It is without a doubt that the hospitality industry has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. But, behind the scenes, the flow on effect has meant that so many of our suppliers have also, overnight, lost their businesses and have had to adapt in some shape or form just to survive. In an effort to keep not only Left Bank Melbourne operative, but also the many local suppliers that we utilize on a daily basis, we launched the “ Left Bank Mercato ” which is available every weekend on our terrace at 1 Southbank Blvd, Southbank.

We wanted to take this opportunity to introduce some of our loyal suppliers and give them a chance to also share their stories. In many ways, they are the roots within the hospitality industry and surviving a pandemic means surviving it together.   

We spoke to That’s Amore Cheese, a long-standing partner providing premium Italian cheeses, about their business and how they are coping. This is what they had to say...  

We are an award-winning Italian-style cheese producer only using farm-fresh local milk and the finest Australian ingredients. Since self-taught cheese maker Giorgio Linguanti launched this business in 2008, it made its way through the Australian Dairy market by bringing Artisan Italian signature flavours on the tables of Australian homes.

Sicily born and raised, Giorgio went from not speaking a word of English to transforming his passion for prime quality foods into an internationally renowned business.

Australian owned, 100% natural, preservative free and handmade, That’s Amore Cheese has a team of 100 and crafts more than 40 different types of Italian style cheese, processing 5mil liters per year.

The company has been supplying Left Bank for many many years, with scamorza bianca for their popular pinsa romana to burrata for their entrée and a range of matured cheese featured in their cheese board.

So, when we heard about the new concept of “mercato” we were very happy to contribute and support this new initiative with our retail range of cheeses as we think it’s a great idea to keep the business strong and ready to restart when the restrictions will be lifted.

At Mercato you will find our burrata, bocconcini, specialty range, including some new releases like “sunrise blue” a wash rind blue cheese that it’s absolutely to die for.

When COVID-19 hit Australia within a few days the majority of our business stopped at That’s Amore as majority of our customer base are restaurant owners. It was frightening and the home delivery service became a priority to be able to survive as a business during the lockdown, keep our staff employed and still provide our products to customers. We quickly put together a new website and launched online within a week.

Our online store offer cheese, gift hampers, pantry staples, ready meals and deli groceries with a home delivery service.

We would like to encourage everyone to stay positive during this uncertain and difficult time for Melbourne, we have been proudly producing in Victoria since the very beginning and this is undoubtedly the most challenging time that we have faced.

But we are also sure that Melbourne will be able to bounce back stronger than ever and we can’t wait to see all our lovely hospitality customers reopening their doors, hopefully very soon!

Definitely one of the first things that we will do is to go and dine out to as many places as possible to help the very much affected hospitality industry.

Stay strong and support your local businesses!

If you would like to know more about That’s Amore or are interested in browsing through their online store CLICK HERE

Please remember to support your local! We will be open every weekend from 10 am – 4pm for as long as the lock down lasts. We appreciate your ongoing support and look forward to the day that we can serve you in true “Left Bank” style again.