Cheese Buyer - May 2025

48 @specialityfood picture about what’s displayed in front of them. To be able to converse about the maker, to tell the unique stories behind each variety, and to offer pairing suggestions adds value to the experience. Jessica Summer, owner of Mouse & Grape, spends a lot of time training her staff to ensure they can help convey the beauty of artisan cheese to customers in store. It’s so important, she says, for that passion to come across. Take baby steps, she recommends, when it comes to initiating new teammembers. “It can feel overwhelming to be faced with a big cheese counter if you haven’t worked in cheese before. As a starting point, everyone here learns the fundamentals, to understand how cheese is made, what milk is used, where it’s made and if it’s pasteurised or unpasteurised. We also make sure they have some adjectives to describe the flavour of the cheese.” Enabling staff to come up with their own descriptions is just as important, though. Jessica encourages the team to taste things regularly when they’re on a shift so they can “see how things evolve and change”. “It’s nice to be able to say to customers ‘this cheese tastes like xxx this week, or this one is a bit more mushroomy or caramelly today’.” Jessica makes sure each cheese label has notes for staff on the back, including wine suggestions. And a brilliant device she’s introduced is giving everyone three particular cheeses to focus on in terms of knowledge and sales each week. “You can tell who’s been on shift because certain cheeses are gone,” she smiles. “We’ve got a bingo card for eachmember with different products around the shop, so not just cheese, but deli items and wine. Whoever gets ‘bingo’ for selling all the different items wins a £50 voucher. It’s fun!” That competitive edge also encourages staff to want to learnmore about what they’re selling, which can only be a good thing. Something else the cheesemonger heartily recommends when training is... Youtube! “There are so many amazing videos about making cheese – so they can see how Brie is made, or how Parmesan is made. It’s all on there.” What is in a name? Should in-store labels simply give the name of the cheese, leaving it up to shoppers to ask questions? Or is it best practice to deliver as much information as possible? Dylan Fourie, deli manager at Macknade, has quite a few thoughts on the issue. It’s traditional, he says, to have a big-fonted label denoting the price of the cheese per kilogram. But that can be confusing – after all, not everyone has time to stand at the counter doing the sums. Leading with a price per 100g is more inviting, he thinks. Beyond this, he likes to regionalise cheese. If it’s made in the UK, rather thanmarking it as British, he’ll pop on ‘Somerset’, ‘Suffolk’ or ‘Dorset’. Though this method doesn’t extend to Continental varieties, where specific place a cheese is from could change depending on supply. Here saying ‘France’ or ‘Italy’, for example, will suffice. “Having a brief description on the front is fine, but what’s most important is whether it’s pasteurised or unpasteurised, and what rennet is used. That will help you a lot because those are two of the biggest questions customers will ask.” The rear of the counter’s labels will have tasting notes, usually a few suggestions staff can elaborate on. “I wouldn’t write a description of the history of the cheese, or how it’s made. In busy periods staff won’t have time to read through those. If A s a cheese seller, you are the key, final gatekeeper of each piece before it continues its journey home with a consumer, into their kitchen. For many, this feels like a great responsibility – especially when it comes to artisan varieties. The level of care found throughout the magical process – from the welfare of animals, to collecting the finest milk, churning and separating curds fromwhey, pressing, making and conjuring in the art of affinage – is astounding. It’s your job to make every cheese shine, to understand its USP and nuances, and to deliver it to shoppers in tip-top condition. Part of that ‘contract’ of sale, particularly in a speciality setting such as a deli or cheesemonger, is also sharing your knowledge. Knowledgeable staff are everything One of the prime reasons consumers visit fine food specialists (other than for greater choice) is to learn more about what’s going on their cheeseboard. The skill of a good cheesemonger is to continually educate themselves (and their staff), so they can give shoppers the bigger NEVER STOP LEARNING (OR TEACHING) As a living, breathing product, cheese is always evolving, and so cheesemongers must adapt and continually learn about their stock along the way MAKE SURE YOU TEACH NEW TEAM MEMBERS: ● Food safety and hygiene ● How to properly handle and store all cheeses ● How to identify if a cheese is at its best, or needs replacing ● How to cut all varieties of cheese safely, including opening large, hard-rinded cheeses, and using a cheese wire ● How to glass wrap cheese ● The best way to arrange cheese in the counter ● Cleaning of the cheese fridges and storage areas ● Wrapping different types of cheese at the point of sale ● The difference between styles of cheese, how they’re made, and tasting notes ● How to interact with customers during sales and tastings ● Products they can upsell with a variety of cheeses STAFF TRAINING CHECKLIST