Australia's largest privately-owned speciality cheese manufacturer Jindi Cheese has been acquired by French dairy giant Lactalis for a reported $20 million.
The multi award-winning company has been owned by Menora Foods since 2005 and is based in the heart of the Victorian dairy belt of West Gippsland. Jindi focuses on boutique cheese making and operates state-of-the-art white and blue mould facilities, which were opened in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Normandy-born Franck Beaurain, CEO of Jindi and veteran cheese artisan, joined the company around four years ago with a focus on washed rind and blue cheeses. Beaurain will stay on at Jindi, as will its 90 existing staff members.
Last year, Lactalis bought Parmalat for approximately $4.2 billion and, in doing so, acquired the Italian company's Australian operations which include Pauls milk. Jindi marks Lactalis' first foray into the Australian cheese sector.
Separately, Jindi scored a hat trick at last night's Australian Grand Dairy Awards, winning Champion White Mould Cheese for its Old Telegraph Road Brie; Champion Blue Cheese for its Old Telegraph Road Heritage Blue; and Champion Washed Rind Cheese for its Jindi Reserve Washed Rind.
"For any cheesemaker to win three awards at the Australian Grand Dairy Awards is pretty impressive. For a company the size of Jindi – based in a tiny township in Gippsland – to score these triumphs is something really noteworthy,” a spokeswoman for Dairy Australia told F&DB.
Find out more about the 2013 Australian Grand Dairy Awards.
