WELCOME TO THE POST EVENT REPORT FOR 2024!

BRISBANE:
May 12 - 14

Kicking off this year’s tour, we again headed back to the John Reid Pavilion. One immediate observation is we need a bigger home for with the event selling out a good two weeks prior to doors opening. Brisbane folk are clearly ‘curd nerds’ and came in hard for all the cheese (and more) from the minute they entered the room.

Spread over four sessions, we saw the highest spend on cheese per person of any event ever, and frankly, it could have been more as many vendors sold out early on Sunday. Add to that, punters purchased even more of the cheeky side hustles people love to accompany their cheese plates.
This all added up into the highest spend per person of the tour.

Brisbane continues to prove to be a growth city with plenty more to give and as such, we decided to come back in mid-November to join our sister event, Pinot Palooza for another epic cheesy pinot party.

MELBOURNE
June 28 - 29

Back in 2017, the first year of MOULD, Ceridiwn Brown (Milawa) said to us at Pinot Palooza that year, ‘wouldn’t it be great if one day MOULD would be big enough to fill the Royal Exhibition Buildings?’.
Well, this year we accomplished this huge milestone with over 5000 people joining us over three massive sessions.
With greater numbers came greater demands on everyone to not only produce enough cheese for the masses, but for us all to staff it up to manage the very hungry crowds.

One thing was very clear from the very beginning here, Melbournians LOVE Australian cheese and came out in huge support of you all.

We hope you were all as proud as we were that this humble event, celebrating Australian cheese, filled a room of such grandeur. It was a timely reminder that people do love all that you do and want to come out and support you directly.

Event better, there was huge television coverage on the day as well with spots on ABC and Channel 9 syndicated nationally further spreading the good cheese word telling us there is even more room to grow next year.

SYDNEY
June 26 - 28

After selling out last year, we decided to add a Sunday session to the Sydney event allowing us to hit over the 4000 mark and gee did they make the most of all of the sessions.
Again, attendees came out in force, hard and fast to purchase as much cheese as they’re cooler bag could hold.

With the biggest cheese sales per person we’ve seen in the city to date, they again filled their carts with all the side hustles and more.
Carriageworks is always a fabulous venue and very much our home in Sydney. Its such an incredible space and tells us there is still more room to do more.
We just need more cheese makers to better manage the crowds!

PERTH
August 9 - 11

Gee we love Perth. We know it’s a long way to go but gee it’s worth the visit.
And by combining our sister event, Pinot Palooza, with MOULD, it’s the ultimate cheesy party with the model again proving a hit with locals selling out ahead of event days.
The weather was damn wonderful and very much set the ‘happy vibes’ scene for the four SOLD OUT sessions.

They not only love coming out and celebrating Australian cheese, but wine as well with most spending virtually 50/50 on cheese and wine (and the rest!). This all added up to one of the highest spends of MOULD ever which again, could have been more if we had more cheese.

Plus, one of our favourite things apart from seeing our WA freinds, is hanging in the same hotel and the party bus to and from the venue.
This city is permanent stop on the tour and if we could do it twice a year, we would.
Who’s in?

Yep, our audience is hard core ‘curd-nerds’ for sure but perhaps that is too narrow a description. Let’s call them hard core foodie legends who love celebrating all things gastronomic.
We not only say our die-hard fans return, but even better were a high percentage of new attendees joining who hadn’t been to the festival before. This makes sense considering we greatly increased numbers in both Melbourne (especially), Sydney and Perth. It also means they’ll bring even more people with them next year.

One thing is clear, they are coming to not only support Australian cheese makers, but fill their carts with all the accompaniments, charcuterie, relishes, honey, drinks, eats and more. This added up to 10-15% increases in spend per person on event days from last year.
We think we’re going to need to get bigger cooler bags!
As for who they are, its as diverse as the cheeses in the room but there are some commonalities such as keen interests in travel, food ... aka all the good things

Yep, we’re CURD NERDS so get strapped in as we're about share with you all the insights and understandings we gained from this years event. Whether it be how much cheese is sold, and what kind, or the milk type or more, it all adds up to some fascinating insights.
Every year we get to know more and more about our audiences in each city, the trends and the nuances so we share this with you to better help prepare you for future events.

And let’s tell you, each city truly does have a varied personality!
What all this means is we can better prepare you on event day and with such historical data now on hand, we can now drill down to individual producers and show how their sales have gone over the years.
One thing is for sure, and no matter what the commentary out there on lower spend, our audience LOVES Australian cheese and are damn happy to pay for it.
As we said at the beginning, MOULD A CHEESE FESTIVAL is now an audit on the current state of play of Australian cheese on the east coast of the country and beyond.
The sales data alone offer insights into style preference, milk popularity and, perhaps most importantly, highlight the demand for good Aussie Cheese.
This is awesome.

It's important to note we cap attendee numbers based upon the number of cheese producers we have with us. More people does not mean a better event nor more cheese sales; it's all about the balance.
Also, note Sydney was only three sessions and will increase to four in 2024.

ABC NEWS Segment from Melbourne syndicated on the east coast
(right click to download full version)

CHANNEL 9 NEWS Segment in Melbourne syndicated nationally
(right click to download full version)

MOULD isn’t just a marketplace of great cheese, it’s an amplification tool for all that you do and love.
Whether it be via our vast email database, social media channels or the media coverage we covet, one thing is clear, the cheesy word was well and truly spread.
Thanks to both our PR agency, Common State, and Digital Agency, Bolster, we reached vast numbers of people whether online, in print media and or television.

You only had to look at the positive comments section of Urban List, Concrete Playground or Broadsheet posts to see how engaged our audience.
This year, we reached more people than we ever have with all sign posts pointing to an even bigger year ahead.

Always coveted. Always fascinating. Always hotly contested.
Again, this years People's Choice offers a fascinating insight into what is happening on the ground, what people are ‘liking’ versus what they are ‘buying’. Sometimes it matches. Sometime it doesn’t but that’s the fun bit, right?

Voting was done via our MOULD Cheese Festival App which was accessed via QR codes placed on all stands and more. By simply ‘liking’ a cheese or ‘favouriting’ a producer it all gets counted to the grand total.
From a guest perspective, it also allows them to create their own cheese list and then email it to themselves so they know what they’ve tasted, liked or loved.
Close to 20% of attendees used the app which is high in comparison to other event apps. 
So below, are the top cheeses by city as well as overall cheese producer who coveted the most votes.
For comparison, we've added in the cheese sales by kilos and items as well.
Yep, we love the data!

NATIONAL WINNER - Most Popular Cheese!

MILAWA Aged Blue

Not only did Milawa top the votes in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne but the Aged Milawa Blue was in the top three most sold cheese by weight and sales.

NATIONAL WINNER - Most Popular Producer by total votes!

VANNELLA

With a total of six cheeses on tasting, our audience clearly loved them all as when we added up the total votes by producer for each of their cheeses, across all cities, VANNELLA came out on top.
We're frankly not surprised, these fresh cheeses are delicious and they always a festival spirit.
BRAVO!

CATEGORY WINNERS!

CHEESE OF THE YEAR

The votes were cast and here are the top cheeses for the entire MOULD Cheese Festival Tour for 2023.
What we love here is the broad range of cheese styles from many different regions. So good!

CHEESE PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

Gee this was a close one as it was made up of overall votes / 'likes' for all cheeses on tasting, then accumulated for an overall popular vote. We'll be sending you, the producer, a special award to proudly show off at your cheese cellar door!