, eh?) and is obliged to demonstrate ‘continuing professional development’ in order to renew her accreditation

I imagine that it’s a handy way of ensuring that medical practitioners wean themselves off reliance on leeches and bloodletting, in order to embrace innovation and the fruits of the latest research.

There’s no such obligation for a cheesemonger. I threw myself into the acquisition of cheese knowledge when I decided to open my shop, signing up for some great education, both with Juliet Harbutt and with the Guild of Fine Food. Having experienced the benefits myself, nowadays I put all our staff through an external one-day course as part of their induction, knowing that it not only gives them the wherewithal with which to deal with customers, but also motivates them.

It’s now over six years since I attended formal courses myself, and this year I decided to refresh, renew and deepen my own training. In the intervening years I’ve learned a lot from fellow judges at awards, talking to cheesemakers and other retailers, and reading – a lot. Nonetheless, I’m only too aware of my own shortcomings and decided to see what I could learn without breaking the bank – the cost of some of the available courses would represent the whole turnover of a quiet month in my shop.

My first tutorial of the year was at the British Cheese Awards. The morning after the awards dinner (!), a dozen surprisingly alert cheesemakers paired up to talk delegates through six categories of cheese. Hearing two experts in their field debate the aspects that they’re looking for with their cheeses was fascinating. Tasting their wares – and those of their competitors – along with them helped identify nuances that are more than mere marketing-speak. A thought for the future: I would have loved the opportunity to taste my way through the New Cheese category – Britain’s cheese makers always seem to be up to something innovative, and it’s helpful to know what customers might have heard about and be looking for in the months ahead.

More recently I travelled halfway up the country to Shropshire for the inaugural course of The Guild of Cheese Graders. Founded by Bruce Macdonald, one of the big names in creamery cheese grading, it offered a variety of sessions over two days. We kicked off by tasting eight anonymous clear liquids, looking to identify the five flavours: salt, sweet, sour, bitter and umami. Thankfully, I was able to nail the lot. Then we looked at the use of the ever-growing number of descriptors applied to cheeses – the plethora of adjectives ascribed to our cheeses mean different things to different people; to sell cheese we need to ensure that the phrases we use communicate clearly what is great about them. Over the remainder of the two days, the course explored various categories of cheese with particular focus on the territorials.

What did I get from my three days out of the shop and investment of a few hundred quid? In a nutshell, I got my mojo back – I have increased confidence in my ability to assess cheese and identify a great one, and also a renewed enthusiasm that has blown away any jaded feelings about my wares.