A New Whey of Doing Business Courtyard Dairy, Austwick Andy and Kathy Swinscoe
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he lockdown announcement came as a bombshell for the business – we were looking at an 85 per cent drop in turnover almost overnight,” said Andy. “But thousands of pounds-worth of perishable stock focused our minds: we knew we had to move quickly – so that’s what we did. “Initially we got a lot of help from colleagues in the cheese industry, which really pulled together to create nationwide awareness of the predicament of many small, specialist dairy businesses and rally support for them. “We were very grateful for all the support we received from the local community in the early days, but then we needed a change of direction. Mail order was only a small part of the business, but because the majority of our turnover was passing tourist trade and supplying the restaurant trade, we needed to focus more on online sales.
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www.forestofbowland.com
“We introduced the concept of online cheese tastings, where we send packages of cheese out to the participants ahead of a virtual tasting lead by me online. This is now a significant part of the business and forges a stronger bond with customers across the UK. “We had to close the café in March, but when the lockdown restrictions began to ease we managed to open an outdoor socially distanced café featuring our ‘cheese bubbles’ – repurposed ski lift cars from Courchevel! “We had a very busy Christmas, but overall, trade remains significantly down on the previous year and there is still some uncertainty over the extent to which the visitor economy which we are so reliant on will rebound this year. “But strengthening the mail order and online business has definitely given us a stronger platform from which to rebuild the business when confidence does return – hopefully by the late spring or summer.”
