Cheese Manufacturing In Pattaya, Thailand

[kenjin]

Hi all,

I just thought that you may be interested, we are in the process of setting up a small cheese manufacturing factory in Pattaya. The cheese vats are on the way as I type...Specializing in quality Cheddar, Double Gloucester and hopefully a few blue cheeses. Hopefully we should have capacity for around 200kg a week to start...that's if it sells (fingers crossed).

Haven't come up with a name yet but will keep you informed

It will be a few months before we are ready to sell to the public but watch this space..

[Ulysses G.]

We have a cheese factory in Chiang Mai that has been open many years and some things like sour cream, feta cheese and cream cheese are fine, but the rest - cheddar, jack, Swiss - are horrible. They are just too plastic/rubbery. I hope that you are better at it than they are.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Ulysses G.

[kenjin]

Yes me too!

[JR Texas]

Yes me too!

I would love some good cheese at an AFFORDABLE PRICE: Monterray Jack, Cheddar, Blue Cheese, Mozarella, Provolone, Parmesian

As for a name, I just thought of this one and you can use it: CUT DA CHEESE FACTORY

[johng]

Good luck with this,please keep us updated.

If you have good prices I think it will work...cheese is too expensive here.

[maxjay]

Good luck to you!

Check out this thread for a good distributor of your products here in Udon: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Udonthani-t267645.html

[billaaa777]

Good luck, I always thought this was a great business idea for Thailand. With one big exception to your concept, I would ONLY initially start with mozzarella cheese.

It is after all made with Asian water buffalo milk and it's not like there aren't enough of those around. Next, there is a huge market for well priced mozzarella between the Italian restaurants, the pizza places and the resorts. This does not even include getting it into the supermarkets.

Another big plus of mozzarella is that it can be used fresh. No need to big expensive refrigerated storing facilities or paying the very expensive electric bills here to store it. And best of all, no waiting for your money as the cheese ages.

[butterisbetter]

about a year ago, there was a very long and informative article in the Bangkok Post about water buffalo dairies being established in Thailand. I would love to be able to purchase water buffalo mozzarella. Another great product would be water buffalo yogurt, It's being made in the USA and it's delicious. It's richer and denser than cow milk yogurt. I'm pretty sure it would be a hit with resident farangs, though I doubt Thais would touch it. Whenever I mention it, they invariably react with disgust to the idea. I also think it would appeal to tourists.

[jazzbo]

So what is your background? 4th generation English Cheese Maker from outside Gloucester or Stilton? 5-year Apprenticeship?

[IanForbes]

That is great news if a cheese factory gets started in Thailand. Good cheese is the one item that is very expensive in Thailand. Good luck in getting a reliable source of milk products for your cheese.

[kenjin]

So what is your background? 4th generation English Cheese Maker from outside Gloucester or Stilton? 5-year Apprenticeship?

3rd Generation actually, my parents ran a small dairy farm in Staffordshire and I attended Reasheath Agricultural College in Nantwich and studied cheese manufacturing under Chris Ashby. I left farming some years back and got into I.T. I`m still relatively young (30's) I own a couple of fairly successful websites which allows me to stay in Thailand with my wife and 2 children, the websites don't need much more than a couple of hours a day of my attention, so I have lots of free time. So I am thinking, quality UK farmhouse style cheese seems like a good business idea to me.

on a side note, I am still waiting for my Vats, I have vacuum machines, refrigerated storage setup..and I still havn't come up with a name yet!

Nick

Edited September 7, 2009 by kenjin

[Gippy]

So what is your background? 4th generation English Cheese Maker from outside Gloucester or Stilton? 5-year Apprenticeship?

3rd Generation actually, my parents ran a small dairy farm in Staffordshire and I attended Reasheath Agricultural College in Nantwich and studied cheese manufacturing under Chris Ashby. I left farming some years back and got into I.T. I`m still relatively young (30's) I own a couple of fairly successful websites which allows me to stay in Thailand with my wife and 2 children, the websites don't need much more than a couple of hours a day of my attention, so I have lots of free time. So I am thinking, quality UK farmhouse style cheese seems like a good business idea to me.

on a side note, I am still waiting for my Vats, I have vacuum machines, refrigerated storage setup..and I still havn't come up with a name yet!

