Open Country opens butter plant
When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.
Arla says the partnership will extend the success ‘down under’ of its specialty cheese brand Castello at a time when Australians are craving quality, culture and artisan cheese.
The joint venture, Arla Foods Mayer Australia Pty Ltd, will market, sell, and distribute imported and local products Castello cheese, Lurpak butter and other Arla products. It will also sell products from other producers in Europe and Australia via F. Mayer.
Arla Foods aims to raise annual revenue in Australia from its current $49m to $208m.
All Arla’s business in Australia will be through F. Mayer Imports, the country’s biggest importer of cheese products and Arla’s preferred distributor for 30 years.
The move is part of Arla’s worldwide efforts to enter new, attractive markets. The co-op is supplied by its 13,500 farmers in Northern Europe. Australia has 23 million consumers, many wanting specialty dairy products, Arla says.
“Although the overall Australian dairy market is seeing only low growth rates, the market for specialty cheese is lively and growing,” says Arla’s managing director in Australia, Lars Eggers, who will become the general manager of the joint venture.
“Australians want to be inspired by quality food, including artisan cheese…. A rich-food culture is clearly on the rise and we believe we have the products to tap into that movement.
“We hope to… [drive] the specialty cheese category [with] products that already inspire consumers in many other parts of the world. Castello cheese has been sold in Australia for 35 years and our partner, F. Mayer, has been sourcing specialty cheese from all the great cheese countries for decades, so we have a good foundation to build on.”
