Just under a year after the award-winning Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co. — a favourite among Toronto chefs — shuttered its doors, new owners are planning to reopen it.
The Picton, Ont. dairy’s website has announced that Patricia Bertozzi and Hugo Bertozzi purchased the company last November. The two of them own A. Bertozzi Importing Inc. and are third-generation Italian producers and purveyors of cheese.
As early as May 30, the dairy will reopen its retail store, which is expected to sell local charcuterie, honey, preserves and fine cheeses. However, the LEED platinum-certified factory will remain closed until it is reapproved for production, and is expected to resume operation by early 2014.
Fifth Town was closed by original founder Petra Kassun-Mutch last May, despite high demand, when it became what she called a “casualty of a very ugly divorce.” At the time, it provided cheeses to some of Toronto’s top restaurants, such as Auberge du Pommier, The Drake Hotel, George and Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, and was considered a model of sustainable and socially oriented business practice.
Kassun-Mutch said she is “delighted” with the sale, and expressed a high degree of confidence in the new owners. However, she noted Torontonians might be in for a new experience.
“Fifth Town is back in town, but they should expect different things. It’s not a continuation of the same thing, it’s going to be a new thing with the Fifth Town name. And that may be great, it may be something better,” said Kassun-Mutch. “But whatever it is, it’s just not the same.”
Currently, she is laying the groundwork for her next enterprise, which will combine her experience in food, publishing and sustainability.