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Warrnambool Cheese and Butter adds a new channel to its brand

Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, Australia's oldest dairy operating since 1888, has acquired Lion Dairy and Drinks' everyday cheese brands – Coon, Cracker Barrel, Mil Lel and Fred Walker and now will be focussing its energies on its Foodservice business. 

Taking over the iconic Coon, Cracker Barrel, Mil Lel and Fred Walker brands, coupled with its award-winning Warrnambool Heritage cheddars, provides WCB the platform to leverage and grow in the Foodservice channel, the company said.

"We have always provided the input cheese to the Lion business and now we have these iconic brands coupled with our award-winning Warrnambool Heritage range it makes perfect sense to beef up and have a deliberate focus on our Foodservice offering," said WCB's National Business Manager for Foodservice & Industrial, Damien Sorensen.

"That means more simplified processes, a more efficient supply chain, better on-time delivery, regular customer contact – all the things that our customers expect a key supply partner to be. We just want to be easier to deal with, whilst providing a premium dairy offer," Sorensen said.

This focus has included boosting its Foodservice team around the country – a team that will continue to grow with the needs of the business and requirements of our dynamic and changing marketplace.

While WCB has had a relatively low profile in Foodservice previously, it is the engine-room to many of the country's highest profile dairy processors and this is just the beginning for WCB with bold plans to make Foodservice a key ingredient of its business.

To ensure the continued quality and consistency of all its products, WCB has also invested in additional staff including recruiting highly regarded cheese grader Dave Mellor from UK dairy giant Pilgrims Choice.

"Thousands of tonnes of cheese comes out of the dairy every year and it is up to me to grade it all. It's lucky I love cheese," Mellor said.

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