LONDON — A leading cheese retailer here has reported the theft of more than 24 tons of artisan cheese as a result of a “sophisticated fraud,” prompting a police investigation and a new local nickname: the “grate cheese robbery.”
Neal’s Yard Dairy, a London-based cheese distributor and retailer, first announced in a statement Oct. 22 that it had been the victim of “sophisticated fraud” and that 950 wheels of three award-winning artisan cheddars had been stolen. The stolen cheese was worth more than $389,000, the company said.
“The high monetary value of these cheeses likely made them a particular target for the thieves,” Neal’s Yard said, adding that the scammer had posed “as a legitimate wholesale distributor for a major French retailer.” The company delivered the cheese before realizing the fraud, it said.
The stolen cheeses – Hafod Welsh Organic cheddar, Westcombe cheddar, and Pitchfork cheddar – are among “the most sought-after artisan cheeses” in the United Kingdom, the company said.
London’s Metropolitan Police Service said that on Oct. 21, it received “a report of the theft of a large quantity of cheese” from a manufacturer based in the London borough of Southwark, without naming the company. No arrests have been made, the police told The Washington Post in an emailed statement Tuesday.
Neal’s Yard said it was working with law enforcement to identify the perpetrators and that it was aware that the stolen cheese “may never be recovered.”
While the mass theft caused a “significant financial blow,” the company said it honored its commitment to small-scale suppliers and paid all three cheesemakers in full for the cheeses they supplied. Neal’s Yard added that it was now “taking steps to address the situation to ensure both its financial stability and the continued development of the British artisan cheese sector.”
In a statement shared by Neal’s Yard, Tom Calver, a director of Westcombe Dairy, the maker of one of the cheeses stolen, said the process of making the cheese that was stolen began nearly three years ago, “when we planted seeds for the animals’ feed in the ground.”
“The amount of work that’s gone into nurturing the cows, emphasizing best farming practice and transforming the milk one batch at a time to produce the best possible cheese is beyond estimation,” he said. “For that to be stolen,” he said, is “absolutely terrible.”
He also praised Neal’s Yard for putting suppliers first by ensuring that they were paid for the cheese, “even in the darkest of times.”
In an Instagram post, Somerset-based cheesemakers the Trethowan Brothers — which supplied the Pitchfork cheddar — called on people to keep their “ears and eyes peeled for good cheese going cheap” and hailed Neal’s Yard for “swiftly” paying cheesemakers.
British chef Jamie Oliver was among those left reeling by the theft, calling it “a brazen heist of epic proportions.”
In a video shared to Instagram last week, Oliver referred to the heist as “THE GRATE CHEESE ROBBERY” — a phrase now echoed by some British media outlets — and called for those responsible to be brought to justice. Oliver urged his Instagram followers to be alert in case they hear anything about “lorryloads of very posh cheese” being offered “for cheap.”
“I don’t know what they’re going to do with it, really,” Oliver said. “Are they going to unpeel it from the cloth, and cut it and grate it and get rid of it in the fast-food industry, in the commercial industry?”
In a Facebook post Friday, Neal’s Yard called on cheesemongers worldwide to remain vigilant and flag if they are offered or receive cheeses they believe may be associated with the theft, “particularly clothbound Cheddars in a 10 kg or 24 kg format with the tags detached.”
In a post Sunday, Neal’s Yard thanked people for supporting them in the wake of the theft, saying: “Many of you have asked how you can help. To that, we say: continue to support British and Irish cheese. Hafod, Pitchfork, and Westcombe are special examples of farmhouse cheddar. Eat them. Celebrate them.”