SPEAKER_01 0:00

In this episode of the Hospo Dojo podcast, I catch up with Giuseppe Minoya, general manager at Vanilla Cheese and second generation cheesemaker. We dive into how a small family business from regional Australia grew into a national brand, now stocked in over 500 stores and proudly featured on menus across the country. This episode is proudly brought to you by Food and Hospitality Week, a major event in Australia's hospitality calendar connecting 15,000 chefs, owners, and industry professionals every year. Giuseppe Minuya. Yep. The GM at Vanilla Cheese.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

How long have you been in Australia?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Twenty-five years actually. Yeah. Yeah. Moved to Australia in uh 2000.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

And Italy before?

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Italy before, yeah. Yeah. Um hadn't hadn't not been on a plane before we moved to Australia.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Well, so how old were you when you moved here?

SPEAKER_00 0:59

15.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

And whereabouts in Italy are you from?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Southeast. So we come from uh Puglia, which um it's the uh heel of the boot.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Uh-huh. Yeah. The heel of the boot.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

The heel of the boot, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

I hope they can use that boot in the in in they've got to keep using it in soccer. They'll come back. Not anymore, mate. What's going on? Not anymore.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

That's for another day. You reckon we'll leave that for another chat.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Uh Giuseppe, you know, vanilla cheese has become a beloved name in Australian kitchens.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Can you share a bit about your family story?

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yeah, sure. Um, yeah, look, obviously, um dad started making cheese at the uh young age of 16. Um he um yeah, he was working in an ice maker and ice production facility, and a cheesemaker went by to buy ice. Chad, oh yeah, I'll come and try it. Well, 53 years later, he's still a cheesemaker.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Um this was in Italy, he was in the Italy, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was his ever first job. Um yeah. And then um he um 1999 he came to Australia to uh just show uh a guy over here how to make cheese, moved to moved to Sydney, came to Sydney, and obviously Sydney at the moment was booming because of the Olympics and everything. It was all happening.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

It was a beautiful era.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Yeah, still is, yeah, it still is, but 2000 was and so yeah, moved to Sydney and was like, oh, this is fantastic, you know. I've obviously it was doing it came from a background of 16, 17 hours work a day, 18 hours work a day in Italy um to sustain the daily production of cheese, because it's like a whole different world over there, you see. Um came to Australia and all of a sudden, you know, you you could make cheese and put four weeks of shelf life on it. And it's like, oh, okay, well because you couldn't do that in Italy. No, it's just not part of our tradition.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

It's not a part of the culture.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

No, every I I used to go and buy bread and obviously didn't buy cheese, but I used to get bread, cheese, and small goods for my grandmother every day. So I'll I'll finish school, I'll go past her house, she'll drop in the money down, I'll go to the deli, I'll go to mom's deli, get the bread, get the cheese, get the small goods, go back to mom's, take it to the donor. Every every day. Um it's every day it's a fresh loaf of bread, every day it's a kilo of bocconcini or nodini or burrata or shotella, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

And it's fresh everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

It's fresh everywhere. The next day you use it into baking. So if you if you if you don't finish that cheese on that day, the next day you're using your lasagna, your cannelloni, your anything, pizza, anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

It's a bit different. Yeah, it's a bit different.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

It's phenomenal. And and you know, I I respect that about Italy. They still they still manage to do that in in some parts, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Yeah, where we come from it is. Yeah, in the north is different, because obviously a lot of the cheese production comes from south. So but where we come from, like they um there's no place.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Even when I was driving through Tuscany, uh, I stopped, I stopped at a place called I I I'm butchering the name, Masumoturi, something similar to that. It's not far from Pisa. Yeah. I stayed in a grotto there, yeah. And um I was saying this to Andrea yesterday from uh uh is it Basilla, the the the pasta? Basilla, yeah. Yeah. I was explaining to him that you know you can really taste the authenticity in the product and just the freshness because that they don't like they they they stay true to their their values, and you're saying it's a different beast. 18-hour production, that that stuff won't last here. He'll run two shifts and or even four shifts to get that stuff going.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

The the 18 hour production for dad was you know him getting up at 1 a.m. going to pick up the milk, coming back. His his stuff wasn't doing those hours, it was him being a business owner that had to go through the extra steps to get there.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Wow. That's that was uh So when did you join the family business?

