Barry's Bay Cheese

April 2017

Mike and Catherine Carey have owned Barrys Bay Traditional Cheese for the last 11 years. But the company, located at Duvauchelle on Banks Peninsula, has been in business for much longer, making old fashioned, hand crafted cheese since 1895. The current factory dates from 1952, as the previous factory burnt down.

Barry's Bay's mission is to continue in the tradition of old fashioned, hand-crafted cheese making with fresh, local milk to be enjoyed immensely by those that eat them. All its products are sold in New Zealand. There are about 12 full-time staff, with fewer in winter when they are not making cheese, and in the busy summer months the packing room is flat out full of people cutting and packing cheese. 

Barrys Bay Traditional Cheese is one of the oldest cheese making businesses in New Zealand. It still uses the traditional recipes brought to the district by the early settlers. There used to be nine dairy factories on the peninsula, and cheese was made as a way of preserving milk. Now Barrys Bay is the only factory left. It now supplies cheese nationwide. In 2010 it started to send product to the North Island. 

The business is growing as food culture booms, and as people want to know the quality and source of their foods. Mike Carey says the business has just ticked away on the current site for 50 or 60 years, and they’ve managed to keep it viable and grow it by making great product, as well as providing a lot of employment for a great team of local people. 

Educating people about their food is one of the strengths of the business: there are many visitors to the factory, and through large viewing windows they can watch the 13 different cheeses being made. Some cheeses are aged or flavoured differently. Barrys Bay Cheese produces more than 40 different cheeses.

Many cruise ships visit Akaroa during summer, and busloads of visitors come to the factory, which might be the visitor’s only food production experience on their trip. 

Provincial food production and the connection to the source is something they feel passionately about and Mike and Catherine believe it has become more important to consumers as well. They also support other local producers through their shop. 

Head Cheesemaker, Pete Corbett, says the quality of the milk they receive is key to the quality of their cheeses. All their milk is sourced from Motukarara farmers Simon and Myra Manson, with the factory taking around 5000 litres every second day.    

Traditional Dutch and English cheeses make up a big part of the production. They also make a lot of flavoured cheddars, and lately have made flavoured cheeses using Three Boys oyster stout, whiskey and local wakame kelp from Roger Beattie – locally sourced products. 

In the 2016 NZ Champions of Cheese Awards they won five gold medals; for their Aged Gouda, Gouda, Aged Edam, Edam and Maasdam cheeses.