Our wonderful people, making Dutch Cheese in North Canterbury

Who would have thought that Karikaas being 10 minutes north of Rangiora would be a problem for finding staff? To be fair it does depend on what skills we are looking for, but in reality, we can’t bring in staff experienced in what we do – there just are not too many around. Our expectation is to find a local who is interested in what we do, and is willing to learn, and who will give almost anything a go.

All our current staff are from North Canterbury, and everyone has been trained in house. Except for those who have recently started with us, everyone is working differently than when they started. When you find good people, we don’t want to lose them. However, life changes for people, and we are much better of being a bit flexible, or training people to do new things than lose someone if they really would like to stay.

Everyone in this recent staff photo started in the cheese store, nurturing our beautiful babies to maturity. Now we have 2 cheesemakers, one in the office and 3 who cut and pack cheese. Multitasking is an important part of working in a small business, and it certainly helps if you have fun. Look at our faces – it was an entertaining day.