MEET YOUR {OUTSTANDING} MAKER - BELLA VACCA
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and when it comes enhancing your coffee, cereal or porridge, Bella Vacca’s co-founder, Gav, says it like it is; “Yeah nah, you’ve gotta have the cream!” A triple-medalist in the 2021 Awards here’s the Bella Vacca story.
The family business prides itself on delivering top quality dairy produce from a Northland farms the good old-fashioned way, in glass bottles with a moreish layer of cream on top. Careful not to say old-fashioned around Gav – he still remembers being a young milkman himself, circling back to countless dawns spent rattling milk trolleys around town, leaving glass milk bottles out and collecting empties on repeat. Today, Gav and his wife partner Jody, their Jody’s son Cam, his partner Amy and their two kids, Bella and Jackson keep the business running almost as smoothly as their award-winning golden cream. Bella Vacca’s eco-friendly operation rightfully mimics that nostalgia of knowing your farmers, milkmen, butchers – being a part of a community that values good Kiwi produce.
Having championed a Gold Medal last year for their Jersey Milk, Bella Vacca holds a 2021 Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards Gold Medal for Bella Vacca Jerseys Pasteurised Milk Cream, deemed by judges to have a “nice appearance, aroma, and creamy flavour but not too sweet”. They also received Silver Medals for Bella Vacca Full Cream with a “slight mineral note...nice mouthfeel” and their Trim Milk – “sweet, nutty, vanilla notes”. The judges commended Bella Vacca for their “solid sustainable strategy” providing a real farm-to-gate story in glass packaging.
“We’re very much a hands-on operation,” says Gav. Bringing the whole family together with one hefty mission, to ensure Northland and Auckland get the best glass-bottled milk comes with a workload many have tried and failed to match. Passion is crucial in maintaining a business like Bella Vacca. “You see, I just don’t want to fail” says Gav, so he won’t. That’s what keeps them going, it’s how the team maintains a solid relationship with their partners, “so that happiness between all of us reflects onto the happiness of our customers”.
As an initiative born out of falling milk prices years back, Bella Vacca’s hardest challenge is balancing, having the day’s pasteurised milk against what they think shops had sold the day before. In efforts to reduce waste, any leftover milk is fed to their calves and some lucky pigs. Watch this space, because new ideas are brewing. They’re currently trialing the use of excess milk for a glass-bottled yoghurt range, and, as seen on Country Calendar, a honey butter (yes please!).
Northland is known for its scenic, quiet and laid-back lifestyle, which Gav greatly values. When the family get to share quality time together, their hidden gem is a much-loved hut built years ago by their teenage son, cradled by forest at the bottom of their paddock. Catch the family out there by the barbecue, roasting marshmallows while the grandkids camp out, listening to moreporks and admiring the stars. It’s hard to imagine anything sweeter.
To see more of the Bella Vacca story and to shop online visit their website.