Food:Fivemiletown Creamery, a Co Tyrone farmer-owned co-operative which was established in 1898, achieved its highest ever sales last year of £24.5 million.
The creamery, which specialises in artisan cheese making, grew sales of its award-winning produce by 50 per cent during 2011 to deliver record pre-tax profits of £421,000.
Fivemiletown Creamery employs 90 people at its operations in the Tyrone village and sources milk from dairy farms across the North. It sells around 95 per cent of its cheese products to customers outside of the North, and has built a significant customer base from the US to Hong Kong and the Middle East.
Mervyn McCaughey, the creamery’s managing director, said its success last year had been built on “the spectacular growth” of its pre-packed cheddar range and demand for its soft cheese ranges. He said the co-op had strengthened sales of its branded products to food service companies, wholesalers and retailers across Britain and the Republic during 2011. It also enjoyed strong sales growth with own-label cheese ranges provided to Lidl and the Musgrave Group.
“We now have many champion products that are driving the growth in sales. Sales of our Boilie Irish goat’s cheese pearls have almost tripled in the past three years; soft cheeses have almost doubled over the same period. We have also widened our product offering with the successful launch of seven premium ice-cream flavours and low-fat sorbets,” Mr McCaughey said.
FRANCESS McDONNELL
