Sidehustle #1: Cheesemonger Redux
In a year in which it seemed you couldn’t predict anything, I was delighted to get the call in November from Neals Yard Dairy to ask if I’d be available to join the Seasonal Retail Team again.
In case you CBA to read my previous posts, I’ve worked for NYD at Christmas twice in the Borough Market shop managing the queue, and at Easter in the hallowed cheese arches at Bermondsey as part of the cheese caretaking team known as “cheese shift”. I got to know the business so well and enjoyed each experience so much I keep returning. Plus I love cheese.
This year was different for many reasons: in a pandemic and tier system of lockdown there were changes. The dairy is classed as an essential retailer as it sells cheese, milk and bread — all staples. Before starting the “returners” i.e. returning staff all congregated on one of the most fun Zoom calls I’ve ever had to run through the particulars — the main one being no tasters for customers.
I did my research. The pandemic has hit the cheese industry hard and NYD has flexed several times, devising dairy boxes for those isolating and enlisting the help of Jamie Oliver to help support cheesemongers to continue producing with Great British Cheese selection boxes and subscriptions. Some farms and their cheeses have disappeared from the slate altogether (RIP Innes Log) and new ones have sprung up (oh hai Elrick Log). The customer is also relying on a cheesemongers recommendation a lot more as tasting isn’t on the cards.
The first few shifts flew by. Although Bermondsey isn’t as hustle and bustle as Borough Market, if you know where to go you can pick up the finest provisions along a seemingly quiet stretch of railway arches. A new starter asked me to be her guide one lunch break and I showed her Crown and Queue, Husk and Honey, Lucocao and London Honey. My payment was a scotch egg, from C&Q.
The weekend before Christmas was so hectic we were practically juggling cheese out of the door, with no time to even taste the slate ourselves. Despite never having served before, here I was getting to grips with the till, using the wire all the time, packaging cheese and helping people choose their cheeseboard. And then, another change. London was placed into Tier 4.
I had been due to move to the Borough Market shop but was redeployed to help the packing team. A week earlier and for the first time ever the business had to close online orders. They had reached capacity, with an unprecedented increase in demand.
The packing team had the unspoken reputation of the cool kids. They had music in the arches, but they worked in silence and with the ease of a well-oiled machine. My first morning was A LOT given the 6am start. I was put to work cutting down the gigantic cheese wheels to prepare for mail order and wholesale customers.
This is akin to a workout, lifting around 20kg of cheese, manoeuvring it into position, running a wire through it, checking it’s even, peeling back the multiple layers of cloth or muslin and sectioning it down. I properly got a sweat on and spent the first half an hour thinking “I can’t do this” and ending up with a few wobbly cuts. As the morning went on, it got easier, I developed muscle memory and was soon cutting a wheel of Sparkenhoe Red Leicester like it was butter. Lancashire is actually the easiest, FYI.
That afternoon I spent time refilling the grab shelves alongside the packing line with jams, pickles and crackers to assist the mail-order team. My heart sang even while printing out the packing slips with messages of joy — reading well wishes and Christmas greetings to families friends and lovers separated at this odd time was lovely. I then joined the packing line and did my own assembly, lining the box with the wool blanket, an ice pack and playing Jenga to fit the order in safely without damaging anything.
For my final day, I was reunited with a colleague I had worked with the previous year, we were put on fulfilling wholesale orders. This was much more taxing as instead of reacting to what someone was ordering we were racing against time to cut the cheese fresh in order to pack and despatch. It was quite a lot of fun perfecting my packing technique on around twenty-five consecutive sixteenths of Baron Bigod. Very satisfying.
All in all my return to Neals Yard was everything I hoped it would be: new learning experiences, immense fun interacting with customers and physically demanding. It just flew by this year. Thanks again to all the crew for having me.
