Cheese Buyer - May 2025

We rarely have anything that goes up to its ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ date, but if we do, it goes home with us, never home with a customer! VICTORIA DUNTHORNE, VICTORIA’S CHEESES 13 XXXXXXXXXXX CHEESE CARE specialityfoodmagazine Making the cut Ensure you’ve got plenty of boards and knives to hand for serving, with separate equipment for handling blue, soft and washed rind varieties which can contaminate other types. Good hygiene is so important, each of the ladies say, for the integrity of the cheeses. A further issue that needs to be thought about is the physical cutting of the cheese. Staff should be well trained in cutting correctly to minimise waste while keeping an eye on safety – don’t set a junior teammember off with a sharp knife and a wheel of Parmesan if they’re not confident in how to crack it open. When it comes to service, the devil is in the detail. “When you bring it home it has to look like a little gift,” Svetlana says of the cheese wrapping process. “People do paymuchmore for this type of cheese than they would in the supermarket, therefore it has to look the part. We spend a lot of time on this, and we have guidelines for different shapes and types of cheeses.” Jessica is also very particular about the presentation of her cheeses to customers. “We double wrap in wax and then in branded paper,” she says. “I hadmy training at La Fromagerie, and they’re quite precise in their style of wrapping. That’s something I’ve passed down to the team. Each has a label that comes with it with the ingredients on, and we write little tasting notes and wine pairings on there too.” This finishing touch is greatly appreciated by customers. “If you want to charge a premiumprice, you have to work in a premiumway,” she explains in agreement with Svetlana. “It comes back to your brand. You’ve got to be consistent.” Svetlana likes to sell cheese in double-layered paper including a layer of plastic, recommending that customers store it in the salad drawer at home, rewrapping with foil if they need to once opened. A final area where care needs to be thought of in the serving of cheese is tastings –which are Jessica’s forte. Some elements are common sense. Take the cheese out well before tastings to let the flavour develop, keeping an eye on the temperature of your shop. Once laid out, “if something is discolouring or losing its shape, it’s not going to look attractive”. So keep an eye on how busy the shop is and assess howmuch you want to put out. Andmake it attractive. “Think about how you want to present the cheese,” Jessica explains. “A nice thing to do is to display cheese on a cracker with a chutney, like a little canapé. That’s easy for people to pick up, and showcases more of your products.” cheeses, which for us was a no- brainer to give us reassurance that all our products were of high quality. We received clear results across the board, which was another tick that we are handling and keeping our cheeses well.”