Vannella Cheese Factory is a successful family business that has been operated in Cairns since 2004, it is a business in Far North Queensland that has seen much growth in the last few years.

The multi award winning cheese maker behind the company is VITO MINOIA. He first started to learn the art of cheese making when he was sixteen years of age in a small cheese factory, located in his rural hometown in south-east Italy, Conversano, where he was trained to stretch and mould the cheese by only the use of his hands.

In his twenties he moved from Conversano to Sabaudia, a small town between Rome and Naples, where he worked in the biggest Italian cheese factory (CASEIFICIO F.LLI FRANCIA) producing Cow’s cheese and, more importantly buffalo mozzarella.
In 1983 he moved back to south Italy and worked for a couple of years in the C.A.P. (an Italian version of Dairy Farmers), until he had enough money to open his own cheese factory. In August 1985, the CASEIFICIO VANNELLA (Vannella Cheese Factory) first opened its doors in Conversano, district of Bari – Italy and Vito finally realized his dream.In the period between 1985 and 2000 the multi award winning Caseificio Vannella became one of the European leaders in the production of soft stretched cheese.

In August 1999 Vito was given the opportunity to introduce in Australia the real art of the manufacturing of stretched cheese. He fell in love with “The Land Down Under” and in February 2000 he proudly moved into this beautiful country aiming to succeed in the cheese business. In late 2004 Vito and his family opened their first cheese factory in Cairns, Australia, where he used to stretch and mould the cheese again only with the use of his hands, like when he was an apprentice. Finally in March 2006 the new Vannella Cheese Factory was officially opened, in a brand new building and very modern plant, producing award winning Cow’s Cheese and Buffalo Mozzarella.

Vannella Cheese Factory is one of the only two cheese factory in the whole Australia that produces buffalo cheese and burrata.

www.vannellacheesefactory.com