Neal’s Yard Dairy has a defined mission: to improve British cheese. It is the job of the directors to instil an enthusiasm for this mission and ensure that it underpins every decision we take. Their primary function is to integrate these four simple words into a set of clear long-term objectives, mostly to do with cheese: how we select, mature and sell it. They also need to ensure the business remains a sustainable one; one in which the value we work so hard to produce is shared respectfully amongst our customers, producers, staff and the company. To these ends, they spend time looking at our processes and systems, with a relentless focus on the quality of the cheese and the service we provide to our customers and producers. They seek to learn from the experiences of others, as well as assisting those new to the field – a task made easier by the open and cooperative nature of our industry. Get this right and the next generation of cheesemakers will want to make cheese, young people will be inspired to work as cheesemongers and open their own shops, and the future will be assured.

Like the sweeper in a game of curling, the Operations team understands where we’re trying to get to and is out in front, smoothing the way. This means finding out from people in the company what they need to do their job effectively – speaking to colleagues, visiting them where they work, taking time to fully understand their needs. There are no impulse buys: purchases of products and services are carefully researched, with the benefit they will bring to the cheese being the primary consideration; cost, environmental impact and supplier relationships are close behind. It is also the role of the Operations team to ensure that the supply and use of products and services is efficient and cost-effective. They aim to spend 80 per cent of their time keeping systems running and 20 per cent looking for ways to do things better. By continually questioning how and why we do things, prioritising tasks and projects that will save time later and simplifying processes wherever possible, they strive to make us more efficient in all we do.

A few times each year, a team of two or three people will hit the open road and take a van full of cheese on an adventure, usually to an agricultural show or market. The Events department has no fixed team, instead ‘borrowing’ people from all across the business for each event. These days are long, with non-stop tasting and talking, but they offer us the opportunity to introduce ourselves and our cheeses to people all around the country. They also give our staff the chance to build their confidence and promote the skills and knowledge required to be an excellent cheesemonger. The same can be said of our public cheese classes, which are held a couple of times a week above the Borough Market shop. At these, staff members speak about a wide range of topics, from the history of British cheese to making the perfect fondue. We also run private classes and corporate team-building events. Our hope is that anyone who discovers us for the first time at an event or a class will continue walking through our doors for many years to come.

The Production team is composed of two parts: the Cheeseshift and the Production Line. When Neal’s Yard Dairy consisted of a single shop, one person had the task of looking after the cheese whenever there were no customers to serve – a job known as the ‘cheeseshift’. Now, there are seven permanent cheeseshifters, with another person from elsewhere in the business rota’d in to help them. This group receives the cheese from our cheesemakers, matures it in our maturing arches in Bermondsey and supplies it to our shops, ecommerce, wholesale and export. The Production Line, with a team of permanent staff, is responsible for supplying hundreds of shops and restaurants around the UK and the rest of the world, which amounts to a significant proportion of our outgoing volume. The Production team’s aim is to improve the quality of the cheese we sell by evolving our maturing environments, streamlining and stabilising our workflow, training and developing individual members of the team.

The shops are the face of the business, and it is here that so many strands of Neal’s Yard Dairy – the cheesemongers, the cheesemakers and the customers – finally converge. The function of the shops is to sell the best possible cheese, with the best possible service. Our cheesemongers aim to be open and friendly to all who walk in, while not forgetting their single most important task: to encourage customers to taste the cheese. It is also imperative that they taste it themselves, every day. Upholding the quality of the cheese, through how it is ordered, cut, wrapped and stored, is another large part of our work – we refer to it as ‘cheesecare’ – as is the maintenance of a clean, safe environment in which cheese can be sold in the Neal’s Yard Dairy style, out in the open. Everyone in the business has worked in the shops at some time, and many are called in to help out at Christmas. We enjoy regular visits from our cheesemakers where they can get direct feedback from customers, and we also use the shops to host and train wholesale customers from the UK and abroad, as well as running cheese classes for the public.

Buying cheese sounds very romantic, but it comes down to having the right amount of cheese of the right age at the right time – and at the right price. There are two people in our buying team: Bronwen and Terry. Terry, who is based in our maturing arches in Bermondsey, works with our sales, maturation and packing teams to understand what we need and with the cheesemakers to ensure that we communicate those needs effectively. With Terry handling the day-to-day work of buying, Bronwen’s role has become progressively more field-based. She spends up to half her time on the road, visiting farms, tasting and selecting cheese, organising workshops and information exchange, and working to identify and encourage the next generation of British cheesemakers. At the moment, we are working to systematise the buying process to optimise the amount of stock we buy and hold for every cheese, taking into account variability, flavour and changes in demand. By having great systems, we’ll be able to spend more time on the personal relationships and cheese tastings that are so central to what we do.

Raw milk cheese, of which Neal’s Yard Dairy is a proud advocate, has a strong track record for safety compared to many other foods. The Quality Assurance team’s job is to work with suppliers to ensure that the cheeses they produce for us are safe, and to manage the Dairy’s internal quality system to ensure that our own handling of cheese is safe and hygienic. Than is charged with monitoring and maintaining our quality system and acting as a liaison with customers and health officers, as well as working with teams across the business to evolve their practices. Bronwen, whose view is more long-term and outward-looking, works to develop links between cheesemakers and academics interested in microbial communities, biofilms and zoonotic diseases. Neal’s Yard Dairy sponsors, and Bronwen organises, the Conference on the Science of Artisan Cheese, a biennial event that brings together cheesemakers, scientists and regulators in the spirit of information exchange and collaboration. Bronwen also chairs the technical committees of two industry bodies, the Specialist Cheesemakers Association and the new Raw Milk Producers Association, both of which work with regulators and producers to ensure a bright future for raw milk cheeses.

The Maintenance team – Ross, James and Sam – are based in a workshop next door to the Neal’s Yard Dairy arches in Bermondsey, along with resident carpenter Tom. As well as working for Neal's Yard Dairy, they also look after Monmouth Coffee Company, whose offices and coffee roasting facility are based just 100 metres away. Their role is to keep the premises and equipment of both businesses in safe working conditions, either by fixing problems themselves or handing them over to one of our approved contractors. Tasks range from simple things like replacing light bulbs, dealing with leaking pipes, painting blackboards and putting up shelves to larger jobs such as building a partition wall, creating a new meeting room or assisting with the refurbishment of a shop. They also arrange the required programme of annual inspections and servicing.