Meet the big cheese from the Clevedon Buffalo Company

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and a transcribed excerpt. This week he talks to Helen Dorresteyn , co-founder of Clevedon Buffalo.

40 minutes south of Auckland you’ll find the Clevedon Farmers Markets on every Sunday, with a bustling collection of local growers, farmers and artisan food suppliers, and while all this is a firm favourite now it wasn’t that long ago it was nothing but an inkling in the mind of today’s guest.

Helen Dorresteyn had seen the trend towards farmers markets overseas and thought we should be able to do that here, too. She went around the neighbourhood, got support from the locals and set up the Clevedon Farmers Markets, however there was one thing she couldn’t find, and that was a great local cheesemaker.

So her husband, an industrial electrician, decided to put his hand up to fill the gap, and they thought they’d try to make that lovely buffalo cheese that they’d so enjoyed in Italy.

How hard could it be? Well, quite hard as it turned out, but very rewarding.

Since creating the Clevedon Buffalo Company they’ve gone on to win multiple awards, become a mainstay in our best kitchens and be one of the anchors of the still thriving Clevedon Markets today.

To talk making things happen, the journey and cheese, co-founder Helen Dorresteyn joined the podcast

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