NOBA 2022: Thornloe Cheese is the Company of the Year (16-50 employees)
Award-winning cheeses and butter have been produced in the Village of Thornloe since 1940
For Thornloe Cheese, sprinting to the head of the line of innovation is the result of nearly a century of hard work and tradition.
The Northern Ontario-based company is the first cheesemaker to bring grass-fed cheese to the market, and it’s now earning accolades for its grass-fed butter.
For the second year running, the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair has selected a Thornloe product as one of the best products in Canada.
But don’t be fooled by the national attention.
Pamela Hamel, spokesperson for Thornloe, said just a few years ago, the future looked bleak.
There were questions about whether the cheese factory would even keep its doors open.
In 2007, parent company Parmalat intended to shutter the facility, citing high costs and low profit. Nineteen jobs were at stake.
At the time, the dairy mega-giant said the area’s milk quota was being “consolidated” into other Parmalat facilities.
“Local farmers in the community banded together — and we’re very quite vocal — and said, ‘No, we don’t want the facility closed. We will buy it,’” Hamel said.
But Parmalat refused the offer, until pushback from an angry public persuaded them to sell to the group, which by then had formed a partnership with Gencor, a cattle genetics company.
After a significant funding infusion through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, Thornloe was able to renovate the factory, upgrading its equipment, enabling it to offer more than just cheddar and cheese curds.
It also refreshed the facility’s facade, expanding the grounds to make them more tourist-friendly, including a gift shop.
Gencor eventually merged with Eastern Breeders of Kemptville to form EastGen. When EastGen took over operations in 2008, Hamel said it was a “big turnaround” for Thornloe.
“That really started the whole renewal and refocus of what Thornloe produces,” Hamel…
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