SALES AT Sheridans Cheesemongers, the cheese and fine food wholesaler and retailer, have picked up in the second three months of the year, having fallen through 2009 and the first quarter of 2010.

Co-founder Kevin Sheridan said the company, which gets 70 per cent of its turnover from its wholesale business, had been supported through the downturn by a general increase in demand for its products and an emphasis on supporting Irish products.

“Our products are still very specialist, but not as specialist as they used to be,” Mr Sheridan said. “When we started it was just our own shops, but now we supply independent supermarkets all over the country.”

The business found that, during 2009, sales of Irish cheese increased even though sales overall were falling. Recently filed abridged accounts for Sheridans Cheesemongers Ltd show shareholders’ funds grew to €449,205 from €372,034 in the year to the end of December 2009. The company was owed €142,365 by Sheridans Taverns Ltd, a related company associated with a pub and restaurant in Galway.

Sheridan’s Cheesemongers is owned by Kevin and Séamus Sheridan, Fiona Corbett and Finn O’Sullivan. It has a shop on South Anne Street, Dublin; Churchyard Street, Galway; and Dunmore Road, Waterford. It opened a warehouse near Carnaross, Co Meath, in 2008, where it recently opened a shop.

The business has 45 full- and part-time employees.