NZ artisan cheesemakers facing a squeeze By Kevin Jenkins
There are lots of fabulous goat and sheep milk cheeses being made by innovative and hardworking artisans across New Zealand. Our purpose at The Cheese Wheel, a subscription service for monthly deliveries of artisan cheese across the country, is to help these cheese makers prosper by bringing better cheese to the people. Covid and its aftermath have caused some havoc in the industry though, and it’s not finished yet. I first wrote about how the NZ economy was starting to face issues with supply chains in the Herald in April 2020 (Read it here). For some goat and sheep cheesemakers the first lockdown was disastrous. We helped one business sell whole rounds of fabulous blue cheese, but much of their production fed some nearby pigs. What a waste and a real-life version of ‘pearls before swine’. Another, trying hard to lift online sales, had to apologise to a client after some cheese took eight days to be delivered about 120km away. The lockdown showed the fragility of the artisan cheese model. Many rely largely on local farmers’ markets and perhaps some on-site sales.
Even when the lockdown was lifted, in some cases much of their European tourist and seasonal worker clientele – desperately seeking some decent cheese – had gone home, or no longer had the necessary disposable income. Conversely, lockdowns saw a marked increase in subscriptions and other home delivery services for food and all sorts of goods (let’s not talk about the huge bump in wine delivered to your door!). At The Cheese Wheel we were part of that trend, adding another channel to market for cheesemakers. It’s no surprise that there is unmet demand for artisan cheese in NZ because we are trailing behind a multi-decade, global trend to eat more specialist cheeses. I wrote about this in the Herald in January 2019 (read it here). Goat and sheep milk cheese is a big part of this trend. Covid and the response to it bought lots of issues for small cheesemakers to grapple with. The catastrophic drop in revenue some faced drove them to diversify, including taking jobs outside of cheesemaking which in turn led to drops in production.
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Goat & Sheep Milk NZ - Issue 6 | April 2022
On the cost side, inflation has emerged, driving up prices of lots of inputs. Then there is the explosion in property prices. I recently spoke with one cheesemaker in a provincial area who is closing up shop because his landlord has put the rent up, despite him having much lower sales. It’s a huge shame because it’s their passion project, and of course their cheeses make our lives better. We sometimes have issues with our deliveries – like boxes occasionally being lost in transit – but things started to become more of a problem over summer as warmer temperatures coincided with severe pressure on couriers. The problems in late 2021 were due to labour shortages (couriers not being able to find enough warehouse staff and drivers) meeting an unprecedented preChristmas surge in demand. Some couriers told their clients they would only be able to meet about 80% of demand. Fast forward to the Omicron outbreak, and we were told in February by our courier – a major player in the industry – that half their Auckland staff were off work. They also told us deliveries could take eight days or longer. Our customers have the right to expect their cheeses to arrive on time. We have the right to expect our cheese boxes to be respected by couriers, but it’s tough when the problem is a pandemic. Like others delivering perishable goods, we spend a lot of effort on getting our packaging right, and we are going through this again. We also don’t hesitate to put things right if there is a problem, just like the cheesemakers do with us if there is a problem with their supply. But it all adds cost. On the delivery time issue, there was no point in grumbling to our couriers about them being shortstaffed or many of their staff being sick, but what to do? In February we decided to directly deliver our boxes in Auckland and Wellington ourselves. That’s not a sustainable model but we had to innovate somehow. We also asked our subscribers to leave a chilly bin by their door if they weren’t home. We lost a small number of subscribers over these challenging times, but we also attracted more, and the personal deliveries had an upside with the opportunity to meet many and get their feedback in person. Our take-out from the Covid period is that (a) there is lots of demand for quality goat and sheep milk cheese (b) all layers in the industry need to be clever about managing costs and getting product to market, and (c) none of us can ever stop innovating, whether it’s with animal husbandry, manufacturing, new styles of cheese, marketing, or the supply chain. Best of all, despite their travails, the passion of the cheesemakers has never dimmed.
