Belfast's Tom and Ollie finds the best cheese

Artisan cheese specialists Tom and Ollie, one of Ireland’s most successful market traders and retail suppliers, has stocked up with over 300 different varieties ahead of the vital Christmas season.

No dinner, especially at Christmas and the New Year is complete without a good cheeseboard.

Belfast-based Tom and Ollie has become one of a handful of companies to go to find the best cheese from here, the Republic of Ireland and other parts of Europe. In fact, the small business may well offer the most comprehensive range of hand crafted cheeses in Ireland.

“While cheese is among our biggest sellers throughout the year, sales at Christmas are substantial and very important for our business,” says Shay Mullan, who has been running Tom and Ollie with partners Hugh Cashman and Feargal Green, since 2014.

Artisan cheeses have always been an essential element of the business that began as a producer and supplier of Mezze Mediterranean-style deli foods, such as olives, hummus and vinegars, in collaboration with a network of carefully selected growers across Europe, Turkey and North Africa.

Cheese has developed into a hugely important element of the business in that period.

Tom and Ollie’s impressive cheese portfolio includes 50 from Ireland, the best seller being Cork’s St Brigid’s, and Bellingham Blue, which is made three times a year just for the Belfast company. There is, in addition, a huge choice of British cheeses including 12 territorial cheddars from Scotland, along with Stiltons, Coston Basset, Shropshire Blues, Wensleydale, buffalo cheeses from Shipton, and a large variety of fruit cheeses. The cheese are also available in hampers especially for Christmas.

A comprehensive range of Europeans including Brie de Meaux, Mont Dor, and St Nectaire, all from France, are stocked. Italy is represented by regional specials like Sardo; Provolone; Parmesan;Tallegio; and Spain by Manchego and Quince. There’s also Norway’s Christmas Ski Queen; Aged Feta from Greece; Corsica’s rosemary covered goat’s cheese; Germany’s Montagnola; Swiss Tete de Mois; and Gruyere including a World Cheese Award winner.

Local cheeses like Kearney Blue from Castlereagh, Ballylisk of Armagh, Dart Mountain from Dungiven and Young Buck from Mike’s Fancy Cheese in Newtownards also sell well.

The eight years since the company’s formation has seen the business blossom from being a market trader to a supplier of mezze foods to major retailers including supermarkets and food wholesalers, such as Pallas Foods, both here and in the Republic. Among regular customers of mezze foods is Sheridan’s, the Republic’s biggest supplier of cheese and associated products, Aldi and Dunnes Stores.

Products have, in addition, been supplied to Cotswold Fayre, one of Britain’s biggest artisan food wholesalers. The business now operates from a modern processing plant near Dunmurry.

While sales to top retailers of these delicious foods have grown rapidly, Tom and Ollie hasn’t turned its back on farmers’ markets here and in the Republic. It’s presentation at the iconic St George’s Market in Belfast has grown to a position of being the biggest and busiest stand there.

Tom and Ollie was, in fact, one of very first traders to support the Victorian indoor market when it was renovated and reopened in May 1999.

Shay, a native of Portglenone, continues: “St George’s is immensely important to us. It’s been a tremendous source of sales for us over the years and will continue to be an integral part of our business in the future.”

The company continues to have a presence at markets across Northern Ireland including Coleraine, Londonderry and Dungannon every month. It also takes part in food events in the Republic around the greater Dublin area. These outdoor markets are regarded as the most successful way of building awareness of its brand and products among shoppers. Of course they also generate worthwhile sales.

The successful mezze range includes more than 70 varieties of olives and roasted tomatoes and peppers, 10 types of hummus sourced from specialist suppliers in many regions of the Mediterranean and a wide pesto selection. Rubs, marinades and tapenades are also available.

Shay continues: “The decision to start the business was influenced by holidays in the Middle East and the Mediterranean lifestyle. We have travelled widely and have been drawn by the flavours from places like Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the Lebanon.

“We set up the business to create delicious products here in Northern Ireland from Mediterranean or Middle Eastern ingredients. Using these to create fresh and innovative flavours is what we enjoy most. We use only the very best ingredients in developing deliciously different and flavour packed products."