Lake District Dairy Co Cheddar - which has lost most of its supermarket listings in recent months - is to be relaunched by Adams Foods.

The Cheddar has come out of Asda, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose this year.

But Adams, which took over commercial development and marketing of the Cheddar from First Milk a year ago, insisted it had a future and offered “a lot to build on.”

It said it saw Lake District Cheddar as complementary to its other products - which include the Pilgrims Choice and Mu Cheddar brands - and would be conducting research to establish a target market for the Cheddar and examining options around pack sizes and positioning.

“We feel there is a premium area of growth we are not tapping,” said marketing director Alastair Jackson. There were no plans to change the cheese itself, he added. “The product is strong and offers us a lot to build on.”

The relaunched range - which will be backed with marketing activity - is expected to roll out early in 2015.

First Milk and Adams announced last November that they had struck a partnership under which hard cheese produced by First Milk would be packed, sold and marketed by Adams. As part of the 10-year deal, Adams - owned by the Irish Dairy Board - committed to buying a minimum of 50,000 tonnes of First Milk cheese a year to sell as own label and under the Lake District brand.

Lake District Cheddar is currently still listed with Tesco, which sells two lines - 350g mature and extra mature - at £2.30 a pack. The Cheddar is also listed in block format on Morrisons’ deli counter and at Booths, described by Adams as an important regional market for the range.

First Milk continues to market other Lake District products, including quark.

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