Regional cheese supplier Bridgehead Food Partners is to take on the likes of Cathedral City and Babybel with the launch of a new range of on-the-go adult snacking cheeses.

The Chunky Cheese Co. snacks come in four variants: Tangy Mature Cheddar; Mature Cheddar with Chilli & Lime; Mature Cheddar with Cracked Black Pepper; and Mature Cheddar with Peppadew. The wrapper of each 40g piece of cheese can be ripped so it can be eaten as a hand-held snack.

Bridgehead had identified a gap in the market for an adult snack that did not contain “all the carbohydrate you get in other snacks such as sandwiches”, said director Lorraine Beaton.

Babybel primarily targeted kids, she added, while other snacking cheeses tended to be brand extensions of existing block cheeses rather than real snack cheeses. “We set out to make a snack, not to make cheese into a snack,” she said.

Following research with consumer focus groups, Bridgehead is considering selling the cheese both as part of a meal deal and as a standalone snack, to be consumed between meals.

It has already secured listings in 330 of The Co-operative Food stores, where it will form part of the retailer’s meal deal, from September. The products will also be listed in Nisa-Today’s, and Bridgehead is currently in discussions with petrol station operators, other mults and indies with a view to securing further listings.

Beaton said that no rsp had been set for the products at this stage, but that the price would be comparable with other snacks.

Bridgehead will initially target chiller cabinets with individual packs, but it has also designed a multipack, which could be sold in the dairy aisle of the mults.

The cheese is likely to compete with Cathedral City (an 80g trial-size pack retails at 99p [BrandView.co.uk]) and Babybel twinpacks (rsp: 89p).

Bridgehead supplies ­regional cheeses to Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and The Co-op.

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