Nick

Sounds good to me. If you can make some tasty and well matured cheeses at a good price then I'm a customer. Will you trade for baking? I make some mean cookies :-)

[katai]

We have a restorant around the Mabrachan Lake and if the quality and the price is good, we are interested.

Please keep in touch and good luck to you.

[jazzbo]

Hello K. Kenjin -- Sounds very good. You will realize without that background or something similar one just doesn't get the nuances that make a great cheese... and it often does take more than one generation to get it... I used to live near the oldest cheese manufacturer in the USA ( Rouge et Noir in California 1865 ) and that experience and know-how just permeated the entire place and went into their (mostly French) cheeses. Best of luck.

[getgoin]

One of the reasons that many cheese factories put out inferior products in Thailand is that the manufacturers forget the basic fundamentals about the art of cheese making. Cheese making was traditionally a way to preserve and store a product made from milk. The different climates and local conditions dictated what types of cheeses were produced.

With modern refrigeration techniques, areas that were most suitable for soft cheeses that were not aged, Thailand in particular, were considered for more complex cheeses like cheddar and blue.

Stick to the basics. Feta, mozzarella and ricotta. Then when you are confident about your refrigeration and cellar and the cost dynamics try some cheddar.

Good luck.

[Daren]

Really good cheese at decent prices? Me thinks you'll have no problem selling out every week!!

Good luck!

[wagoosh]

There is one factory in Hua Hin that makes Mozzarella cheese and some other products and there is one in Bangkok called HomeMade-Cheese Co. and they make different kind of cheese but only soft and white one's not chadder and such.They do have good product tough but different style...

Anyway good luck to all the cheese makers in Bangkok Pattaya or anywhere in Thailand, i hope we have more cheese here and better prices as well...

[cheshiremusicman]

Hi all,

I just thought that you may be interested, we are in the process of setting up a small cheese manufacturing factory in Pattaya. The cheese vats are on the way as I type...Specializing in quality Cheddar, Double Gloucester and hopefully a few blue cheeses. Hopefully we should have capacity for around 200kg a week to start...that's if it sells (fingers crossed).

Haven't come up with a name yet but will keep you informed

It will be a few months before we are ready to sell to the public but watch this space..

PLEASE let us know as and when you have your cheeses for sale. Cheddar, double Gloucester and BLUE CHEESE.

OH yes, please PM me as and when.

[snowgard]

Last week I bought Tilsiter and Gouda Cheese from a german Cheesemaker in Chonburi. The price for 1 kilo is around 350 Baht. It's a very good taste but to young for me (Cheese not hard enough).

For more information look at Siam Milk

[surayu]

..and I still havn't come up with a name yet!

..... "Cheesco" the first cheese in the world dedicated to IT professionals! ok i'll get my coat now

[Tejas]

..and I still havn't come up with a name yet!

..... "Cheesco" the first cheese in the world dedicated to IT professionals! ok i'll get my coat now

The Cheese Factory (if you use this, do I get any free cheese?)

1, 2, 3, Cheese

[bkkjames]

Say Cheese with a big smile logo.

I will be in line to try your products. Just don't fall for the local trap of trying to charge the same price (or very near) that as the imported stuff.

[hogheaven]

So what is your background? 4th generation English Cheese Maker from outside Gloucester or Stilton? 5-year Apprenticeship?

3rd Generation actually, my parents ran a small dairy farm in Staffordshire and I attended Reasheath Agricultural College in Nantwich and studied cheese manufacturing under Chris Ashby. I left farming some years back and got into I.T. I`m still relatively young (30's) I own a couple of fairly successful websites which allows me to stay in Thailand with my wife and 2 children, the websites don't need much more than a couple of hours a day of my attention, so I have lots of free time. So I am thinking, quality UK farmhouse style cheese seems like a good business idea to me.

on a side note, I am still waiting for my Vats, I have vacuum machines, refrigerated storage setup..and I still havn't come up with a name yet!

Nick

Nick,

I hope you do well

Mr Moo Pattaya

[Minpin]

I am sure someone will correct me, but I have always been under the impression that with any finished dairy product the quality of the milk is the key.

Chedder cheese has to be made with unpasturiesed milk, so if you can secure a supply you are half way there.

Cheddar to 99% of people, is an bright orange dyed plastic processed slab of soap in a plastic bag, quite simple to process in a factory.

Where as, in actual fact, it is a pale yellow aged cheese requiring a lot of hand fettling. Try Neils dairy in London for the real thing.

