Artisan Cheese in 2022

SPECIAL REPORT 3 Overall retail dairy sales volumes for the full year 2022 are expected to be down versus 2021 but up slightly versus 2019, + 6% for cheese. This means the sector is doing better than it was before the pandemic. For Clare Jackson the problems brought on by covid have just about been resolved and in fact covid did bring some benefits to their small town in Suffolk which is reliant on tourism. The rise in staycations during the summer of covid meant more tourists in the town, which meant more people browsing the shops and buying more. “We make most of our money in the summer months,” MAGAZINE SPECIALITYFOOD Clare explains. “The autumn is always a lull in sales and then it picks up for Christmas, but we have to make enough through summer to see us through.” During Covid times this wasn’t a problem as UK Overall retail dairy sales volumes for the full year 2022 are expected to be down versus 2021 but up slightly versus 2019, +6% for cheese SOURCE: THE AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE DEVELOPMENT BOARD A NEW NORMAL In the current climate price rises are inevitable. Businesses don’t want to do this and many will put it off as long as possible, but many consumers who buy artisan cheeses understand the challenges faced by businesses operating in the sector. “W e are having to pass some of these price hikes onto customers, but we are also really aware that everyone is struggling so we are trying to absorb the increases where we can,” says Jen Grimstone-Jones of Pangbourne Cheese Shop. “The majority of our customers are prepared to pay that little bit more for high quality and they would rather have less of something really nice than a lot of a lower quality product.” At Rowcliffe, one of Britain’s leading importers and distributors of cheese and fine foods, they have an umbrella perspective on the cost of living crisis and how it is affecting all aspects of food production and distribution. “Fuel prices have a direct effect on transport costs and therefore on distribution costs, these drive-up production and distribution costs and hence lower profits for businesses,” says Sunit Mehta, managing director. “Food businesses are being forced to pass on their rising costs to customers as they report being worse hit by inflation as compared to other businesses.” For many businesses, not putting up prices just isn’t viable, but most will try to minimise this as much as possible. Online artisan food market, Yumbles, has seen this first hand. “Unfortunately, the price rises are impacting just about every cheese producer on Yumbles, across nearly every aspect of their production,” says Katie Kitiri. “For example, cheese producer Godminster has reported packaging and rawmaterial supplies have gone up in price, but that increase varies wildly depending on the supplier, between 15% to 57%. This is the same story affecting the vegan alternative producers on Yumbles too. This can be a particular challenge for small and artisanal producers and with such an extent in rises it is inevitable that some of the increase has to be passed onto customers. However, we have seen for now at least that most producers on Yumbles are sparingly rising prices, and where they are, they are often looking to add more value to customers in other ways.” The Cheese Lady has had a similar experience. “The rising costs of fuel and raw ingredients are definitely affecting the traditional cheese sector. However, so far we have been fortunate not to get too many price increases from the majority of our suppliers,” says owner Svetlana Kukharchuk. But she knows it’s only a matter of time before the issue does land on her doorstep. “It is inevitable and when our purchase costs rise, the increases will have to be passed on to customers.” tourismwas booming, but the stark difference between last year and this year, due to the cost of living crisis, is worrying. “A reduced footfall in the town is detrimental to our business,” Clare says.