A British cheese maker has sold its business to a bigger rival to regain access to customers in the European Union after Brexit left it with an estimated £600,000 black hole in lost EU sales.
Simon Spurrell, who made headlines when he highlighted prohibitive export costs following the UK’s exit from the single market, will remain chief executive of the Macclesfield-based Cheshire Cheese Company and retain a stake in the business.
Its new owner, family-run north-west England producer Joseph Heler Cheese, has maintained a presence in the EU as a result of its larger operations and distribution center in the Netherlands, which Spurrell hopes will return to make supply to European customers viable.
Spurrell said he was delighted to be back on the continent after a two-year absence, but still can’t believe how the government ripped up small businesses like his with its decision to go for a hard Brexit.
“The sad thing is that small businesses like ours can’t get access to the EU,” he said. “Selling the company is a great solution… it secures the future of the company with a historic cheesemaker.
“But I’m still very let down and bitterly disappointed that I’ve had so many conversations with the Department for International Trade and government ministers and nothing happens.
“They are powerless because of their Brexit policy. They are so anti-European they won’t even talk about working out a better deal. Getting access to the single market must be the first step.”
Spurrell claims that after his campaign in the press last year to highlight his case, he was told by numerous people that Boris Johnson had referred to him as “that bloody cheese man”.
He was advised by government departments to seek new business in “emerging markets”, a lawyer said was laughable given the huge market on the UK’s doorstep.
Spurrell founded the company in 2010 selling truckloads of wax-wrapped cheese and has won numerous awards for 15 artisan varieties, including cheddar, cheshire and royal blue.
It grew by around 30% a year and in 2019 had decided to invest £1m in a warehouse in Macclesfield to fulfill orders in Europe for long-standing favorites such as Irish whiskey and cheddar from stem ginger, gold winner at the International Cheese Awards.
But when Brexit export rules came into effect, he was hit with vet certificate charges of up to £180 on retail orders to EU consumers, even for those buying personal gift packs worth 30 £, making his business unviable overnight.
It lost £240,000 in wholesale and consumer business in Europe in 2021, the first year of Brexit trading, and was looking at another £350,000 hold back this year.
And while increased domestic demand during the pandemic cushioned the losses, he could not see a route back into the single market as a small business.
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Spurrell said the alliance with Joseph Heler, a much bigger concern, offered strategic means of dealing with the costly trade barriers of Brexit.
“If you’re big enough, you can mitigate the increased costs because the paperwork cost for one pallet of cheese can be spread over 100 pallets. It will also benefit all EU customers because they can get a local delivery fee,” added.
He said the deal, which was carried out for an undisclosed sum, was also great news for his staff. All head office, production and warehouse staff will be retained, while an additional 14 full-time and part-time jobs will be created.
“We were very worried about this Christmas. We didn’t know what was going to happen and my main thought was for all the guys here with me. Now they are all taken care of with this fantastic company we have joined… it gives our team some security going forward.”
George Heler, Group Managing Director of Joseph Heler, said: “We are delighted to welcome Cheshire Cheese Company…Together, we are confident we can extend their reach across the UK and Europe.”
Countless consumers and businesses have been hit by the additional costs of Brexit since 2020, with additional delivery costs sometimes making sales and purchases from Europe prohibitively expensive.
A recent analysis of trade statistics by the Institute for Economic and Social Research shows that UK trade with the EU was 16% lower than if Brexit had not happened.