A Telford company supplying cheese and dairy products to the food manufacturing, wholesale and food service sectors has marked its first five years in business with a week of events and gifts for the staff who have helped make the company such a success.
Bridge Cheese opened the doors to its factory in Stafford Park in 2018 with just 15 members of staff and a handful of clients. Five years later, the company has grown into a £30m turnover business with a bigger site, an 80-strong team of full-time employees and a burgeoning order book, selling enough cheese to top 1,500 pizzas a week.
Managing director Michael Harte couldn’t be prouder of the way the executive team’s vision for the company has come to fruition.
Michael said: “We started out with a vision to do things differently and disrupt a very traditional market with a customer-centric and flexible approach to the supply of cheese and dairy products.
“We quickly won fans with our fresh new approach and most of the customers we won in our early years are still with us today. That’s testament to how much people value our service commitment and the consistent, high-quality products we deliver day in, day out.”
Bridge Cheese’s first five years weren’t all smooth sailing and the company faced big challenges, particularly Covid and the many issues which arose from leaving the European Union including import and export red tape and difficulties recruiting staff. Michael believes the unwavering passion and dedication of his team helped to overcome these challenges.
“We came through those difficult times together and grew in ways we could not have imagined. That’s why our five-year anniversary celebrations have been dedicated to thanking our amazing staff for what they’ve helped us achieve,” said Michael.
During the first week of October, Bridge Cheese gave away daily gifts to staff including reusable water bottles and lunch bags, branded holdalls and pizza cutters. On the last day, a celebration lunch was held at the site with a food truck, branded cupcakes, sweet cones and music.
Looking ahead to the next five years, Michael believes there’s much more to come from Bridge Cheese.
He added: “We will continue to grow our business as we have done over the last five years by creating long-term relationships with our customers. We are continually investing in our factory to make it more efficient and more sustainable and we are expanding our research and development department to help us develop more innovative and bespoke cheese and dairy products. There’s a lot in the pipeline for us.
“If we can maintain the unique culture of Bridge Cheese that we established on day one, and our commitment to doing things differently that’s got us to where we are today, I can’t wait to see where we are after 10 years in business.”