Parmasan cheese makers use a controled cow feed diet to ensure a consistent milk quaility for their cheese.

One of the best ice cream makers in the UK uses only fresh cream I.E no raw milk, to produce their ice cream.

The last time I looked at figures, 90% of raw milk and milk products sold in Thailand came from reconsituted powdered milk mostly from the EUC.

Perhaps someone has more up todate percentages

It is an admirable undertaken, and even if the finished product is not 100% the real thing, if it is taste wise ok, and priced at half the supermarkets going rate it will succeed.

[kenjin]

I am sure someone will correct me, but I have always been under the impression that with any finished dairy product the quality of the milk is the key.

Chedder cheese has to be made with unpasturiesed milk, so if you can secure a supply you are half way there.

Cheddar to 99% of people, is an bright orange dyed plastic processed slab of soap in a plastic bag, quite simple to process in a factory.

Where as, in actual fact, it is a pale yellow aged cheese requiring a lot of hand fettling. Try Neils dairy in London for the real thing.

Parmasan cheese makers use a controled cow feed diet to ensure a consistent milk quaility for their cheese.

One of the best ice cream makers in the UK uses only fresh cream I.E no raw milk, to produce their ice cream.

The last time I looked at figures, 90% of raw milk and milk products sold in Thailand came from reconsituted powdered milk mostly from the EUC.

Perhaps someone has more up todate percentages

It is an admirable undertaken, and even if the finished product is not 100% the real thing, if it is taste wise ok, and priced at half the supermarkets going rate it will succeed.

Cheddar does not necessarily have to be made from Raw Cows Milk. Unless you can control the milk supply, I.E having your own herd and and are 99% sure on the health and sanitation of your cattle then I wouldn't even dream of using raw milk. Raw milk can be a breeding ground for E-coli, Salmonella, Listeria, to name but a few of the nasty pathogens

Raw cheddar producers normally start to produce their cheese within hours of the cows being milked. The reason being, once airborne bacteria finds it way into the milk, and it does this with an matter of minutes of leaving the udder!; The bacteria begins to multiple by the millions.

In my personal opinion It's not safe to use raw milk or even to risk it, especially over here in Thailand as its impossible to monitor the sanitation of the milk origins plus the climate here is very hot.

The milk we purchase is certified checked for micro bacterial pathogens at a lab and arrives in Raw "State" However, even though its checked, we still pasteurize it !

The last time I looked at figures, 90% of raw milk and milk products sold in Thailand came from reconsituted powdered milk mostly from the EUC.

I find this quote highly unlikely, how can it be Raw Milk if its reconstituted powdered milk?

One thing about Thailand is Milk is still quite expensive.. and to give you an idea..without all the the time and effort and all the other charges to add on top, it takes 10liters of milk to make 1kg of cheese, so producing traditional farmhouse cheddar is not as cheap as you would imagine!

Cheddar to 99% of people, is an bright orange dyed plastic processed slab of soap in a plastic bag, quite simple to process in a factory.

Yes you are correct, and to put everyone straight on that... This is defiantly not cheddar, (I hate seeing the word cheddar on these bags) Normally the wholesale "so called cheddar" is produced by repressing and reforming the off cuts from other cheese manufacturing process.

How this is done in the UK and I have seen this first hand, is once the huge slabs of cheese are ready for packing, they go through a pug with wire cutters to cut the blocks into the exact size an weight required for packing (usually for supermarkets) this leaves shards of cheese which goe into large 1 ton bins..Now the factory will either use the offcuts for processed cheese or as I said reformed cheese OR sell these bins to companies who specialize in processing cheese.

They will or should I say can add emulsifiers, colourings, flavourings and oil, (to add weight, ever wondered why your cheap cheese is so greasy) this in turn gets repressed, repacked and resold.

I have heard on the grape vine there is a company selling blocks of this so called cheddar marketing it as being from OZ when in facts its China?Its really cheap and as always.. you get what you pay for

Its a long post but to conclude, the name Cheddar has no legal control so anyone can call any cheese Cheddar and unfortunately market it as such

I have created a website with more information about our thailandcheese, pm if your interested....I don't think I would be allowed to put it on here?

