A GROUP of Yorkshire entrepreneurs have acquired the UK’s only producer of Swaledale cheese from the liquidators and have ambitious plans to re-vitalise the award-winning brand.
Richard Darbishire, Bob Bigley and Bengt Odner bought the Richmond-based Swaledale Cheese business in July and their first products will soon be ready to hit the shelves for the Christmas season.
Mr Darbishire has extensive experience of the dairy industry as he was one of the first employees at Leeming Bar-based ice cream manufacturer R&R Ice Cream, which started out in 1985 with just five staff and a turnover of some £200,000.
He was there for 17-years, latterly as procurement director, during which time the company grew to become the UK’s largest own label ice cream maker. It is now part of a joint venture with Nestle called Froneri, a global ice cream business with more than 10,000 employees.
Mr Bigley also worked at R&R where he was director of corporate development for five years from 2010.
A former director of Hambros Bank, Mr Bigley was also partner in charge of corporate finance in the North for accountants KPMG.
Bengt Odner has held industry posts in the USA as well as senior banking and property roles on mainland Europe.
Mr Darbishire, who is in charge of production, said: “Our intervention has saved this important UK cheese from extinction.
"We are confident that, by aligning our capabilities with the growing demand for our products and further developing the skills of our workforce, we will be able to restore the company to its rightful prominent place in the UK cheese sector.
"The brand was previously available in Waitrose as well as in leading restaurants, independent retailers and wholesalers.
"We aim to restore these listings.
“All our milk comes locally from a single source and we are focussing on seeing that both our blue and natural cheeses are fully matured and ripened in our specially- designed, on-site facilities to produce that unique Swaledale flavour.”
Atley Hill Raw Milk at Scorton near Northallerton provides all the milk for the business and currently delivers some 4,000 litres of milk a week through Payne’s Dairies from their 70-strong herd of Ayrshire cows. The farm won the silver award for the best-tasting milk at the 2019 Great Yorkshire Show
The natural and blue versions of the cheese are hand-salted, have natural rind and are available in 2½ kg, 1kg, ½ kg and 200 gms formats. It is currently available from wholesalers such as Cryer & Stott and Michael Lee Fine Cheeses as well as Lewis & Cooper in Northallerton.
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