Somerset, UK – 4^th November, 2011 – The Dairy Crest / NFU West County Dairy Award has been won by Tom Burns, from Honiton. Tom was one of four finalists – including Toby Wonnacott, winner of the ‘Wyke Farms Award’  – selected for specialized knowledge, practical experience and commitment to the dairy industry.  The finalists were chosen from 33 applicants from four counties and will receive cash awards to continue their studies and careers in the dairy industry.

This is the eighth year in a row that Wyke Farms has contributed to the Dairy Crest / NFU Scholorship Fund responsible for The West Country Dairy Awards.  The 2011 ‘Wyke Farms’ Award is a £1000 cash prize, awarded to Toby Wonnacott, Lytchett Matravers, Poole, Dorset who is studying agriculture at Kingston Maurward, Dorset.

Sixteen-year-old Wonnacott demonstrated his knowledge of cow breeding, welfare and milk production at the final interview for the West County Dairy Awards with an impressive maturity, resulting in the presentation of the Wyke Farms award.

“I am delighted that Toby has won this award. It’s imperative that our industry encourages young people such as Toby.  It is people like him that will ensure British Dairying with be competing on a world level over the coming years, particularly with new markets opening up such as China and India for our milk products,” said Rich Clothier, third generation family member and managing director, Wyke Farms.

Toby is a member of the Holstein Society, lending a helping hand at various dairy shows across the UK. He has taken an interest in diet consultation, breeding and genetics of cows to continue the improvement of breeding.

The scholarship fund was set up in 1925 by United Dairies, the forerunner of Unigate – now Dairy Crest.  Wyke Farms and ABN Agri also add to the fund to encourage youngsters in the dairy industry so that the UK can have the efficient and competitive dairy sector that it deserves.

An executive committee manages the Trust, with three Trustees and an advisory committee. It is run jointly with the NFU and awards grants to children of farmers and farm employees who are over 16 years old, living in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset, and studying a dairy related topic.  Applicants are assessed by interview and finalists are selected to be considered for the top awards.

 Somerset, UK 19^th October, 2011: Wyke Farms, the UK’s largest independent cheese producer and milk processor, have launched its Christmas advertising campaign to reach over three million consumers in the UK. The Somerset based company will use print advertising to continue to tell the story of its extensive150year heritage.

The coming months will see the brand further invest into mass media promotional activity with adverts in the following consumer titles: BBC Good Food, Readers Digest, Woman and Home, Waitrose Kitchen, Red, OK!, Hello and Good Housekeeping. The print advert shares the story of Wyke Farms cheddar in Somerset and the importance of family in the creation of the UK’s favourite Farmhouse Cheddar.

Richard Clothier, third generation family member & Managing Director, Wyke Farms said: “This year has marked a major milestone for my family and Wyke Farms – 150 years producing Cheddar from my Grandmother’s original recipe. We have always taken pride on being the UK’s favourite farmhouse cheddar and we are making significant investments into connecting with our consumers and continuing the excellence they deserve. We feel this press campaign resonates our provenance and family farming in the Somerset countryside roots.”

Wyke Farms have 150 years of family farming experience. Its cheese and butter is made with the milk from their cows grazing the lush pastures of the Mendip Hills in the centre of the Cheddar making region in Somerset.  This is reflected in the design of the adverts and the new packaging.

Wyke Farms cheese and butter is made with the milk from their cows grazing the lush pastures of the Mendip Hills in the centre of the Cheddar making region in Somerset. Wyke Farms cheese and butter products are available nationwide and can be found in Asda, Co-op, Makro, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose.

Somerset, UK – 03^rd October 2011 – Wyke Farms, the UK’s largest independent cheese producer and milk processor, is celebrating its 150^th year in style, and by no means resting on its laurels. Bound by its passion for producing fine Farmhouse Cheddar and its pride in maintaining the traditional farming heritage, 150 plus national cheese shows awards in one year means Wyke Farms is no “cottage industry”- It is the No. 1 Farmhouse Cheddar in the UK.

