Dairy Board increases UK market slice with Cheese Warehouse deal

The Irish Dairy Board (IDB) has bought the Cheese Warehouse, a British-based cheese ingredients company.

The move will strengthen the IDB’s position in the British food ingredients and food service sectors, which are a key market for Irish dairy exports.

Established in 2004, the Cheese Warehouse operates from facilities in North Shropshire where it custom formulates a range of cheese solutions for both food service and food manufacturing customers. It has grown consistently and achieved a turnover of about €38m for the year ended Feb 29.

IDB chief executive Kevin Lane said: “This acquisition is consistent with our strategy to develop and enhance routes to market for value-added Irish dairy products. The Cheese Warehouse complements our existing cheese ingredients business located close by in the UK and will significantly increase our presence in the UK cheese ingredients and food service sectors.

“This transaction presents exciting opportunities to grow our business in the UK in collaboration with both existing and new customers across new products, technologies and processes. We view in-market collaboration as a key growth driver for Irish dairy products as milk volumes expand ahead of the abolition of milk quotas in 2015.”