We’re winners: Global Cheese success and Retail Industry Awards
Cheese success
At this year’s Global Cheese awards, we won a brilliant 16 awards: 4 Gold, 6 Silver and 6 Bronze. From Greek Feta to Somerset Brie our award winners will have something to satisfy everyone’s cheese cravings.
Of the awards, Nadine Salhani, our cheese developer, said “These wins emphasise the hard work everyone puts into continuously ensuring high quality cheeses for our members. They demonstrate that we have a wide range with amazing cheeses fit for every palate”.
The Global Cheese Awards were established in 1861 and are Britain’s longest running cheese awards – recognising the very best from artisan micro-dairies right through to large scale producers.
Three of the Gold winners will feature in our Irresistible Christmas Cheese selection… so when the time comes, you know what to buy to truly impress your guests.
The full list of winners can be found at the end of this article.
Industry leading Co-op
Continuing our success of industry recognition, at last night’s Retail Industry Awards – which celebrate the best operators across all segments of retail – we came away with three awards.
- Convenience Retailer of the Year:
recognised for going beyond being just a retailer (our work with the Global Investment Fund for Water, Fairtrade, Modern Slavery…); our impressive like for like sales growth; the number of new stores we’ve opened; and our focus on quality and using local suppliers. - Multiple Food to Go Retailer of the Year:
recognised for the investment we’ve made in this area, and the results it’s had (outperforming our share of the market in this space); the improvements we’ve made in broadening our range (including more vegetarian and snacking lines); and the tailoring of our range to individual stores. - Multiple Drinks Retailer of the Year:
recognised for our continued development of Fairtrade with suppliers; development of vegan and organic products; our online wine finder – helping customers find where they can buy the wine they’re looking for; and involving members in deciding what wines are stocked.
This shows how our Co-op is getting noticed and challenging our competitors in key growth categories.
Everyone who develops these ranges, buys the products, delivers them through our supply chain and our customer facing colleagues who make it available for our members and customers should be very proud of these achievements.
Global Cheese award winners:
Gold award winners
- Co-op Somerset Farmhouse Mature Cheddar
- Irresistible Blacksticks White
- Irresistible Somerset Vintage Cheddar
- Co-op Goat Cheese 65g
Silver award winners
- Co-op Cambozola
- Irresistible Blue Stilton
- Irresistible Parmigiano Reggiano
- Co-op Greek Feta
- Irresistible Greek Feta
- Co-op Caerphilly
Bronze award winners
- Co-op Cambozola
- Co-op Somerset Brie
- Irresistible Somerset Vintage Cheddar
- Co-op Goat Cheese Log 125g
- Irresistible Manchego
- Co-op White Cheshire
Brie-liant news ! Really Gouda work by everyone. Grate effort ! Let’s go Caerphilly and see if we can do even Feta next year.
How Cheesy 🙂
I hope this means we’ll be stocking the Irresistible Blacksticks White around Manchester again. Been trying to get hold of some for the past month and none stocked? :'(
Hi Jason. Here’s a list of stores in the Greater Manchester/Cheshire/Derbyshire area that stock your favourite cheese. Hope one of them is not too far from where you are. Thanks ^Rachel
Chorlton M21 9AN
West Didsbury M20 2LN
Ellenbrook M28 1PB
Wilmslow SK9 5BQ
New Mills SK22 4NG
I’m only able to reach the 4 stores in the city centre sadly. I work in 1AS.
Hi Jason. I’ve checked and unfortunately the cheese isn’t available in 1AS. Sorry about that. Thanks ^Rachel
This really is a great accolade, there is a skill to selecting the right cheese. I may well try a few. Well done Co-op.
I like Stilton – you cant beat a large wedge of it on crusty bread!
Who makes the vintage Cheddar for us – it is delicious!
Hi Kate. I’ll ask the product developer and let you know. Glad you like it. ^Kevin
Hi Kate, It’s made by the Clothier family in Somerset to their Grandmother Ivy’s secret recipe. The family have been perfecting the art of farmhouse cheddar-making for over 150 years and their cheddars have won more awards at local, national and international cheese shows than any other cheddar maker.
Our product developer, Nadine, tells me: “To achieve the strong, tangy flavour with a slight crunch and caramel sweet nutty aroma, this award winning cheddar is left undisturbed for up to 15 months. We’ve selected it for its balance of sweetness and acidity and it produces ‘volatiles’ in the back of the mouth. This shows it has a complex flavour just like a fine wine.”
Hope that helps, ^Kevin
Thank you, having grown up near Cheddar its always nice to know the cheese is made in the area. Congratulations to the Clothiers (and to us of course, for stocking it)