The new owners of King Island Dairy have announced ambitious plans to revitalise and expand the century-old Tasmanian cheese producer.
Facing imminent closure this year with about 60 jobs at stake, the dairy located off Tasmania’s north-west coast has been rescued by businessmen Graeme Wilson and Nick Dobromilsky.
The pair currently own Queensland’s artisanal Olympus Cheese brand and emerged as the preferred bidders from a pool of six just two weeks ago.
Wilson described the acquisition, which includes the Burnie-based Heidi Farms brand, as a “no-brainer” with potential to become a “multi-generational” venture for both families.
“When we heard that King Island was closing, I rang Nick and said ‘look, are you interested in buying another cheese business?'” Wilson said.
“We had a look at it. We did the due diligence on it. We modelled it up and with our experience, we know that it can work well. It’s a profitable business if it’s run properly.”
Rather than downsizing operations, the new owners see global potential for the business, which Wilson says will require increasing the island’s cow population and upgrading neglected factory equipment.
“We can only make as much cheese as we can get milk. The first thing we have to do on the island is create more milk for the dairy. Raw materials is what’s going to hold it back,” he explained.
Currently, the island has approximately 2,000 dairy cows.
To ensure the business thrives, Dobromilsky plans to relocate to King Island and oversee operations first-hand. He aims to revamp the product range, which has seen little innovation in recent years under previous owner Saputo.
“I’ll relocate here to come and work on the factory floor [to] make sure I fully understand what’s going on and improve the quality,” he said.
“At Olympus, we are known for our quality. We’re not a massive producer. I’ll bring that DNA back to this site and look forward to working with the team to develop new products. You need to be hands-on for that.”
The Tasmanian Government has committed $10 million over the next decade to support the dairy through stamp duty exemptions, payroll tax relief and a loan facility.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said without the package, the dairy, essential to the “fabric of this community”, would have ground the island to a halt.
“I thank the King Island community for never giving up, for their resilience, for the belief in themselves and the island that we could get this done,” Rockliff said.
“It was 12 months ago, almost to the day, I said that the King Island Dairy would not close on my watch and it hasn’t.”
For King Island’s 1,600 residents, the announcement has lifted spirits. Local publican John Smith said the entire island would have felt the ripple effects of a closure.
“The island community’s been a little bit down, but it certainly got everyone out on the weekend,” he said.
“We’ve got a small community. We’ve all got one or two jobs. It all goes round and if we’d have lost [the dairy], then we would have lost a lot more.”
“25 kids would have gone straight out of the school. We would have lost probably 30… 40 people in the age group of 20 to 40.”
“Already you can feel the difference in the spirits lifting.”
