Open to the Public: Pepe Saya’s Butter Factory

You can now spread artisan butter from Australia’s preeminent cultured-butter company on your toast without having to visit a cafe or restaurant. Pepe Saya has opened its Tempe factory to the public.

“All the products you can’t buy at retail stores will be available,” says Pepe Saya founder Pierre Issa. “The clotted cream will only be available from the factory and selected market stores.”

Customers can make great savings, too. You can buy a litre of ghee (a clarified butter made from the milk of a buffalo or cow) for $30 (instead of for the usual $63 per litre it is sold for at other retailers). The two-kilogram wheel of butter wrapped in paper and string can only be purchased from the factory.

Pepe Saya launched in 2012 and now its products are served at Rockpool Bar & Grill, cafes across Sydney and 33,000 feet above ground onboard Qantas international flights.

In 2013 Issa told Broadsheet his butter is as homemade as can be.

“We sour the cream down, we churn it, wash it with filtered water, knead it, get the water out, pack it and label it. That’s it. That’s butter,” he says.

While tours of the factory aren’t currently permitted, Issa hopes that they will be an option in the future.

“At this present time we do not allow people to enter our production facility as you have to fill out a visitor slip, get fully kitted out in a uniform, hairnet and face mask. But down the line – for sure,” he says.

The Pepe Saya factory is now open to the public from 7.30am until 4pm during the week. At the moment the factory will be closed to the public on weekends and public holidays due to farmers’ market commitments.

pepesaya.com.au