• Almost 50,000 kilograms of artisanal cheese was stolen in a sophisticated heist in the UK.
• A fraudster posed as a French distributor and took the large order.
• The small businesses involved now face losses and uncertainty, despite the police making an arrest.

One of the most sophisticated cheese thefts in history has left the British cheese makers faltering and facing an uncertain future.

On October 21, crooks posing as a French wholesaler stole 22 metric tons (about 48,500 pounds) of British cheddar cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy, a specialist cheese wholesaler and retailer based in London, outlets including BBC News have reported.

Neal’s Yard unwittingly delivered the cheese, estimated to be worth around £300,000 ($390,000), to the fraudsters before realizing they were not legitimate buyers.

The Metropolitan Police told Business Insider that a 63-year-old man has since been arrested on suspicion of fraud by false representation and handling stolen property in connection with the case and released on bail.

The cheese is still missing, but the most eager to solve the mystery are the cheesemakers involved.

“It’s so bizarre, because how do you get rid of that much cheese and make a decent profit on it?” Ben Ticehurst, dairy manager and head of cheese at Trethowan Brothers, told BI.

He believes the scam was meticulously planned as his company was initially contacted about the fraudulent order in June. He also said the scammers “asked all the right questions”, including the cheese’s age profile, which did not raise red flags.

“They seemed absolutely genuine,” he said. “One of the things that made it so appealing was the thought that we would see British cheese in a French supermarket.”

Due to the quantity requested and the involvement of an international customer, Trethowan Brothers, which supplied approximately half of the order, worked with two other suppliers as well as Neal’s Yard.

“We’ve come together to try to honor the order because obviously it’s going to be relatively good for us and also for Neal’s Yard,” said Tom Calver, director of Westcombe Dairy, another supplier caught up in the incident.

“It was incredibly sophisticated and also quite surprising,” he told BI. “Of all the things someone could steal, 22 tons of artisan cheddar tied up in canvas probably wouldn’t be high on a lot of people’s list, I’d imagine, but here we are.”

Hanging in the balance

Although the suppliers are still shocked by the theft, they escaped any loss as Neal’s Yard bore the full financial brunt of the theft.

“From a pure balance sheet point of view, we actually had one of the biggest orders we’ve ever had,” Ticehurst said.

David Lockwood, director of Neal’s Yard Dairy, told BI that the theft would affect their annual results and cash flow, but that the “core of the business is strong”.

“A few years from now we hope to look back on a bad year that made us stronger,” he said.

While suppliers hope media coverage of the incident will raise the profile of British cheddar, they fear the long-term impact it will have on a key wholesaler and champion of British artisanal cheesemakers.

“Honesty and Trust”

“Neal’s Yard is the one that took that real hit – and they’ve always been a force for good in the cheese world,” said Ticehurst.

“Our industry is based on a lot of honesty and trust, so it’s difficult,” Calver said.

Starting an artisanal cheddar business is an expensive and labor-intensive endeavor, Ticehurst added.

The equipment can cost about 750,000 pounds ($974,000) and artisanal cheese can take at least 12 months to mature, meaning it can take more than a year to see any return on investment, Ticehurst said.

When his boss, Todd Trethowan, started the cheesemaking business more than 20 years ago, Ticehurst said Neal’s Yard took a chance by committing to buy his production without first handing over the samples from the final product.

“My fear would be, after this kind of financial hit, would they be able to do that to new cheesemakers starting out?” said Ticehurst.

Calver said Neals Yard Dairy’s ability to survive the financial loss was critical to the sector.

“We desperately need them to continue and do what they are doing, which is selling very good quality British cheese and also encouraging other producers to focus on quality and improvement,” he said. “Their survival is absolutely part of our business plan.”

Neal’s Yard Dairy was founded in Covent Garden, central London, in 1979 by Nicholas Saunders and Randolph Hodgson when good cheese was “hard to come by”, according to its website. The company now sells dozens of British and Irish cheeses to customers in the UK and around the world.