“To say we are proud is an understatement,” said Richard Clothier, third-generation family member and managing director. “150 years is something special. Today, as a family business we still base all our recipes on our Grandmother Ivy’s original. We see this year as a chance to remember where we started, and with 150 awards (and counting) for our cheddar marks our achievement today. Here’s to the next 150!”

2011 is a record-breaking year for Wyke Farms and further recognition that it is the Best-Selling Farmhouse Cheddar Brand in the UK, as reported by the Kantar World Panel in 2010.[1] This year’s awards include 11 Winner accolades, two Star awards, 26 First places, 20 Gold awards, 21 Second places, 22 Silver awards, 18 Third places, two Forth places, two “Highly Commended” awards, 24 Bronzes awards, and three Finalist awards, with more to come!

Wyke Farms are committed to continually improving its offering to the retail industry and consumers. Richard Clothier comments, “During October our management team will be conducting a key retail buyers tour where we will update the industry on our 2012 strategy but more importantly get feedback on how we can improve and add further value to the Cheddar category.”

Known for its unique provenance and the superior quality of its products, Wyke Farms has maintained the art of traditional cheese-making on its Somerset farm, where the Clothier family have been making traditional farmhouse cheddar to its original secret recipe since 1861.

Wyke Farms cheese and butter is made with the milk from their cows grazing the lush pastures of the Mendip Hills in the centre of the Cheddar making region in Somerset. Wyke Farms cheese and butter products are available nationwide and can be found in Asda, Co-op, Makro, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose.

Somerset, UK – 24^th August 2011 – Wyke Farms, the UK’s largest independent cheese producer and milk processor, was the recipient of 39 awards and five cups at the Mid Somerset Show. The 44 prizes include 17 1^st place awards, 14 2^nd place awards and eight 3^rd place awards, as well as five trophies for:

-       Most points in show

-       Champion Cheese

-       Reserve Champion Cheese

-       Overall winner of Cheddar Cheesemakers

-       Best Butter in Show

The Mid Somerset Show is one of the largest free agricultural events in the UK, attracting over 15,000 visitors. Wyke Farms is in the process of claiming the number of prizes as a world record with Guinness World Records.

“It is an immense honour for the team at Wyke to have our quality recognised at the Mid Somerset Show,” said Richard Clothier, third-generation family member and managing director. “Only 5 miles from cheddar and to win nearly all of the prizes is a testament to the quality of our local milk and the attention to detail of our team. My grandmother would have been very proud.’

2011 is set to be another award-winning year for Wyke Farms and the recent show serves as further recognition that its the Best-Selling Farmhouse Cheddar Brand in the UK, as reported by the Kantar World Panel in 2010.[1] Known for their unique provenance and the superior quality of their products, Wyke Farms has maintained the art of traditional cheese-making on their Somerset farm, where the Clothier family have been making traditional farmhouse cheddar to their original secret recipe since 1902.

Wyke Farms have 150 years of family farming experience and have long since been matched by over 100 trophies, awards and prizes won by the company at national cheese shows.

Wyke Farms cheese and butter is made with the milk from their cows grazing the lush pastures of the Mendip Hills in the centre of the Cheddar making region in Somerset. Wyke Farms cheese and butter products are available nationwide and can be found in Asda, Co-op, Makro, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose.

Somerset – January 18^th 2011 – Wyke Farms, the UK’s largest independent cheese producer and milk processor, today revealed the latest brand performance figures from Kantar 12 weeks to 26th December 10. The data confirms a 26% rise compared to the same period last year and pushes the brand ahead of McLelland Seriously Strong for the first time during this Christmas period.

During the reporting period Wyke Farms featured on the Asda’s Extra Special Christmas TV campaign where they profiled their Somerset Vintage Cheddar.  The successful campaign resulted in a ten-fold increase in sales of Wyke Farm Cheddar with an extra 50,000 Extra Special cheeseboards purchased over the Christmas period.

