Acquired taste

In this archive photo, Black River cheesemakers prepare goat milk cheddar curd in co-operation with Fifth Town Cheese.

Black River Cheese sold to Gay Lea Foods

Ownership of the Black River Cheese Company has moved out of Prince Edward County for the first time in its 115-year history. Mississauga-based Gay Lea Foods, a cooperative, has acquired the Black River brand and store for an undisclosed sum.

Black River currently employs about 15-full-time staff as well as some part-time people.

Gay Lea’s CEO, Mike Barrett, says the dairy co-operative will continue to operate the retail store and hopes to expand the Black River Cheese Company brand, but said the factory currently produces very little cheese, and that is unlikely to change, due to issues related to the plant’s wastewater treatment.

Gay Lea Foods has acquired several smaller regional dairies in recent years, including Ivanhoe Cheese near Madoc.

“There are severe wastewater treatment issues at Black River. We spent a million dollars at Ivanhoe and it would be beyond our intention to spend a million dollars to upgrade the wastewater facility at Black River. Right now, there is very limited cheese production that takes place at Black River,” said Barrett. “It will continue to be a very limited production at the facility. Very, very limited.”

He said some full-time and part-time staff would stay on and the retail store would remain— but he did not rule out job losses.

“There will still be some full-time and part-time jobs there, but the cheesemaking will be very, very limited,” said Barrett.

In 2010, Black River Cheese received $264,000 from the provincial government to “implement a fully functioning wastewater treatment system which would allow the company to exceed current standards and protect the province’s drinking water.”

Barrett says the Black River plant is too small—that grocery store chain consolidation and the economics of food distribution have driven these chains toward national,rather than regional, suppliers. “The artisanal nature of the products Black River is producing in a commodity-driven world is challenging,” said Barrett. “It is about a twentieth the size of the Ivanhoe plant. It is very difficult to make a small plant profitable.”

For Gay Lea, the acquisition of Black River Cheese Company enables it to expand the Black River brand across the country as well as its unique products, such as its maple cheddar. It is also helps expand Gay Lea’s shelf space in the grocery store.

“You can’t be a singular player in today’s market and expect to be competitive,” said Barrett. “We must provide an ever-changing basket of goods. As consumer tastes change, we need to be able to change with them.”

Gay Lea Foods has 1,200 members, 835 employees and annual sales of some $560 million under several brands including Gay Lea, Nordica and Ivanhoe. The company operates at nine facilities with the acquisition of Black River Cheese. It was formed in 1958.

Barrett says Gay Lea is excited by the opportunities presented by this acquisition and in participating in the growth of the County.

“Prince Edward County is unique,” said Barrett.

“It’s a tourist mecca. The growth of the winery industry bodes well for the local cheese and I think we have that in both Ivanhoe and Black River.”

The deal to acquire Black River Cheese Company closed Wednesday.