JUST DAYS after announcing the closure of Fivemiletown Creamery, lease-holder, Dale Farm, has secured a lucrative three year contract to supply cheese to fast food giant Greggs. The contract was described as a ‘significant development’ for the firms cheese business.
Councillor Sheamus Greene branded the timing of the announcement “a bit insensitive”.
“It’s typical that they would feel that this was not insensitive to announce that after 18 jobs in the area have been affected. It goes to show again how these big companies and government bodies treat people west of the Bann.”
Cllr Greene added that more needs to be done to protect all services in the West.
“There’s beds closing in the hospital, it seems to be an epidemic West of the Bann. There needs to be something done.”
Dale Farm’s award-winning cheddar cheese, made in Northern Ireland, will be used in Greggs’ range of sandwiches, which are made up fresh in their 1,969 shops every day. It will also supply cheeses for its freshly baked pizza range.
Stephen Cameron, commercial director for the Dale Farm Group added, “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Greggs as its supplier of choice for cheese.
“The contract is proof of the excellence of our product and a significant development for our cheese business. Having the trust of a major food-on-the-go retailer such as Greggs is also testament to the high quality of milk used to make our cheese, which comes into Dale Farm through our network of 1,300 hard-working dairy farmers across the UK.”
Speaking to the Herald last week in relation to the relocation of production of Fivemiletown Cheese a union representative said, “The company have made the decision that they will close the plant on the 7 June, unfortunately, we are not going to be able to change their position on this.”
Dale Farm’s cheese business has been driving substantial growth for the company in recent years. This contract represents the latest of several major cheese supply partnerships secured by the dairy company in its core markets.
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