Golden North, long known for its ice cream, is preparing to enter the cheese market under the leadership of director and co-owner Dimi Kyriazis.
The company has acquired Beston Global Food Company’s former Murray Bridge dairy site and equipment, paving the way to produce Golden North-branded cheese and expand its operations.
Kyriazis said the move could make the business South Australia’s largest hard cheese maker.
“When Bestons were operating out of here at full speed, I think it was around $60 million worth of cheese coming through this room. We would love to beat that,” he said.
Golden North plans to meet with major supermarket chains, including Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, Foodland and Drakes, to get its cheese products on shelves within a year.
The Murray Bridge expansion is expected to generate dozens of jobs, with Kyriazis aiming to double the workforce.
“I think within five years we could possibly be closer to 200 employees than 100,” he said.
The company is prioritising redeployment of staff from its soon-to-close Laura factory and considering former Bestons employees.
Kyriazis added Golden North aims to tap export markets and process milk and cheese for other businesses across South Australia.
“We’d like to launch a cheese brand not only for Australia but we’d like to be exporting cheese as well,” he said.
Source: The Advertiser.
