It was a conversation between Nick Haddow, perhaps Australia’s best-known cheesemaker (founder of Bruny Island Cheese Co. and Gourmet Farmer regular) and Dan Sims the creative force behind wine events like Pinot Palooza, that led to the first Mould event back in 2017. This year it was due to hit Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for sell-out events but as the COVID-19 crisis hit, Sims moved to postpone events.

“It’s such a throwaway line but we’re all in this together,” says Sims. “We had producers who had over 1.5 tonnes of cheese to sell and we thought, ‘What do we do? How do we help?’” Initially Sims and his team at Melbourne-based REVEL Global prompted consumers to buy direct while they stopped to observe and regroup. “If you pivot too fast, you spin and go nowhere,” he says. “A lot of our cheese producers are farmers who don’t have direct-to-consumer outlets or an e-commerce and marketing background – but they know how to make incredible cheese.” The idea of the Collective started to take shape.

By now we all know that the economic outlook is bleak but Haddow spells out what the COVID-19 crisis looks like for him. “Remember in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons? Where he’s at the front of the train that’s out of control, laying the tracks down in front of the train as fast as he can?” he says. “That’s kind of how I feel right now. I don’t really have time to look up and know if we’re heading off the edge of a cliff or not.”

For me, Haddow is a natural doer. There’s always a new project fizzing away, whether establishing his Glen Huon dairy farm, brewing or winemaking. He’s enthusiastic, and a natural ambassador for not just his industry, but also his state. When we speak he’s obviously fraying at the edges, like many holding businesses together. His Bruny Island-based cellar door, which normally accounts for half of their income, is closed, wholesale and distribution orders are lost, their shop in Salamanca is closed and all forward events have been cancelled; the Mould events and Dark Mofo, both a significant part of their winter trade when tourism is slow. Up to 75 per cent of their business is gone with prospects of a return to previous conditions uncertain.

Haddow says they’re “scrambling” to get the excess product online through their own channels; a comfortable space for them, having mastered the art of curated cheese boxes themselves. He’s thankful for this advantage but highlights the plight of smaller cheesemakers more reliant on wholesale and distribution. Mould Collective’s success could be make-or-break for dozens of smaller producers, says Haddow, like Stone & Crow Cheese and Shaw River Buffalo both in Victoria, and Tongola in Tasmania.

Mould Collective’s intention is clear: to help Australia’s best producers sell cheese that, in Sims words, is “eating really good right now”. To start it will sell curated boxes for around $85 for four cheeses including postage. Expect the likes of Bruny Island Cheese Co, fellow Tasmanian producer Grandvewe, Section 28 from the Adelaide Hills and Milawa Cheese Company from the Victoria High Country. Sims stresses that the approach is to pay the going rate, that producers aren’t being squeezed for discounts and that it’s a case, he says, of “how much is this and how can we get it to people? People will buy a box and because that money is then in the bank we’ll be able to pay producers immediately.” Ready to launch first sales in less than two weeks, the initial announcement garnered over 2000 sign-ups within a matter of hours.

As Mould Collective rolls out, the concept will grow with a podcast and other media assets such as live virtual tasting events, bringing the stories of the producers to life. The offering could also see a monthly subscription service. It’s just the start, says Sims.

As I talk with Haddow he rallies saying, “We make incredible, world-class cheeses in Australia. It can get lost when chefs, shops and consumers have a bias towards particularly French and Italian cheeses as being superior. I want the opportunity to put the best of Australian cheesemakers in one room, with Mould, and that’s now what the Collective will do but in a different way: we won’t be in the same room but we’ll be in the same box.”