“This is a great start to 2011, the pleasing thing is that we really didn’t have any big promotions on during the period, so this uplift was purely from base sales” said Richard Clothier, third generation family member & Managing Director, Wyke Farms who continues “The recent investment in our super-efficient high speed packing lines ensured that we were able to supply customers even with the snow interruptions without problems”.

Wyke Farms is a family run company based in Somerset and are the only independent dairy company within the top 10 cheddar brands in the UK.  The company has been making cheddar to the same family recipe since 1861 and have achieved substantial growth year on year by staying true to the traditional values behind the brand.

Wyke Farms cheese and butter products are available nationwide and can be found in Asda, Co-op, Makro, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose.

-ends-

6^th December 2010: The third installment of Asda’s Extra Special Christmas TV campaign breaks on 6^th December, this time featuring Somerset Vintage Cheddar made by Wyke Farms, the UK’s largest independent cheese producer and milk processor.
Richard Clothier, third generation family member and MD of Wyke Farms, is the hero producer and talks through the history and provenance of the “cheddar of cheddars” made exclusively for Asda. He tells the Wyke story including the 150 years of experience his family has in making high quality cheddar and the national and world cheese awards the company has won. Richard’s brother and cousins are also featured in the advert.

The award-winning Extra Special Somerset Vintage Cheddar is matured in wooden casks for 15-months to develop a rounded, sweet nutty taste.

The advertising campaign from Asda has featured producers who make Asda’s award-winning Extra Special range of food and wine including Adrian Ivory an Asda Extra Special beef farmer and Jean-Claude Mas, an Extra Special wine producer from the South of France.

Simon Eyles, head of private label at Asda said: “We are very proud of our Christmas advertising campaign this year which showcases the specialist producers who put the special into Extra Special.  Richard Clothier from Wyke Farms is the star of our newest ad   and he talks through the history and quality of our Extra Special Somerset Vintage Cheddar, the cheddar of cheddars.”

Wyke Farms has been producing award-winning cheddar for over a century and has grown to become the largest family-owned cheese maker in Britain selling over 12,000 tonnes annually. The company have achieved substantial growth year on year by staying true to the traditional values behind the brand and have become the best selling farmhouse Cheddar in the UK.

Wyke Farms cheese and butter products are available nationwide and can be found in Asda, Co-op, Makro, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose.

November 18^th 2010: Wyke Farms, the UK’s largest independent cheese producer and milk processor, today announce that two additional SKU’s will be available in Waitrose from 24^th November 2010.

Waitrose will be adding the ‘Simply Gorgeous Vintage’ to their existing core products from Wyke Farms, these being ‘Rich & Creamy Mature’ and ‘Just Delicious Extra Mature’.  In addition, the newly updated Super Light will also be added to the range.

This means that Waitrose will be stocking the four products, all in the fresh new packaging design recently applied to the entire range of stay fresh zip packs.  The updated designs better reflect the unique provenance position of the brand.

Appealing to the discerning female shopper the new Super Light packaging communicates the associated health benefits in a bright, fresh design.  The heart shaped parchment panel in the centre of the pack subtly conveys the cardiovascular benefits and the back of pack copy tells the heart warming family story of how the cheese was originally developed to alleviate the high cholesterol of Wykes’ chairman, John Clothier. It took 2 years to refine the recipe and was a real labour of love made for the family by the family.  Super Light has an award winning recipe that is now matured for longer for a stronger flavour.

The 150 years of tradition at Wyke Farms are now matched by over 300 trophies, awards and prizes won by the company at national cheese shows.  From an original 3000 plus, Wyke Farms is now one of less that 10 farmhouse cheese makers remaining in the West Country and today its mild, mature, extra mature and vintage cheddars are sold throughout Europe in over 25,000 retailers.

Wyke Farms has been producing award-winning cheddar for over a century and has grown to become the largest family-owned cheese maker in Britain selling over 12,000 tonnes annually. The company have achieved substantial growth year on year by staying true to the traditional values behind the brand and have become the best selling farmhouse Cheddar in the UK.

Wyke Farms cheese and butter products are available nationwide and can be found in Asda, Co-op, Makro, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose.

