This is how El Quall works, the only community cheese factory in Catalonia

  • The Lluçanès consortium promotes a collective workshop that offers training and a space to undertake

Promoting local products and fostering entrepreneurship are two of the objectives of the quall, the only community workshop specialized in dairy products in the entire Catalonia. It is a space located in Lluçanès (Barcelona) that functions as a collective cheese factory in which, on the one hand, formative courses to introduce those interested in the dairy sector and, on the other hand, to provide those who want to undertake in the dairy industry the opportunity to test their products before investing in a business. In short, a training center that also acts as a business incubator.

The Quall will shortly begin the eighth edition of its courses, with the intention of being a “first-rate” training center. “Now we have done a blue cheese making course, on February 6 we began training on product embalming and in March the long training begins, of 300 hours and with practices included,” he explains. Xevi Barniolthe Consorci del Lluçanès technician who makes the project possible.

For some of the students, El Quall is much more than a training center. It is the case of Anna Puig, who has turned the cheese factory into his workplace. “Thanks to this space I have been able to become autonomous,” she says. Puig has been involved in the dairy sector for years but until December 2022, she had not been able to take the plunge. Now, she has many plans. “I’d like to start by doing direct sale. I already have two products ready to launch on the market and I’m waiting for the permits,” she says.

A unique space

In Catalonia there are only 20 shared workshops. They are few but they have been increasing in recent years. “The trend of shared workshops is increasing and this one in Lluçanès is part of a Catalan strategic line to strengthen the dairy sector and so that people benefit from a community craft” insists Barniol.

Shared workshops have great potential, as they promote local development, agriculture, food sovereignty and ecology. With this, they promote biodiversity and help combat rural depopulation.

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The space -which is about 150m2- is conditioned inside a warehouse of the old SATI in the municipality of Alpens, and has facilities capable of making any dairy product except ice cream and butter.

In order to rent this space, users must meet certain requirements such as having civil liability insurance, experience in the sector or a food handler’s card.

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