Cheese Retailers April 2024

specialityfoodmagazine.com 5 O nce again Speciality Food and Le Gruyère AOP have joined forces to proudly present Inspirational Cheese Retailers , now in its fourth year. Our teams have long championed independent cheese retail – both working hard to support the passionate professionals at the heart of the fine cheese industry – and we are proud to once again present this publication as a celebration of the dedication and expertise of the UK’s best cheesemongers. The people behind the establishments we highlight within these pages should stand as inspirations to us all. We all know how demanding running an independent business can be, yet these individuals stand out amongst the crowd and make it their duty to fire-up customers to appreciate well-made cheese. They are not simply retailers, they are champions and ambassadors of the produce they sell, which specialist sellers should all aim to be. Thanks to their passion and appreciative customer bases, it wasn’t hard to uncover these businesses. We put the word out across the fine food industry and beyond via an online survey, offering cheese lovers across the UK the opportunity to showcase their favourite indie cheese purveyor, and the countless nominations we received did not disappoint. Choosing a handful to highlight for this year’s edition of Inspirational Cheese Retailers was quite the challenge, but the retailers we’ve featured are more than worthy of the spotlight. We also had the pleasure of revisiting some of the indie cheese businesses we featured in the 2023 edition of this publication to see how they have fared over the past 12 months. From lessons learned to inspiring tips, these catch-ups are well worth a read. A gift from the Speciality Food and Le Gruyère AOP teams to yours, I hope you find this year’s edition of Inspirational Cheese Retailers to give you a boost for the year ahead. HowWePut ThisGuideTogether The team at Le Gruyère AOP have long been inspired by the passion and determination the people behind independent cheese retailers have to champion truly great cheese from around the world. Just as cheesemongers help their customers to appreciate carefully crafted cheese, so we have supported the work that they do – and we are proud to once again work alongside Speciality Food on the Inspirational Cheese Retailers project, which shines the spotlight on these most deserving of food industry professionals. HELEN DAYSH HEAD OF MARKETING UK AT LE GRUYÈRE AOP