Claudy’s gold cheese maker gears up for expansion in export sales

The small artisan business, which is owned and run by husband and wife team Kevin and Julie Hickey, has planning approval to increase the size of its existing cheese maturing room, provide additional office space and to create exhibition and visitor facilities.

Work on the expansion will begin after the New Year, according to managing director and joint founder Kevin Hickey. Wife Julie, who’s originally from the US, is the cheese maker.

The artisan family business also intends to hire an additional member of staff.

“Our planned expansion had to be held due to Brexit and then the Covid pandemic,” explains Kevin. “We weren’t clear initially how Brexit would affect our business and our sales in Britain and the Republic.

"We had just overcome this issue successfully when the pandemic came along. It’s been very challenging time for an artisan business like Dart Mountain. We are now having to factor in the cost of living crisis and rising energy costs."

The business has been boosted by outstanding successes in national and international cheese competitions such as the recent World Cheese Awards in Newport, Wales, an event which attracted around 4,000 cheeses from around the world.

Dart Mountain, the most successful local cheese producer, gained gold and silver for two cheeses including a goat’s variety which uses fresh milk sourced from the neighbouring Craigbane Goat Farm farm in the rugged Sperrin Mountains outside the tiny Park village.

“The expansion of our cheese shed will enable us to meet the growing demand from existing customers and also enable us to explore new opportunities we’ve spotted in key markets such as Scotland, England and the Republic,” continues Kevin. “We also need the extra space to support our focus on maturing our cheeses longer than many other artisan producers.”

The planned visitor/information centre is a response to the growth in food tourism here, especially those covering craft breweries in Derry as well as Dart Mountain.

The cheese maker also used beer from Northbound Craft Brewery in Londonderry in one of its products.

“We are now included in many local food tours in Co Derry and from further afield. The exhibition will highlight our range of award winning cheeses and how these are being produced by Julie,” he continues.

Dart Mountain’s Meeny Hill Goat cheese collected gold in the World Cheese Awards, while its Kilcreen gained silver. Kilcreen is an Alpine style pasteurised cows’ milk cheese aged for a minimum of three months. It was Ireland’s first Alpine style cheese.

In addition to its successful cheese business, Dart Mountain produces chutneys, pickle, craft drizzles and relish.

Julie, originally from Lincoln in Massachusetts, is the expert cheese-maker who developed her skills at the School of Artisan Foods in Welbeck in England, while Kevin looks after the management and especially marketing roles. He has vast experience in hospitality management.

All the cheeses are hand crafted and produced in small batches in a purpose-build dairy on the small rural estate owned by the Hickeys. This approach ensures consistent quality and outstanding taste.

Formed in 2010 by Kevin and Julie as Tamnagh Foods, the company first developed Sperrin Blue cheese, a successful innovation and winner of gold in the Irish Food Awards in 2015 and silver in the UK and Irish Artisan Food Awards in 2018.

This was followed by Dart Mountain Dusk, a unique ash rubbed cheese and a bronze winner in the World Cheese Awards which was named after a landmark in the Sperrins. Tamnagh Foods was subsequently replaced by Dart Mountain in a major rebranding of the business to focus on a range of hand crafted cheeses. The cheese business continues to flourish and has supplied iconic retailers in Britain such as Harrods in London.

Another local winner at the World Cheese Awards has only been in production for six months. The ultra-creamy Stracciatella by Velocheese for Indie Fude is a mozzarella-style cheese from a building in East Belfast called the Banana Block. The cheese, a bronze award winner, is crafted by by master mozzarella maker Davide Tani from Calgiari in Sardinia.

Davide has been based in Belfast with his Belfast born wife since 2015. He wanted to bring a taste of his homeland to Northern Ireland. “Freshness is key. We use milk from Farmview Dairies in Castlereagh and the cheese is made fresh to order.”

The range includes Mozzarella, Stracciatella, Scamorza and Maple-wood Smoked Scamorza.