Florian Bergoin
Q. What exactly is the Cariboo (besides a great 7 letter Scrabble word meaning ‘large deer!’)?
A. It’s an incredibly beautiful, mountainous area in British Columbia where caribou are plentiful.
Photo from Youtube video Room to Roam
Since the beginning of 2018, it is also the home of La Belle Vallee Fromagerie, owned and operated by Florian Bergoin in the town of Quesnel, British Columbia.
The 1000 square feet fromagerie
Florian is making raclette – a semi-soft washed rind cheese, fresh curds (yummy on poutine), Clermont – a pressed cheese, La Fetta – his take on feta, Garlik – a washed-rind, semi-hard cheese flavored with garlic, a farmers’ cheese, and Mt. Blanc – a gruyere style, semi-hard cheese.
He is doing all this while he works part time as a forest biologist. Fortunately, he does have help from his life partner, Adeline Dupuis who also works full time – in town as a clinical counselor.
Adeline and Florian at the local farmer’s market
His Alpine Roots
Florian grew up in the Savoie region of France, a mountainous area, known for it’s fabulous cheeses. His grandfather’s family made cheese and Florian worked as a shepherd for several summers when he was in college. Part of his job was to herd the cows and goats up a mountain where he milked them and made cheese every day.
The chalet in Jarsy, Rhone-Alpes, France where Florian spent his summers herding cows and goats and making cheese every day.
2012, at the chalet in France
Florian later earned his BA and MA in Agroforestry from the University Laval in Quebec City and he became a Registered Professional Biologist in the province of B.C.. While in Quebec, he worked at a goat farm dairy – Fromagerie le Ruban Bleu, as a cheese maker.
The Beginning
In 2013, Florian and Adeline moved to Quesnel and Florian purchased land near the Fox Dairy Farm where they get their milk.
He built his creamery right next to the fields of cows.
Regulations are very strict in Canada, so Florian prepared a very detailed business plan (with the help of Community Futures North Cariboo, a support organization for small businesses). It took him 2 years to get licensed!
We asked Florian about his goals for the future. He told us they are:
- to develop a few more types of cheese
- to hire someone to help at the factory
- to increase the touristic and educational value of the business by organizing tours of the farm and around the factory
- to work closely with other BC cheese makers to implement a quality certification for BC artisan cheese
You can buy Florian’s cheeses at local grocery stores and at his retail shop – open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
