Take 100 pedigree cows, an artistic aristocrat and one big idea. What do you get? Great yoghurt. Richard Ford reports on Clandeboye's diversification


They say yoghurt is good for you. It is for Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt. Since its launch at Northern Ireland's Balmoral Show in May 2008, it has gone from selling its artisan yoghurts via an honesty box in the farm office to achieving listings in Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Henderson Group (a Spar retailer) in Northern Ireland, as well as high-end retailer Donnybrook Fair in the Irish Republic. Now Clandeboye, one of the few yoghurt producers in Northern Ireland, plans to cross the Irish Sea and teach the English a thing or two about the art of yoghurt-making.

The company is currently looking for the right distributor to handle its transition into the multiple and specialist retailer markets. "I'd like to think that within the next nine months we can break into the mainland," says manager Bryan Boggs. "Our selling point is that we have the true Greek-style hand-strained product, which many others don't do."

The blend of milk used in the yoghurt's production, all of which comes from Clandeboye's herd of 100 pedigree Jersey and Friesian cows, will excite British buyers, claims Boggs. As will its prestigious heritage. Lady Dufferin, the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava and owner of Clandeboye Estate, was a driving force behind the diversification into yoghurt.

"Lady Dufferin was looking for something to make the dairy herd on the estate pay," says Boggs. Producing yoghurt was a way of adding value to the herd's milk and bringing some money back into the estate to secure its future, he explains.

A renowned artist, the Marchioness has also added her creative flair to the packaging, which features her hand-painted images of the herd on its lids.

The business currently churns out 5,000 litres of yoghurt a week, producing both a hand-strained Greek-style and a natural variant in 150g (rsp: 60p for Greek, 40p for natural) and 450g pots (rsp: £1.55 for Greek, £1.29 for natural).

At about £30k a month, turnover may be modest for the moment, but Boggs is confident Clandeboye is well equipped to deal with an upsurge in demand following its entry into the mainland. It uses only 40% of the milk from its cattle herd, giving it the capacity to more than double the volumes of yoghurt it currently produces.

Financially, too, the business is on a steady footing. "We've kept things small and lean here and because we source our milk from our own farm, we have found ourselves very competitive against our rivals," says Boggs.

In fact, Clandeboye has actually reduced shelf prices as customer numbers have grown. "We started high and we knew we would be able to reduce the price when we made efficiencies," he says.

The fact that its products contain only two raw ingredients whole milk and probiotic yoghurt culture means it has been shielded from fluctuating costs for commodities such as sugar, cocoa and SMP that plague many mass-manufactured lines, although Clandeboye plans to add flavoured variants to its yoghurt range in January. It has also developed a soft cheese, which it already supplies to two local restaurants. It may develop the cheese into a retail product in future.

Given Clandeboye's already rapid ascent, it's unlikely to be a long wait.

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