Woodside Cheese Wrights Gets Grant Assistance To Refurbish Their Current Factory

Winning a gold medal at the World Cheese Awards for cheese making is a great achievement for a producer. But for Kris Lloyd it's all the more remarkable because 10 years ago she knew nothing about cheese-making. Her company Woodside Cheese Wrights recently won the award for her Eyzy-Ketzy (half cow, half goat, washed-rind cheese) named in honour of her Greek grandfather. She says I was taught to have a deep respect for food. (But) learning to be a cheese maker was trial and error; as was learning to be an entrepreneur. Taking milk and turning into something so tasty; it's absolute magic.

Located at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills, Woodside Cheese Wrights is an artisan cheese factory and cellar door. With a fourfold growth over the period 2002-2009, the company is now in consolidation mode with a focus on continuous improvement. Employing an equivalent full time staff of seven including several cheese makers and ancillary staff, Woodside produces around 60 tonnes of cheese a year not industrial scale production by any means but at the premium end of the cheese market, a handy revenue generator for a cheese maker. With hundreds of stockists across Australia through specialty stores and supermarkets Ms Lloyd is committed to building the brand. We do specialty, high quality cheeses; ideal for the cheese platter. All the cheeses are hand-made in open vats.

Despite coming from a family vineyard in McLaren Vale, Kris Lloyd was scarcely prepared for the challenges of the cheese making business when, in 1999, she took over a failing business which was throwing more cheese out than selling it.

I really wanted it to be a vibrant business. I didn't want to be any old cheese company, rather, when people thought about Woodside Cheese Wrights they automatically thought of quality. Like our Vigneron, a white mould goat's cheese that is washed in white wine, then wrapped in vine leaves. I also like to rub them with horse radish, wrap them in cheese cloth. It's a creative process.

Ms Lloyd says said she took a long term view when she took on the challenge of rebuilding a failing business with a view to evolving it over several phases. First was writing a marketing plan, designing new business processes, tightening up quality assurance and learning to be a cheese maker. It took two years and I supported the cheese makers during the process. I fell in love with cheese making, It's so enjoyable.

With a background in marketing she says the second phase and a crucial one in the success of a manufacturer of food product came from working the value chain from both ends. The third phase embraces an ongoing innovative approach to product development.

Working the value chain, a loosely used term, in essence is about working closely with both the dairy farmers as well as the distributors of her cheeses. Their success is my success. It's one of the most important things I realised very early in the piece. Get close to them. If you develop good relationships, you work through issues. She says the distributor is of particular importance in brand building. I support them with marketing material, tasting notes, posters and my website is a great tool for chefs who want to see what is available. I give them the tools to sell my product.

Artisan-based business is different to the conventional, scalable business. By its very nature a hand-crafted product enterprise is unlikely to become a $100 million business. A well-managed cheese-maker with a recognisable brand is none the less a worthwhile project both from a personal satisfaction and a commercial opportunity perspective. Indeed, being an artisan-based product is a strong point of difference in the very fine art of building a brand. It's something our distributors like to point out.

The Australian industry is dominated by large manufacturers with smaller, specialised cheese makers sprinkled across SA, Victoria, Tasmania. The industry has proved itself to be of equal quality and in some cases better than the European and New Zealand imports. While imported cheeses remain highly popular, local product is developing a reputation both here and internationally. A trend is emerging for consumers to experiment. There was a time it was only French that were the best to have on the cheese plate. Consumers are becoming more discerning. We are seeing more home entertaining. There's more gourmet food buying as result of shows like Master Chef. And installations of new kitchens are skyrocketing. I like that; they'll buy more of my cheese.

Ms Lloyd and her cheese makers (who she trained) rely on new product development to continue their brand building. She says the cellar door and feedback from chefs are highly useful sources of ideas. The cellar door is our opportunity to experiment with new cheeses. I'll (also) have my distributors take me around to chefs and get them to taste new product and get feedback. This has led me to get the occasional request from a chef to create something unique to them. It promotes sales and it motivates the distributor.

She maintains that cheese making is not an easy craft. You are running a business and always going for the highest quality. Its quite challenging. A lot can go wrong. She says despite a capacity to expand, she is cautious, looking for a modest 5-10 percent growth and wanting to preserve working capital.

We did have a grant some years assisted me to refurbish the current factory. It was DRAP program. That was absolutely brilliant to be able to do that. About $25000 in 2004. That was a sizeable amount. It was like an injection. It didn't take a lot to bring the (very) old building which was actually used to process to process meat. We called the processing rooms caves. The structure was all there. We used the money to clad the walls putting some epoxy on the floor, upgrading the lights. From that renovation we are still operating from that factory. One of the great things was I was able to make the changes and get the flow right. It serves us brilliantly.

The Dairy Regional Assistance Programme (DRAP) has assisted dairy-dependent communities to adjust to dairy deregulation. The DRAP is run under the auspices of the federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. Funding has been made available for a wide range of projects, with a focus on creating sustainable employment and stimulating investment within dairy regions.

When do you stop being an artisan and becoming a business person? For me I run the risk of not remaining an artisan if I grow too big. I do what I do because I love it. I have a real passion for it. There does come a line you cross where you would say I am no longer an artisan. Within the business you can be entrepreneurial in terms of what you are producing. For me growth is about profile and the range. It's nice to wake up in the morning and think. This is what I want to be doing.

Would you like to get funding to develop your business idea? There's money available now for qualified existing and start-up businesses. Phone toll-free 1800 813 863.

No claim is made the above funding success is due to ABFC.