Wyke Farms completes grant funded post-Brexit export ‘center of excellence’
The center includes an increase in cheese-maturing capacity, with an additional 2,500 tonnes of Cheddar stocks being aged on site to support the increased global demand for 18-month-old Ivy’s Vintage Cheddar. The site also has increased cheese storage capacity to consolidate cheese container orders, as well as a long-life packing line for cheese exports. There is also a cheese-making museum incorporating retired cheese making equipment from the past 200 years.
The expansion was supported by a £1.3m ($1.8m) food processing grant under the governments RDPE growth program, which provides funding for projects in England that create jobs and support growth in the rural economy. The energy-efficient facility also includes a new chilled dispatch store to allow central distribution for larger customers and consolidation of multi-product export orders, saving secondary storage and road miles in the UK and overseas.
The expansion also includes an additional high-speed cutting and packing line for increased volume and longer life cheese packs for overseas export markets.
Rich Clothier, managing director at Wyke Farms, said, “This investment, supported by the RDPE growth program is vital in preparing our business to service our growing export markets across the world. Built to the highest environmental standards this export hub will allow us to continue to export more of my grandmothers Ivy’s Vintage cheddar to over 160 countries in a post Brexit world, in the most environmentally responsible way helping to secure jobs and livelihoods of people in Somerset, the heart of Cheddar.”
Wyke Farms products are available online, as well as in selected Lidl stores and in South West UK ASDA, CO-OP and Tesco stores.