Somerset, UK – 20^th September 2010: Wyke Farms, the UK’s largest independent cheese producer and milk processor, will air the first broadcast advert in their autumn advertising campaign on Monday 27^th September 2010.  The advert will tell the true story of Wyke Farms’ extensive heritage and is the start of a media campaign that will include national TV and print advertising.

This latest investment into mass media promotional activity demonstrates the companies’ commitment to brand growth and further cements their position as the leading farmhouse cheddar brand. This autumns campaign is the largest yet for Somerset based Wyke Farms who plan to reach over 4.5 million ABC1 housewives with both the 30-second television advert and the print campaign.

About the adverts

The TV advert is scheduled to appear in the newly launched GMTV ad slot, running for three weeks from 27^th September 2010. The advert entitled ‘Stan remembers’ features the true story of Stan Graves, 84, who wrote to the Clothier family at Wyke Farms in July 2009 with his memories of the family and working on the farm in the 1940’s. Stan was sent there at the age of 15 during the Second World War to work on the farm as a land boy. The advert, which was all filmed on the farm in Somerset, demonstrates the brands true traditional farmhouse cheese maker roots that have stood the test of time.  The print campaign will appear in the Daily Mail, Women and Home, BBC Good Food and Good Housekeeping throughout October (November dated issues).

Wyke Farms has been producing award-winning cheddar for over a century and has grown to become the largest family-owned cheese maker and fastest growing cheddar brand in Britain, selling over 14,000 tonnes annually.

Wyke Farms cheese and butter products are available nationwide and can be found in Asda, Co-op, Makro, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose.

Monday 20th September 2009: Wyke Farms, the UK’s largest independent cheese producer and milk processor, will air the first broadcast advert in their Autumn Advertising campaign on Sunday 27th September.  The advertising slot, a three-and- a-half minute menu-themed ad break during Come Dine With Me will feature Wyke alongside six other quality hand picked brands- Gordon’s Gin, New Covent Garden Soup, Sainsburys, Nescafe, Baileys and Haagen-Dazs, and is a first for Channel 4.

Wyke Farms plan to reach over 750,000 ABC1 Housewives with the 30 second television advert.  As well as the Come Dine with Me slot, the ad will also be seen on GMTV throughout October.  Following the successful broadcast campaign last year, Wyke Farms have invested a further £800k figure sum again this Autumn.

The Come Dine with Me slot will be the first viewing of the new ad creative.  The ad titled ‘Stan remembers’ features the true story of Stan Graves, 84, who wrote into Wyke in July 2009, with his memories of the Clothier family & working on the farm in the 1940’s when he was sent to Wyke at the age of 15 during the Second World War to work on the farm as a land boy. The advert, which was all shot on the farm in Somerset demonstrates the brands true traditional farmhouse Cheese maker roots that have stood the test of time.

Richard Clothier, third generation family member & Managing Director, Wyke Farms said: ‘The Come Dine With Me slot is an ideal opportunity for us to tell our story. Our ad will be running alongside six other complimentary food brands and includes a voice over inviting the viewers to create their own dinner party. We have been giving away free recipes and encouraging people to embrace their ‘inner foodie’ for over ten years so the fit for us was an obvious one.”

Wyke Farms has been producing its award-winning cheddar for over a century and has grown to become the largest family-owned cheese maker and fastest growing cheddar brand in Britain, selling over 14,000 tonnes annually.

Wyke Farms cheese and butter products are available nationwide and can be found in Asda, Co-op, Makro, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose.

Downloads:
Press Release (Word Document)
Young Stan in Meadow (JPEG)

For further information, screen shot image of the advert and interview opportunities:

Jodie Welton at Connected PR
Tel: 07887 780464
Email: jodie@connectedpr.eu

-ENDS-

www.wykefarms.com

Notes to Editor

Wyke Farms Ltd is a family run company based in the heart of the Somerset cheddar-making region.  The art of traditional cheese making will never be lost on the Somerset farm where the Clothier family have been making cheddar to Ivy Clothier’s same original secret recipe since 1902.

