Village Squire, 1979-11, Page 11eese Company Limited
Atwood Cheese Company Limited -- planning on an expansion to increase present production another
twenty per cent. --Photo by Laura Drummond.
A centiry of cheese
Many things have changed
but they're still making cheese in Atwood
BY LAURA DRUMMOND
"1 try not to tell my friends I'm going up north for the weekend
or I'll end up with an order of $25 or $35 worth of cheese to buy
for them. This cheese just tastes different."
This man from Wasaga Beach is one of the many hundreds of
people who walk through the doors of the Atwood Cheese
Company Limited.
This year, the company is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
The factory is one mile north of Atwood or five miles south of
Listowel on Highway 23. As well as producing over 1.149 tons of
cheese a year, it has a very active retail outlet right at the
factory.
Harold Douglas, manager and shareholder of Atwood Cheese
Company explains, "We do at least 10 percent of our sales over
the counter."
That works out to 867 pounds of cheese sold per day.
One of the things that makes people come back time after time
is of course the excellent quality. Serving the community for 100
years has helped it build up a very fine reputation.
A customer from Grand Bend says, "It gets to be a habit of
stopping off. I like the old old old cheese. Today I'm buying the
four year old cheddar. 1 can buy things here I normally can't get
in a grocery store."
The company sells 28 varieties of cheese plus the cream
cheeses. There are seven kinds of unique cream
cheeses --chocolate, orange, herbs and spices, pineapple, garlic,
peach melba, and black pepper.
Harold Douglas says the medium cheddar and colby are
favorites among his customers, although he sells a lot of old
cheddar.
Fred Day, the former owner of Atwood Cheese Company
explains, "Cheddar is typically Canadian. It has everything you
November 1979, Village Squire 9