About Us
Maleny Cheese is a family owned Queensland small business and first opened its doors to the public on the 10th April 2004.
The Bucher’s
The Bucher family came to Maleny after living in Switzerland, Townsville, Perth, Margaret River and Adelaide. Over the years they gathered a variety of business experiences having had a successful village delicatessen in Switzerland and worked for small business across Australia. Together, Sara and Markus planned their biggest challenge ever and came to Maleny with their 4 school aged children to put their ‘demonstration cheesery’ plan into action. Today all 6 members of the family assist the business to continue to grow. Markus Bucher - Swiss Master Cheese maker. Markus Bucher is the Maleny Cheese Swiss Master Cheese maker. His cheese-making career has taken him from Switzerland to many states of Australia, but it was his passion for perfection that led him to Maleny. In Maleny, Markus sources top quality, silage free milk from a small herd of cows, goats and water buffalo, just like back in Switzerland. With this milk he is able to make his exquisite range of premium quality dairy goods.
Markus Bucher - Swiss Master Cheese maker
Markus Bucher is the Maleny Cheese Swiss Master Cheese maker. His cheese-making career has taken him from Switzerland to many states of Australia, but it was his passion for perfection that led him to Maleny. In Maleny, Markus sources top quality, silage free milk from a small herd of cows, just like back in Switzerland. With this milk he is able to make his exquisite range of premium quality dairy goods.
The Simpson’s
The Simpson family is a third generation dairy farmers and were originally business founders of Maleny Cheese. Together with the Bucher family, they built and developed the business over the five years. From mid 2009 they have focused on their farming business only and continue to supply milk to Maleny Cheese from their 100 head herd of Friesian, Australian Illawarra, and Guernsey cows.
The farm is situated 10 kms from the cheesery on the steep slopes of Maleny, overlooking the spectacular Glasshouse Mountains and the Sunshine Coast. The cows graze year round on green mountain pastures. Because of the small herd size the cows receive individual care and attention and truly are ‘happy cows’.
The Thompson’s
Margaret and Mal Thompson are second generation dairy farmers and have a keen pioneering spirit despite being in their 7th decade of life! They have developed Australia’s third herd of milking water buffalo. The Thompson’s farm is at Witta, 10kms from the cheesery and they milk around 20 water buffalo cows as well as a herd of 250 cows. Margaret Thompson is a 2009 Winston Churchill Fellowship recipient for her planned study of buffalo breeding and husbandry. She will travel to Argentina, USA, UK, Bulgaria and Italy together with her husband in 2010. Thompson’s water buffalo herd is the third herd in Australia.
The Hopper’s
Harold Hopper and his family have established a champion herd of Guernsey cows and Saanen Goats in Maleny. The family own and operate Maleny Dairies and have brought superb award winning milk (cow and goat milk) to the tables of thousands of families and business’ across South-east Queensland since opening their milk bottling business in 2003.
Maleny Cheese proudly accepts delivery of goats’ milk from the Hoppers whenever supplies permit them to do so. At these times, Maleny Cheese makes goats’ cheve and curd cheeses as production scheduling allows.
Harold Hopper’s Champion Saanen goat herd.
The Maleny Cheese Team
Maleny Cheese Team has grown since April 2004 from three (3) to twenty eight (28), as of February 2010. There are experienced Swiss-trained cheese makers in the production area: Simon Guggisberg and Richard Egli, as well as Markus Bucher and New Zealand trained Graham Sutherland. The wrapping and packaging area is a happy place with Lyn Guerney, Michelle, Eddy and Jemma. Some of the Cheese Stop’s café team includes: Anna, Ruth, Clarissa, Katherine, Gillian and George. At the Farmers Markets, Jenn, Gillian, Sue and Sam attend three weekend events bringing local cheese and yoghurt directly to customers. Behind the scenes Markus, Lauren and Anne-Mette make the office side of things ‘ happen’ and Sara and Marc look after the web site. Kym, Neil and Ferdie keep the gardens in order and others help at the Farmers Markets stalls Maleny Cheese conducts at weekends and special events. This lists most of the Maleny Cheese family ‘roll call’ as of February 2010.
