Over the Moon Dairy enjoys success
Fifteen years ago a determined Putaruru woman, Sue Arthur, had a dream.
She wanted to have a cheese making factory. Like all good dreams it had its beginnings in her trips to Europe where she had tasted many cheeses and seen artisan cheese making first-hand. She knew she could do the same – back in New Zealand.
She lives in the centre of dairy country in South Waikato, so her raw milk source was ticked. She needed a building and a cheese maker.
These all came along. What started with Sue, two staff and plenty of hard graft is 15 years later Sue and 20 staff.
More than 120 medals and trophies at national and international cheesemaking competitions is proof that Over The Moon Dairy Company is now well established.
The New Zealand Cheese School runs as part of Over The Moon production, training both professional cheesemakers from all around the world, with weeklong intensive courses and the DIY cheesemaker courses of two and four hours
As the factory and cheese making school has grown and developed there was a natural next step – the second retail outlet, Over The Moon Cheese Deli, which opened in Cambridge in 2016, has proved very popular with customers.
‘‘We get the foodie and the overseas visitor and locals have embraced the deli to make it part of their day-to-day food ‘must have’,’’ said Sue.
‘‘The deli has all our cheese products plus New Zealand products from other artisan producers that beautifully complement the cheese.
"Locals are really supportive, but you could never run a business like this just on the local foot traffic. The reason I’m here on the highway in Putaruru is to get the passing traffic. Most of our customers in Putaruru are actually visitors from both New Zealand and overseas passing through the towns."
However, a good part of the company’s sales is also to supply wholesale to other deli’s and restaurants.
Over The Moon produces a base of more than 25 different cheeses with new combinations evolving all the time.
"The thing that makes us different, I think, is our innovation. We love a challenge. We love ‘having a play’ in the factory and seeing what we can come up with," says Sue.
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