Artisan cheesemaker brings new product to market during coronavirus crisis

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12/05/2020

Shepherds Purse, an artisan cheesemaker located in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, has launched a new product to market, with support from Yorkshire Bank helping to ease the financial difficulties of the COVID-19 crisis.

The award-winning, family-owned business was forced to unexpectedly remodel to ensure its survival and safeguard its supply chain after the impact of the coronavirus lockdown significantly disrupted sales.

Shepherds Purse has a UK-wide customer base, comprising wholesalers, which supply to the hospitality trade and food service; multiples; and independent retailers. When COVID-19 locked the country down, the hospitality trade disappeared overnight. The company lost 30% of its business, compounded by a drop-off in retail and in-store and specialist deli trade.

Despite having to furlough almost one third of its staff, the company has managed to rethink its focus and change its approach to secure new markets and continue production and sales.

To satisfy wholesaler and national retailer requirements during lockdown, they have switched to pre-packed formats. Online sales have grown by almost 1000%, primarily with new customers looking for quality products.

The family enterprise has also responded to a supply chain crisis that threatened production. Within days of lockdown, the company’s sheep milk suppliers had lost 20 out of 22 of its processors. Shepherds Purse has brought forward the launch of a new feta-style cheese and taken the risk of increasing the weekly milk order by 75% to help with the deficit. The company has managed to bring Fettle to market in just over four weeks, providing a lifeline to the supply chain and sheep farmers.

As part of the process, Caroline Bell, who runs the business with her sister Katie, approached Yorkshire Bank to identify ways it could support the business through the financial pressures brought on by the coronavirus crisis. The bank has arranged a capital repayment holiday on an overdraft taken out for new production equipment in January until the situation improves.

Caroline Bell explains:

“We had to innovate, remodel the business and rethink the future. Hopefully, this launch will significantly stimulate sales for all our cheeses. To get Fettle ready for market in such a short space of time has taken a tremendous amount of work from everyone, from making the extra cheese, to designing and printing the labels and packaging.

“It is challenging, but we are starting to see some green shoots. Sadly, however, we are not eligible for any current government grant schemes, but with support from the Bank we are looking into securing assistance through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). We believe this would be a sensible way to operate the business over the next twelve months.”

As a long-term Yorkshire Bank customer, Simon Addison, their relationship manager at Yorkshire Bank, which is owned by Virgin Money UK, has helped them throughout the process.

Simon said:

“It is so important to have open and transparent conversations with our customers at this time, and certainly for this business there was no burying heads in the sand. Caroline immediately contacted us as she knew a crisis management plan was needed. We’re here to help ensure our customers survive this crisis. We understand how the financial pressures are impacting on small businesses and we have a number of ways we can help.”

Fettle will launch online on May 4th 2020 in time for the British Cheese Weekender on May 8th - 10th and will be available in independent shops and multiple retailers soon after.