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Oh well, young, very young in in the uh summer holidays from school. Um I'd um I'd help out with dad. Um I'd help out, sorry, uh uh in the cheese factory. Um and I I used to always be in packing. You know, uh back then, uh so where where I come from, there is no bocconcini. Well there wasn't now that is there wasn't any bocconcini. So all all the uh daily production was all done by hand. So Nodini, Treccina, that was our Bocconcini back then. And you know, I used to look at dad and his guys making cheese, and I'm like, I'm never gonna touch that. It's too hot. 65 degrees curve.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

I I felt it. I felt it in your factory. It burnt my hand. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Yeah, every time we do a show and Anthony tells a story, that that's what I remind me about. Going, oh, I'm never gonna touch that, and now I'm actually doing it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

So so uh at what age did you sort of come into that that that management role?

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Oh that wasn't until uh 2014, so I would have been uh 30.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Nice, and and and now as GM, yeah, what have you done? You know, we know that you we know that you've scaled the business uh immensely from 2014 to now. Yeah. What was the biggest change you made that gave you the most valuable impact to the business?

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Oh I wouldn't say like the major change for us was uh opening up a production in a in a in a city. Um we haven't really changed our business much. Um we've yeah, that our our major product our major change so f from when we were in Cairns to now has been actually being more in the center of logistics. So that the product is more of it's more widely available for everyone. You know, being up in Cairns, that was the hardest thing. You know, people in Perth are not gonna buy cheese from Cairns. Yeah, people in Melbourne are struggling to buy cheese from Cairns, Tasmania, forget it. When's being in Sydney, it's just opened up that sort of more yeah, it's it's it's a bit more.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

So when did when did that happen?

SPEAKER_00 7:00

That happened in 2014.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Okay, yeah, well.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

That happened in 2014. Uh dad had moved to Melbourne, had closed a facility in Cairns. He had moved to Melbourne, he was working out of a cheese factory here in Melbourne and found a place to rent um in Sydney, and that's when they started.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Now, the Australian cheese scene has grown so much in the recent years. Yeah. What trends are you seeing in customer preferences now?

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Definitely fresh cheese. Yeah, I I I think fresh cheese has grown a lot. I remember when we moved here in 2000, that was the year that they ri they uh launched the back then brand new Rockdale Plaza. I don't know it was the last time you've been in the Rockdale Plaza, but back then it was brand new. Just opened, they did a massive market on the bottom of the on the floor just in front of from Bullies, I think. And which back then it was a Franklin store or something like that. Anyway, yeah, anyway, and um we did a stand with burrata and stracciatella, which back then it was not known to the Australian market, to the Australian people. Italians knew about it trying it from Italy, but not much burrata, more straccatella. Um, and you know, we used to get a lot like people trying it like, oh, this is a bit too rich. Oh, and how do you spell this stracciatella? It was very hard, you know. It was very hard, and there was no burrata stracciatella in every restaurant back then. That that was the first one to put it on the market. But now the straccatella and burrata on every menu. You can go to a cafe just outside here, and there'll be a burrata on the menu. Yeah, um, so that's obviously come quite strong. But even in Italy, when we moved here, there wasn't a lot of burrata being produced. Stracciatella was the main thing, but now there's burrata everywhere. So I guess that, and that sort of then translated into Buffalo Mots and a lot of other Fiordi Latte. There's a few other places now, they've got Fiordi Latte as a side dish. And so that's where you're that's where the trends are. You're getting that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Right. And and tell me a little bit more about your sourcing. You're going into that single origin milk now. That's what that's what you're really focusing on. Do you have a really good network with farmers?

SPEAKER_00 9:08

We do, yeah. We uh work through a broker, uh, through a broker. We work with farmers uh directly. Um we try and source American Holstein's milk or Frisian's milk, they're the two types that we that we that we try and source. It's very hard. Um Anthony and um all the guys will know very well. It's that's how I spend most of my days just sourcing milk. Um it's uh it's not the easiest thing to do these days, not as as easy as 10 years ago. But you know, it's sort of we have to do that to being able to uh to offer a uh beautiful product.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

So yeah. And you know, with with those challenges that you're facing with, you know, milk supply and stuff like that, of course, being a you know, being in the wholesale business, in the B2B business, where you're on, you're on, you're on the you're on the f forefront where you're selling to someone and that person's gotta be able to utilize that product and then make money from it. It's not always just going to the end user, right? Um I know that you take those things into consideration, but what happens when you know, for example, there's a shortage of milk or there's a price hike, you know, as a business, how do you manage that?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

