Eltham cheese stacks up in McDonald’s Big Arch burger

Processed cheese from the Co-op’s Eltham site has featured in McDonald’s Big Arch burger, which launched in Australia and in New Zealand in October last year, following earlier rollouts in Europe and the United States.

The burger includes three slices of Eltham’s cheddar cheese.

Eltham has been producing cheese for McDonald’s for decades, and its white cheddar slices are used in McDonald’s restaurants across Asia Pacific.

In 2025 alone, the Co-op supplied millions of kilograms of cheese and other dairy products to McDonald’s, with New Zealand’s 170-plus McDonald’s restaurants accounting for approximately 1.7 million kilograms.

Every batch of cheese undergoes around 100 rigorous quality tests to ensure it meets McDonald’s standards for taste and consistency – whether served in New Zealand, China or the Philippines.

Scaling up to meet global demand for slice-on-slice and mozzarella cheese

To support this growing demand beyond McDonald’s supply, Eltham cheese production has undergone a major upgrade.

Announced in August 2025, the site has upgraded its processed cheese lines to increase capacity, with commissioning scheduled for autumn.

The upgrade includes a new grinder, blender and cooker on the Individually Wrapped Slice line, plus two new cheese grinders on each Slice-On-Slice line.

At the same time, Eltham has scaled up mozzarella production by around 7,000 metric tonnes annually, enough for more than 40 million pizzas worldwide, with commissioning set for this coming June.

Foodservice is one of the Co-op’s fastest-growing channels globally, and these upgrades ensure we can meet rising international demand while creating more value from every drop of milk and driving long-term growth.