Edited February 24, 2010 by kenjin

[DickFarang]

about a year ago, there was a very long and informative article in the Bangkok Post about water buffalo dairies being established in Thailand. I would love to be able to purchase water buffalo mozzarella. Another great product would be water buffalo yogurt, It's being made in the USA and it's delicious. It's richer and denser than cow milk yogurt. I'm pretty sure it would be a hit with resident farangs, though I doubt Thais would touch it. Whenever I mention it, they invariably react with disgust to the idea. I also think it would appeal to tourists.

My Thai wife has lived in Belgium and she learnt to appreciate farang food, including cheese.

She also bakes Belgian style farmer’s bread (flour – water – salt – yeast), not what you get in 7-11.

[hogheaven]

i sent you a reply e mail.

Thank you

Mr Moo

I am sure someone will correct me, but I have always been under the impression that with any finished dairy product the quality of the milk is the key.

Chedder cheese has to be made with unpasturiesed milk, so if you can secure a supply you are half way there.

Cheddar to 99% of people, is an bright orange dyed plastic processed slab of soap in a plastic bag, quite simple to process in a factory.

Where as, in actual fact, it is a pale yellow aged cheese requiring a lot of hand fettling. Try Neils dairy in London for the real thing.

Parmasan cheese makers use a controled cow feed diet to ensure a consistent milk quaility for their cheese.

One of the best ice cream makers in the UK uses only fresh cream I.E no raw milk, to produce their ice cream.

The last time I looked at figures, 90% of raw milk and milk products sold in Thailand came from reconsituted powdered milk mostly from the EUC.

Perhaps someone has more up todate percentages

It is an admirable undertaken, and even if the finished product is not 100% the real thing, if it is taste wise ok, and priced at half the supermarkets going rate it will succeed.

Cheddar does not necessarily have to be made from Raw Cows Milk. Unless you can control the milk supply, I.E having your own herd and and are 99% sure on the health and sanitation of your cattle then I wouldn't even dream of using raw milk. Raw milk can be a breeding ground for E-coli, Salmonella, Listeria, to name but a few of the nasty pathogens

Raw cheddar producers normally start to produce their cheese within hours of the cows being milked. The reason being, once airborne bacteria finds it way into the milk, and it does this with an matter of minutes of leaving the udder!; The bacteria begins to multiple by the millions.

In my personal opinion It's not safe to use raw milk or even to risk it, especially over here in Thailand as its impossible to monitor the sanitation of the milk origins plus the climate here is very hot.

The milk we purchase is certified checked for micro bacterial pathogens at a lab and arrives in Raw "State" However, even though its checked, we still pasteurize it !

The last time I looked at figures, 90% of raw milk and milk products sold in Thailand came from reconsituted powdered milk mostly from the EUC.

I find this quote highly unlikely, how can it be Raw Milk if its reconstituted powdered milk?

One thing about Thailand is Milk is still quite expensive.. and to give you an idea..without all the the time and effort and all the other charges to add on top, it takes 10liters of milk to make 1kg of cheese, so producing traditional farmhouse cheddar is not as cheap as you would imagine!

Cheddar to 99% of people, is an bright orange dyed plastic processed slab of soap in a plastic bag, quite simple to process in a factory.

Yes you are correct, and to put everyone straight on that... This is defiantly not cheddar, (I hate seeing the word cheddar on these bags) Normally the wholesale "so called cheddar" is produced by repressing and reforming the off cuts from other cheese manufacturing process.

How this is done in the UK and I have seen this first hand, is once the huge slabs of cheese are ready for packing, they go through a pug with wire cutters to cut the blocks into the exact size an weight required for packing (usually for supermarkets) this leaves shards of cheese which goe into large 1 ton bins..Now the factory will either use the offcuts for processed cheese or as I said reformed cheese OR sell these bins to companies who specialize in processing cheese.

They will or should I say can add emulsifiers, colourings, flavourings and oil, (to add weight, ever wondered why your cheap cheese is so greasy) this in turn gets repressed, repacked and resold.

I have heard on the grape vine there is a company selling blocks of this so called cheddar marketing it as being from OZ when in facts its China?Its really cheap and as always.. you get what you pay for

Its a long post but to conclude, the name Cheddar has no legal control so anyone can call any cheese Cheddar and unfortunately market it as such

I have created a website with more information about our thailandcheese, pm if your interested....I don't think I would be allowed to put it on here?

[neverdie]

I think you should call it, 'chi' because thats the way the thais say cheese anyway. Of course you could always call it, 'tai chi'.