CLANDEBOYE Estate Yoghurt has opened a £2 million creamery which will allow it to quadruple production and potentially break into new markets.
The new site on the Clandeboye Estate sees the company moving from its original incubator site at Ards Business Hub after 15 years of sustained growth.
The company has enjoyed year-on-year growth of between 30 and 40 per cent since its inception in 2007 and needed a purpose-built factory to further develop (initially it had two staff and processed 300 litres of milk each week but today employs 20 people and processes 6,000 litres a day).
“It had always been our dream to build a sustainable business on the Clandeboye Estate, powered by green energy, using milk from our own herd,” said general manager Bryan Boggs, an experienced food technician who brought to fruition a business idea of the late Lady Dufferin to create an artisan yoghurt using milk from her herd of pedigree Holstein and Jersey cows.
He added: “As a small start-up, we didn’t want to risk a long-term lease and the unit at Ards allowed us to trial the product. Plus, all the food production units are fully serviced so there was no additional investment in the site needed.”
Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt started in a single unit with its first sales from a stall at St George’s Market. As it began to supply the Hastings Hotel Group and then all the major supermarkets in Northern Ireland and the Republic, it took an additional three units.
Now with the new creamery allowing for increased capacity, the company is looking into new markets, particularly in England, Scotland and Wales, which would require a massive increase in production.
“Our close-knit team has played a hugely important role in this move and this new purpose-built factory will allow us to grow further. We are right on the parkland at Clandeboye and can see the cows that produce our milk out the window, so it’s a real farm to spoon journey,” Bryan said.
Nichola Lockhart, chief executive of Ards Business Hub, said she and her team were proud of the role they played in helping the business through its journey from start up to becoming a major supplier of high-quality local yoghurt.
“Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt is one of Northern Ireland’s true food heroes, and we are delighted with its success,” she said.
