Buffalo Farm Unveils Plans to Become First Scottish Producer of Buffalo Mozzarella

27th June 2018

We are delighted to provide an update on our plans to build a major dairy plant on the outskirts of Kirkcaldy which will see us become Scotland’s first producer of Buffalo Mozzarella.

This week we found out that we have successfully been awarded over £500,000 in grant funding from the Scottish Government’s Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operation (FPMC) grant scheme.

The 4000 square metre facility located at an old dairy farm at Bankhead of Raith on the Shawsmill Road will become the new home for our dedicated milking parlour, processing plant and sheds for the new herd of Dairy Buffalo.

The official planning application for the facility will be submitted in the coming days and the successful grant funding now allows us to finalise their business plans.

The ambitious plans have come as a result of years of planning and having to turn away hundreds of enquiries for Buffalo Mozzarella over the last 12 years – including one from TV Chef, Gordon Ramsay.

Steve has commented, “We have carried out extensive research, travelling thousands of miles around Europe to understand exactly what is involved in the farming and processing of a herd of Dairy Buffalo, as well as understanding the best business strategies for bringing the product to market.”

He continued, “We are looking to start the building programme this autumn and have the sheds and milking parlour completed by early 2019, so we are under a bit of pressure to get things moving quickly. We have therefore strengthened our team by linking up with Maurizio Brugnoli who has become our New Product Development Director and will head up the development of the Mozzarella project.”

“Maurizio shares our passion and drive for the project having had his own long-term ambition to produce mozzarella in Scotland, making him a fantastic fit with our plans.”

As well as having worked in various prestigious restaurants in Italy and Scotland, Maurizio brings a wealth of experience and contacts in the importing and distributing of Italian products throughout Scotland.

Thanks to the grant funding from the Scottish Government, together with support from the Bank of Scotland, we are now embarking on making his Buffalo Mozzarella dream a reality.

Steve added, “We have come an awful long way from when I first started selling Buffalo meat at farmers markets some 12 years ago and I cannot wait to start the next chapter of this amazing journey. We will continue to look for investment partners to ensure we can deliver the best possible Buffalo Mozzarella on the market and we are currently exploring a few exciting options.”

Having been featured in the second series of the BBC’s ‘This Farming Life’ last year, we have also been selected to feature in the forthcoming series due to air later in the year. As a result, the BBC film crew has been following our journey over the last few months from the submitting of the application to the development of the plans.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support so far and we can’t wait to start on this fantastic journey with you all!