Morrisons first with innovative Fivemiletown cheese
Morrisons, the UK's fourth largest supermarket chain, is to launch an innovative cheese from Fivemiletown Creamery, Northern Ireland's leading speciality cheese producer, and signed up for six new own label lines for Christmas.
The business is a substantial boost for the company as it expands its award winning range of speciality cheese products.
The contract sees Morrisons introducing Fivemiletown's Boilíe cow's cheese pearls filled with tomato and herbs as part of its own brand range. In addition, Morrisons is also adding Fivemiletown's established Boilíe Original infused with garlic to the range available through its network of more than 200 supermarkets across Britain.
In addition, Morrisons will be launching no fewer than six new own label lines from Fivemiletown into over 400 stores along with the creamery's branded Cheese and Confit gift pack for Christmas. The own label products include unique Boilíe Cheese Pearls filled with Fig, Date and Chestnut for their Deli Express format.
Fivemiletown developed the new Boilíe cheeses - Boilíe filled with tomato and herbs and Boilíe with basil pesto - to add deliciously different flavours to pasta and pizza meals in particular. The new Boilíe products, available in both cow's and goat's cheese formats, have already won acclaim at major international shows and competitions including the recent UK Great Taste Awards.
The new products represent a major move by the cheese-maker into the fast growing meal creation / snacking cheese market.
Kevin McManus, Fivemiletown Creamery's sales manager, says: "The agreement with Morrisons is an immensely significant development for us and represents an important endorsement of the quality and innovation which underpin our new Boilíe cheeses. We will be working closely with the team at Morrisons to ensure the success of a product that we believe will prove to be a popular way of enhancing meals.
"The packaging for the new Boilíe products, for instance, offers recipe ideas to the customer to allow them to get the most from the product. Recipe ideas include a delicious starter such as filo tarts filled with Boilíe, sun dried tomatoes, basil and chutney and great main dishes like the gently spiced Moroccan chicken with Boilíe and mango salsa."
Fivemiletown Creamery recently announced record sales in 2011 that resulted in the Creamery achieving its best-ever trading performance. The company is confident that the launch of the new Boilíe products will help bolster sales of the brand even further.
The launch of the new Boilíe cheese pearls comes after the brand-experienced strong demand for soft speciality cheeses. The further expansion of its speciality cheese underpins the employment of 50 people in this part of the business.
The creamery, based in the lush pastures of county Tyrone, has been selling dairy products including butter in Britain since 1900 and is now internationally recognised as an award-winning producer. It exports cheese worldwide to markets such as the US, China, Scandinavia, France and the Netherlands. It sources high protein milk from around 70 local farmers and employs 90 people.
Fivemiletown Creamery has gained a series of international awards for quality cheese and prestigious UK Great Taste Awards. Fivemiletown attributes this success to the quality and purity of the local milk from its farmers, and the skill and knowledge of its artisan cheesemakers.