- You’d think a heist this intricate would target diamonds or something instead of cheddar.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it many times more — if it’s not nailed, welded, and chained down, someone will steal it. It doesn’t matter how bizarre the thing is.
Maple syrup, churches, and a Florida woman’s driveway have all been pilfered by enterprising thieves. We now have another mind-boggling heist to add to the list.
Neal’s Yard Dairy is a British distributor of high-end artisan cheeses. The company recently fell victim to a large-scale theft.
And when we say large-scale, we mean massive-scale. In what’s become known as the Grate Cheese Heist of 2024, thieves posing as cheese sellers stole nearly 50,000 pounds of award-winning cheddar from the company.
Put together, Neal’s Yard has suffered losses of almost $400,000.
The sheer scale of the theft led to an outpouring of support from consumers, the U.K. cheese industry, and celebrity chefs. Fortunately, the case is starting to crack, and the dairy recently announced a person had been arrested in connection to the cheese heist.
An Elaborate Scam
But how on earth do you manage to swipe dozens of thousands of pounds of cheese? You can’t exactly slip that amount into your pocket and walk out of the… Cheese store.
Indeed, the thieves had to do their homework. They staged an incredibly elaborate con to fool Neal’s Yard into believing they were dealing with legitimate cheese buyers.
The conmen posed as representatives of an actual, highly-respected European cheese distributor. Neal’s Yard Dairy had previously worked with the real company to sell cheese to French retailers, so they believed this was just a continuation of an earlier business relationship.
“It might sound naïve to fall victim to a scam, but the truth is that the artisan cheese world is a place where trust is deeply embedded in all transactions,” Patrick Holden, a dairy farmer working with Neal’s Yard, explained in a statement.
What’s more, the fraudsters had gone to incredible lengths to make the transaction seem real. They produced a lengthy contract document, detailing payment terms, delivery dates, quality guarantees…
You know, the kind of stuff that’s on genuine cheese delivery contracts. You really can’t blame Neal’s Yard for thinking the thieves were a legit business.
“The alleged representative demonstrated a deep understanding of the sector, further lending credibility to the scheme. The complexity of the operation made it difficult to detect the fraud until it was too late,” Neal’s Dairy said.
Yet, too late it was. The dairy shipped off 950 cheeses, weighing a total of 48,488 pounds, to the conmen.
Then the company started waiting for the $390,000 they were due for the delivery. Of course, they never got the money.
And that’s how you steal an enormous amount of cheese.
Business As Usual
Naturally, the theft was financially devastating to the dairy. Yet, with a stiff British upper lip, Neal’s Yard has kept calm and carried on, and even paid all of its cheesemakers on time at their own loss.
The way the company has dealt with the robbery’s aftermath has certainly earned them a lot of goodwill. Virtually the entire British cheese industry has largely rallied behind Neal’s Yard.
“The way Neal’s Yard Dairy has handled this has only deepened my respect and admiration for them. Their 30-year relationship with us and many other producers is a rare and shining example of trust and integrity — a true force for good in business, retailer-producer relationships, and in life,” said Todd Trethowan, the owner of the dairy manufacturing one variety of the stolen cheeses.
Prominent figures in the food industry in general are also supporting Neal’s Yard. Jamie Oliver, of The Naked Chef fame, called for his social media followers to be on the lookout for “loads of very posh cheese.”
In particular, Oliver encouraged consumers to pay attention to fine cheeses being sold through unusual channels at extremely low prices.
“If the deal seems too gouda to be true, it probably is! Let’s find these cheese stealers,” Oliver wrote.
Well, someone has certainly been on the lookout for cheese thieves. On October 30, Neal’s Yard announced that London’s Metropolitan Police had arrested a person in connection with the cheese theft.
“We are grateful for the progress they have made, and we will continue to support their investigation in any way we can,” the company said.
Cheese Theft is Common
You might think, “Who in their right mind steals cheese?” The truth is, though, that cheese theft is incredibly common.
In fact, cheese is the most commonly stolen product in all of Europe. And that’s just not in terms of food items.
There have been large-scale cheese heists in the past, too, although not quite this big. In 2022, thieves stole 161 wheels of cheese worth $23,000 from a Dutch dairy.
But if there’s one type of cheese that thieves really love, it’s Parmigiano Reggiano — or parmesan. The manufacture of authentic Italian parmesan is strictly controlled and the cheese sells for a lot of money, making it a prime target for theft and fraud.
In 2016, for instance, a group of parmesan thieves made away with $100,000 worth of cheese. Additionally, selling fake parmesan is so widespread that Italian cheesemakers have started embedding ID chips in their wheels to prove they’re the real deal.
Man. International cheese trade is one tough business.