Speciality-Food-July/August 2025

E very cheesemonger we’ve ever spoken to has told us nothing could have prepared them for their first Christmas in retail. The sudden surge in demand. Queues snaking along the pavement. Cheese shortages. There’s a lot to contend with. It’s never too early, they say, to begin planning what your service will look like when November and December roll around. GET STOCKED The first consideration should be your product range, says cheese expert and author Steve Parker, who adds that you should be armed with supplier brochures, ready to make your move. It’s your duty, he says, as a cheesemonger, to keep on top of what’s new and to find festive cheeses you know your customer base will love. “Talk to your customers now,” Victoria Dunthorne of Victoria’s Cheeses says. This will help to steer your decision-making. “This year we’ve got a Norwegian blue in because it went down a storm last Christmas. People do like an interesting blue. And last year we had a Brie with Calvados – that was fantastic.” Personally, Victoria prefers not to stock novelty cheeses studded with fruit and other additions, which often prove popular, but instead veers customers at the counter towards trying more festive pairings instead. “Be more creative. If someone asks for a cheese with ginger, instead see if they want to try a beautiful micro dairy Wensleydale with a piece of ginger in syrup. That would be amazing.” This is also, she continues, a useful tactic for upselling ambient seasonal products. Steve adds that you can’t be a ‘snob’ about waxed cheeses at this time of year. They should form part of your pre-Christmas tasting plans. “You’ve got to take a commercial view on them. It was Tim Rowcliffe who first said to me, ‘you can sit on your moral high ground, or you can make some money’.“ GET YOUR TIMING RIGHT Timing is crucial once you’ve thought about what you might want to sell this Christmas. Don’t leave ordering until October, Victoria advises – it’s just too late. “By the end of September the kids are back at school, and Christmas is everywhere. People will be talking about what they want to order. You should definitely be talking to your wholesalers right now, especially if there are some small batch, very specialist products you might want.” must say both Steve and Victoria. Steve previously ran a large shop/ wine bar and restaurant with three staff members – but ramped that up in the week before Christmas to 12. “You need someone getting the pre-orders from the fridge out back, people out front serving customers, and someone doing tastings.” Investing in staff is well worth it. You can’t afford to turn would-be customers away or to have the “wheels fall off”. “During my first Christmas,” Steve continues, “my weekly takings were around £3,000 per week. In the week before Christmas, it was £38,000. The dynamic of taking 12 times more than usual does change things.” OPTIMISE YOUR OFFERING Gifting at Christmas is huge, and cheese (as a present) has become incredibly popular. Many cheesemongers report their Father’s Day sales this year were through the roof. Pointing customers towards individual cheeses to give is important, but it’s also worth preparing a few small cheese hampers in the counter, priced ready for sale. And Steve likes the idea of vouchers. Pop a cheese voucher into a shop- branded bag with some crackers and a chutney at a set price, and you’ve got a sale, and potentially a brand-new customer in the gift recipient. Rather than being cynical of customers who pop in once a year for their Christmas cheese, Steve says you should treat the season as an opportunity. Steer them away from their usual Cheddar, Brie and Stilton with something similar, but different, to demonstrate your expertise, while pointing them in the direction of products that will wow their friends and family. Christmas in retail, he says, is a gift. “You’ve got to think, ‘I’ve got this person in front of me in the Christmas spirit, and this could be the one time I can give them a good reason to come back’.” A device he likes is printed business cards for cheeses (complete with tasting notes and the shop address and contact details). These can be laid out alongside cheeseboards to prompt diners to explore what you have to offer well beyond December. Steve recalls a past Christmas when he ordered 12 blue cheeses, but only received two. “If you’re not careful, and don’t order early enough, a lot of stuff could run short. It’s not such an issue with bigger, hard cheeses being made 12 to 18 months in advance, but if you think about things made three months ahead – they’re being prepared in a few weeks’ time. If you want to buy in, say, 200 of a product rather than your usual 50, you have to give those cheesemakers notice – give them a chance!” Remember those ‘dry goods’ too, Steve warns. “A weird thing that caught me out in year three was I hadn’t got enough paper bags. I was so focused on cheese, that on 20th December I ran out. People were coming in, buying loads of cheese, and I had nothing to put it in. Stock up on extra bags, waxed paper and 14 COUNTERPOINT SPONSORED BY Timing is crucial once you’ve thought about what you might want to sell this Christmas continues. “It might sound daft, but if Christmas Day is on a Monday, that means Christmas Eve is Sunday, and you’re on restricted opening hours. If you’ve got hundreds of people turning up to buy cheese, that’s a huge operational problem.” He recommends working out key dates now, and highly suggests looking at special seasonal opening hours – welcoming customers on a Sunday or Monday, for example, when you’re usually closed, or opening for an evening or two in the weeks running up to Christmas. “I sold more cheese from 6pm to 9pm than during the day,” he reveals. DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH STAFF? To ensure the personal service you’re known for doesn’t slip, planning for additional staff is a till rolls. Prioritise them now so you don’t have to rush about when the ‘crazy season’ starts.” SMART STORAGE Considering storage is something cheesemongers or deli managers new to the industry might not have considered. “It’s amazing how many people don’t think about it,” Steve reflects, thinking back to his own early years in retail. “If you’re ordering 10 times more cheese, where are you going to put it if you’ve got a 2m serve over? One year I went through a free local upcycling site and got three domestic fridges people were getting rid of. I put them out back in a storeroom. It was a brilliant solution!” PLAN YOUR OPENING HOURS The day of the week December 25th falls on can catch retailers out, Steve MAKING CHRISTMAS COUNT If you don’t want to get caught short at the counter this winter, now is the time to plan