Today, Wyke Farms is the largest independent cheese maker and milk processor in the UK producing over 14,000 tonnes of cheddar per year to the same award winning 100-year-old recipe.

Recent brand data confirms Wyke Farms as the fastest growing brand within the Cheddar category, with growth at 95% over the past 12 months[1] <#_ftn1> and shows a significant 105% growth in brand sales.  The Wyke Farms brand is the 4th largest in the category and the only independent company in the top 10 cheese brands[2] <#_ftn2> .

Wyke remains a truly traditional family business.  Ivy’s grandsons Richard and Tom now run the cheese making operations with their father John, whilst her other two Grandsons David and Roger run the family dairy farming operations.  The four grandchildren share Ivy’s passion for cheese making where flavour, texture and taste are paramount.  They believe that this attention to detail is the reason that their cheese has won more awards at national cheese shows than any other.

[1] <#_ftnref> TNS World Panel 52 w/e Jan 31st 2009
[2] <#_ftnref> w/e 14 June 2009 (TNS World Panel KPI Reporting)

Desperate times call for desperate measures – that’s what we’re told anyway. With the current state of our challenging economy and dwindling milk supplies, the question over who controls the supply chain is becoming more and more prominent.

For retailers, ‘exercising caution’ in the current economic downturn inherently means they must resist the temptation to be aggressive with suppliers. Although this may feel like a natural course of action under growing pressure, retailers must keep in mind that the farmer supply-base is extremely fragile.

As we all know, the supply of dairy commodities sourced from within the UK remains very low in comparison to previous years (the UK output of milk is said to be the lowest since 1971), and putting additional pressure on cheese, butter and liquid-milk prices could push yet even more dairy farmers out of the industry. In effect, this means that if the market were to experience another increase in world demand for milk products, we would not have a milk supply base to support our UK demand.

In the end, retailers cater to consumers’ needs, which we naturally assume means the cheaper the better. However, the consumer feedback we’ve received at Wyke Farms clearly shows that whilst people may have less money to spend, they wish to spend it more carefully and their key drivers for purchase remain the same.

Even though shopping budgets are becoming tighter, consumers have not discarded their affection for provenance, health, green issues, and local products. To this end, retailers must resist using primary producers to finance outdated ‘pile it high – sell it cheap’ forms of vending, ensuring that quality products still command their share of the fixture. In return, even greater responsibility lies with Brand Managers, Manufacturers and Farmers to sell these values harder than ever to shoppers. Cutting marketing budgets in periods of tough trading is like raising the white flag to the oncoming charge of cheap supermarket own-label products.

Ultimately, it’s up to us as an industry to work together to get through this time. Maybe it’s time we change the old saying to ‘Desperate times call for better collaboration’. It’s more apparent than ever that the only way for our industry to get through this economic crisis unscathed is by doing a better job of working together, rather than passing the pain down the line, which will inevitably end up at the door of the primary producer – the poor old farmer.

Notes to Editor
Wyke Farms Ltd is a family run company based in the heart of the Somerset cheddar making region. The art of traditional cheese making will never be lost on the Somerset farm where the Clothier family have been making cheddar to Ivy Clothier’s same original secret recipe since 1902.

Today, Wyke Farms is the largest independent cheesemaker and milk processor in the UK producing over 12,000 tonnes of cheddar per year to the same award winning 100-year-old recipe.

Recent brand data confirms Wyke Farms as the fastest growing brand within the Cheddar category, with growth at 95% over the past 12 months and shows a significant 118% growth in brand sales. The Wyke Farms brand is the 4th largest in the category and the only independent company in the top 10 cheese brands .

Wyke remains a truly traditional family business. Ivy’s grandsons Richard and Tom now run the cheese making operations with their father John, whilst her other two Grandsons David and Roger run the family dairy farming operations. The four grandchildren share Ivy’s passion for cheese making where flavour, texture and taste are paramount. They believe that this attention to detail is the reason that their cheese has won more awards at national cheese shows than any other.