Speciality Food March 2026

– with her citing Cashel Blue, Stonebeck and Summer Field as favourite examples. “I look at all the ingredients and how things are made, and I’m quite strict,” she adds. For Chris, a key buying factor is whether a maker is producing their own milk or at least has a dairy on or very close to the farm, so there is direct knowledge of the milk. “It’s about working with the farmer to produce the best milk, ensuring land management and herd management is great,” Chris says. “That’s our starting point. People like Fen Farm are amazing at what they do. Westcombe Dairy I think are gods with what they’re doing. And then you have people like Appleby’s Dairy who are working to put their farm back to the pre-70s way of doing things, with small fields and hedges. This way of working really appeals to us. It’s taking farming and cheesemaking back to a more sustainable, ethical way of producing food.” Sustaining customers Part of the job (a huge part) says Emmanuelle is taking customers on a journey of discovery. Helping them to understand artisan cheese, and how it might be healthier than T hinking about sustainability is no longer a ‘nice to have’ in retail – it’s something everyone should be considering, especially as customers in speciality settings have expectations that things are being done ‘the right way’ and with purpose. That doesn’t mean, of course, that you have to change everything in one go. Small, incremental, meaningful movements towards sustainability stack up. However, if you’re new to the business, and are reading this as you prepare to begin your journey into cheese, there’s an opportunity to start off on a good foot – as Chris Hallam, founder of Chorlton Cheesemongers in Manchester did when opening in 2020. Working from the ground up gave Chris the opportunity to have a considered approach around the environment right from the start, installing LED lights, insulating parts of the building where it was possible, and supporting the local economy by working with nearby tradespeople. In terms of operations, right from the start he made the decision not to have any plastic bags, with customers encouraged to bring their own, or use one of the shop’s paper bags. And there’s no plastic wrap – it’s all paper. Beyond this, “Very few things are sent to us in plastic now,” he says. “We have an arrangement with one of our wholesalers, because we buy so much from them, that they send everything to us in crates that we return to them.” Sustainable sourcing How can cheese retailers up their game when it comes to the sustainability of their stock? For Chris, this looks like favouring cheesemakers who are actively making changes to work in more environmentally sound ways. And that doesn’t always mean sourcing locally – quality, story and integrity trump all else. This is an approach that chimes with Emmanuelle Metz, owner of Metz Cheesemonger in Farsley. “The smaller the production, the better for me. Even if something is local, it doesn’t mean it’s sustainable,” she says. “And I think it’s easy for customers to confuse these two things. Local, to me, is British cheese. Scottish cheese. Welsh cheese.” Sourcing from makers who work in a slower, more intentional way, is at the core of Emmanuelle’s ethos only be a good thing. “I feel like we are the last generation – those who are 50, 70, 80 or above – who know what food was like before all the madness and processing. With processed food, some people are like a leaf in the wind. They are blown away by these products, and we have got to grab their hand and say, ‘slow down, get back to your roots’.” Sustaining staff Slowing down is another facet of Emmanuelle’s approach to sustainability – especially when it comes to her staff and their wellbeing – and she’s made changes in the weeks since Christmas to switch up the shop and the way the team work. “Wellbeing is so important,” she says. “At Christmas I was observing, and everything at that time gets pushed to the extreme! I wanted to think of how we can make the shop a better environment. For example, we have quite a big staff at that time of year, and I noticed the place was not at the optimum when it was packed, so we decided to change the display of the shop to make the working space even better and safer and less stressful.” Us Brits aren’t the best at taking a break, but this is important for wellbeing and the care of staff too, thinks Emmanuelle. Rested, looked after team members will interact better with customers. “We used to have a really short break but, to me, 30 minutes is nothing – not enough time to do anything. I make sure they have one hour so they can breathe, get lunch... there are some amazing places here where we are they could go, like the art gallery. I want them to have a great time out of work, and slow down, almost like a meditation. When you come back after that you are refreshed and can be really efficient.” This holistic approach, thinking about staff, customers, suppliers, and even the grass the cows feed on is an ongoing movement within cheese retail, and those taking steps towards change could be helping to futureproof themselves as Gen-Z, and Gen-Alpha after them become more clued up and discerning about food. 30 COUNTERPOINT SPONSORED BY People are blown away by these products, and we have got to grab their hand and say, ‘slow down, get back to your roots mass-produced versions (especially those with additives) from supermarkets, is often eye-opening. “They will say, ‘my goodness, I have no idea about all this stuff’,” she says. “We have to do that job for them, learning ourselves, and teaching them, so I think sustainability is also for customers. It’s a matter of heritage and sharing the art of food. We’ve got a beautiful library of cheese history in the UK, but not too many people know about it.” With concerns around UPFs, more customers are looking to specialist cheesemongers to satisfy their dairy cravings, and that can Sustainability in specialist food retail isn’t about sweeping change overnight, but thoughtful decisions that add up — fromhow cheese is wrapped and sourced to how staff and customers are cared for FUTURE-PROOFING CHEESE RETAIL