So we we pri uh price hikes, we take them on board, so we don't pass them on until the next year's uh financial year. Um which we we've I put myself in in in say you were at a restaurant, I put myself in your shoes, yeah. I come to you and say, hey, this is us, this is our products, and this is what we make, and these are our pricing. Yeah, you go on and make your your menu based on those prices. I'll come back to you after a month and say, hey, there's a price, there's a price increase, sorry, I've got to increase my prices. It just it just destructs that sort of level of trust that we formed with our customers. And so we normally we normally take them on board, we normally have a price list that goes out every July, the big which is the start of the new Milkia, but also Milkya. Um and then from there we um if there is anything that happens throughout the year, then we just take them on board until the next financial year.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

I like that one. The Milk Yeah, I didn't know that. That's how you learn every year.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

The Milkia work goes from July to June, same as the financial year. Well yeah, yeah. So the farmers, the farm get price, it's uh stipulated by between the last in the last week of June, and then the farmers have got 40 days after that to be happy with it or to question it or question it, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:38

And uh do you attend those sort of uh dairy conferences and milk conferences?

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Uh those are done by the big guys. So the big guys to they stipulate the farm gate prices, so your bigger, your buller, your saputo, they the ones that stipulate drive the farm gate price because they they the ones that move the majority of liters of milk, you know. So um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Oh well. Yeah. And and do you see yourself, you know, um potentially going into you know, direct to source, getting your own farm, getting your own milk?

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Yeah, yeah, we we always on the hand for that. So uh we've had we've gone up to see a farm last week. Well uh I went to see a farm a couple two about a month ago. So we've always uh we are doing that as well as part of as part of the whole lot. Um yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

You know, I because I because what I've seen in in in the market now more than ever is is that farmers are happy to to partner with certain brands like yourselves, um, and and to stipulate for them, it it's it gives them a sense of security. They want to know that their product is going in the right hands as well. Um and and I'm sure you know a lot of farmers are getting getting their fair go and stuff like that, and especially with all the talks with woolies and coals and all that sort of stuff that happened before, but you know, you guys to be able to absorb those costs that's really great for the consumer um and as well as the farmer to give them that flexibility of hey, we can't do this right. So, you know, I really feel that that shows authenticity, that also shows that you're empathetic and and you're and you're a true true business owner. Now, if there's someone that's out there that's starting their own business going into the B2B world, they want to be, you know, at these expos, they feel like they can create a great product, right? Like I'm not saying in the cheese market, but in in in anything, right? What's one piece of advice you'd give to them uh to to jump into that wholesale market?

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Uh well, I guess for for ourselves, like the main thing is stay authentic and believe in what you sell, believe in yourself. You know, that's the main thing for us. So um jump in the wholesale market, obviously, you know, know about your market and where you're selling in. Um, yeah, that's probably the three main three things. So believe in what you sell, stay authentic, um, and you know, know like have a knowledge of where you stand, you know, what what market you're standing in.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

That's amazing. And and you've also um gone into the retail market as well. Yes. How is that challenge for you?

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah, big one. Um, very big, because it's they're comp it's like chalk and cheese. Yeah, we've we've always only dealt with it. Chalk and cheese, it's pretty funny. We've always dealt with uh chefs and uh people people that have some sort of a minimum of understanding about what you're selling. Now all of a sudden we go into a market where there's a lot more explaining to do, there's a lot more education to do. So it's been challenging. That's where you know having anything on board has been you know a lifesaving for us because of all the education that we've been able to do it afterwards.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

So well, that's great. And where do we see vanilla in the next five years?

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Oh, doing what we're doing, I guess. Yeah, doing what we're doing, you know, enjoying, enjoying, you know, being at these events, enjoying um producing our cheese, and yeah, yeah, not not very far to where we are now, to be honest. Uh yeah, it's it's we're enough, we're in a very good place. Uh happy where we are.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Well you you deserve it. It's been a beautiful family heritage. Uh, hopefully this can pass down to further generations. We seen that last time at the factory. You had other generations working in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, so the the the sister skids, yeah. Yeah, the second generation's coming through now and really, really taking it on board. Yesterday I met with Emma Brown from Brown Brothers. Yep. 167-year-old family business.

unknown 15:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Isn't that beautiful? Fourth generation family door, and they just released their their 0% product. So um, you know, to see innovation still happen, not stagnate, you know, and I I really feel like I could see that for vanilla cheese in the years to come. You you're a um, you know, you've you guys have become a household name in many restaurants. You've uh you're certainly an institution and you've created an amazing product. So thank you so much for giving me your time. I know I know it's busy to come off the floor, but I hope we we uh overshot your expectation in this podcast and you enjoyed the show.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Thank you. Thanks for thanks for having us. Cheers.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Perfect, thank you. Thank you.