Tasty Clandeboye yoghurt success boosts precious environment

Producer of luxury yoghurt, Clandeboye, which is led by experienced general manager Bryan Boggs, has recently won acclaim for its commitment to sustainable business practices in tune with the local environment around its picturesque location in Co Down.

Clandeboye Estate is one of the few great, private areas that remain in the ownership of the original family.

Covering over 2,000 acres, the estate is home to the largest broadleaf woodland in Northern Ireland. The huge estate, which also hosts a successful farm of pedigree dairy cows, was described as “the lungs of Bangor” by the visionary Lady Lindy Guinness, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, a distinguished painter, who owned it and led its successful diversification into various activities that would generate funding for the long-term preservation until her death in October 2020.

The diversifications included Clandeboye yoghurt and it remains the only significant processor of the dairy product here.

Bryan, commenting on the sustainability award from the Business Eye magazine competition, says: “Our strategic focus is to minimise the overall impact of the business on the precious environment surrounding the processing plant, an approach reflecting Lady Dufferin’s dedication to the estate. As a result, Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt has become a leader in measures to preserve the local environment.”

At the core of the sustainability strategy is an anaerobic digester, a device which converts waste from the estate, including the new yoghurt creamery, into electricity to power the buildings and other requirements.

Clandeboye is among a small group of local food companies here to generate power from waste using a digester; the others are butter and milk processor Ballyrashane Creamery in Coleraine and Gilfresh Produce in Portadown, a major grower and processor of vegetables for local supermarkets.

Bryan continues: “All waste whey and other waste from the creamery help feed the digester which powers the processing operation and the wider estate. In addition to the elimination of waste, we now use fully recyclable packaging sourced from Greiner in Dungannon.

“Furthermore, 80% of ingredients used in producing the wide range of yoghurts is sourced from suppliers from within six miles of the plant and thereby reduces our overall carbon footprint.”

Fresh milk from the farm’s 100 strong pedigree Jersey and Holsten herd is used in the production of the range of desserts which compete successfully in the market for dairy products with national and multinational yoghurt manufacturers.

The outstanding quality of the yoghurts is reflected In a host of UK Great Taste, the Irish Quality and Blas na hEireann Irish National Food awards since the formation of the enterprise by Lady Dufferin in 2008.

Clandeboye’s Madagascan Vanilla was also chosen as the ‘UK’s Best Product of the Year 2021’ in the influential Quality Food Awards, becoming one of only a few products from Northern Ireland to have taken the overall title since the annual awards were launched over forty years ago.

The annual awards celebrate excellence in food quality and are designed to recognise and reward those products that lead the way in the market. This achievement brought significant approaches from leading retailers in Britain, now a target market for Clandeboye which has invested in a new plant to increase volume.

Currently Clandeboye Estate yoghurts are retailed in NI by supermarket chains Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and the Co-op as well as in convenience stores such as Eurospar and SuperValu and a network of delis and farm shops. The range of natural and flavoured yoghurts are also available in the Republic of Ireland from discount retailers such as Aldi. Now the Clandeboye team is looking at opportunities in Britain and beyond the UK.

The creamy and luxury yoghurts are aimed not at the mass market, but at “consumers who like to buy premium produce from a place and people they know”.

The yoghurts are essentially handcrafted in the recently completed creamery. A 100% natural taste comes from the company’s practice of not adding milk powder or other thickening agents. The company’s multi-award winning Greek style yoghurt is produced in a traditional way of straining it through a cheesecloth.