Artisan cheese producer opens first retail outlet

Mike's Fancy Cheese (MFC) in Northern Ireland, producer of the award winning Young Buck raw milk blue cheese, is to open a shop in Belfast.

The artisan company, founded and owned by Mike Thomson, plans to open its first speciality cheese outlet in Belfast by the end of October.

The new shop is located close to the huge campus being developed in the city by the Ulster University, which is already beginning to regenerate one of the city's oldest districts.

MFC will continue to process speciality cheese at its plant near Newtownards in county Down. The new shop will provide additional storage and more space for maturing its multi-award winning Young Buck unpasteurised cheese which it sells in Britain, the Republic of Ireland as well as in France and Germany.

It will be the first shop focusing exclusively on cheese in Belfast city centre. The investment will also see employment rise at MFC to five people from three at present. The shop is expected to host a sourdough bread concession.

Mike Thomson, commenting on the expansion, says: "I saw an opportunity from the growing interest in speciality cheeses to set up an outlet to sell my cheeses and those of other artisan producers from across the island of Ireland and Britain in Belfast.

"The area is becoming one of the most dynamic in Belfast as the university develops and draws thousands of students especially from countries where speciality cheeses have greater acceptance.

"It won't be a deli but will focus mostly on artisan cheeses. It's a space where we will sell cheese and hope that people will meet each other whilst they are waiting in line and get talking.

"There will be a few tables and chairs for people to enjoy cheese boards or sample individual cheeses and also enjoy cold meat platters," he adds.

Mr Thomson started producing cheese by hand in October 2013 and so the new shop coincides with the small firm's fifth birthday.