Ilchester Cheese Company Ltd, founded in 1962 was the first British cheese company to blend cheeses with other ingredients and has matured to become the UK’s biggest producer of blended cheese.

The first product developed by Ilchester’s founder, Ken Seaton, was Beer cheese. Ken discovered the combination while trying to keep Cheddar truckles fresh on the bar in his hotel in Somerset. It became so popular that he soon expanded and started the Ilchester cheese company, producing Beer Cheese to his secret recipe. In the 1960’s, Ilchester’s Beer cheese caused an outrage when it launched with 10 million teetotallers boycotting the product. Despite having to eat over 20lbs of it in order to consume the equivalent of one pint of beer, the country’s teetotallers called for it to be banned. However despite this, sales far exceeded expectations and we even had a fan at Buckingham Palace, with products requested to accompany Her Majesty’s tour of Australia in 1963 and we’ve not looked back since!

Today Ilchester remains committed to delivering a high quality product development program, illustrated through the recent opening of our New Product Development centre in March 2006. Ilchester now produce more than 50 blended cheeses in the UK and export to 20 countries internationally. In the UK we supply the major supermarkets, independent stores, wholesalers, food manufacturers, sandwich and catering markets with both pre-packed and deli counter cheese.

At the core of our business are our suppliers who are as passionate about creating quality food and drink as we are. Many of our suppliers are personal friends and have been supplying us for years. We strive to build mutually beneficial relationships and we believe this long term approach will help us deliver future growth for everyone involved with Ilchester Cheese.

As a company who’s essence lies in innovation we know that our supply base must continually evolve with consumer and customer demands. We expect our suppliers to keep up with trends in both technology and food trends to keep us the market leader in our sector. Our supplier’s need to meet the highest standards
for both their products and working conditions for employees and livestock.

Our philosophy is based on quality and being the best at what we do with the need to source products with provenance. Being based in the Southwest of England we are blessed with some of the finest suppliers and where possible we will use local products from traditional sources. When we source our products from new suppliers we try to use suppliers with heritage and a tradition to be proud of.

The majority of our cheese is sourced from Barbers Farmhouse in Ditcheat Somerset just 12 miles away from Ilchester. The Barber family have been farming in Somerset since the early 1800s. Milk from their tenant farm used to be sold locally and cheese was made just to feed the family and farm workers. As time passed and the reputation of the cheese grew, more of the milk was used to make cheese and soon the family were buying milk from nearby farms as well as using their own. Today the business is a modern example of how farming and food manufacturing can be integrated to create products with heritage, tradition and quality within a sustainable agricultural framework.

Innovation has always been at the centre of Ilchester’s success and over the years innovation has become a core belief. We believe that people will always eat cheese but the type of cheese and how its eaten will continually change. Ilchester are perfectly placed to take advantage of changing demographics and food trends.

Our new product development team is passionate about food and is continually scouring the globe for new ideas and inspiration. Ilchester are the best in the business and have the expertise and equipment to create new and exciting cheeses for at least another forty years .Our commitment to our customers is to offer a continuous improvement programme combining the highest quality of products to produce the highest standards of cheese.