Quickes continue their run of success

In what has been an incredibly successful year for the Devon based dairy - Quickes has been announced as recipients of this year’s Great Taste Awards much sought after gold stars. Quickes Traditional Hard Goats Cheese collected the highest accolade of three gold stars and the Mature Cheddar received one gold star.

Organised by the Guild of Fine Food, the Great Taste Awards are the acknowledged benchmark for the speciality food and drink sector. The Great Taste logo offers members of the public a trusted and instantly recognisable guarantee of quality.

This year the Awards received 10,000 individual product entries.  A panel of 405 judges reviewed the food and drink entries over 50 judging days that took place between May and July.

Of those 10,000 entries, only 1.53% were awarded three stars. These successful entries go on to be considered for the ‘Top 50 Products’ which will be announced at the Guild of Fine Food’s Golden Forks dinner. This takes place at The Royal Garden Hotel, London during the Speciality & Fine Food Fair trade exhibition which takes place at Olympia, London in September.

Quickes is Britain’s largest naturally matured traditional cheddar maker - selling to wholesalers, the independent market and exporting, mainly to the US and Australia. The 1,500 acre farm has 500 cows grazing outside for 10-11 months of the year; the farm also grows crops to feed the cows, to sell and to support local wildlife in extensive environmental schemes. The business employs 33 people in Newton St Cyres, near Exeter in Devon.

Speaking of the announcement, Mary Quicke MBE comments; “Over the years the Great Taste Awards have had a tremendous impact on the commercial success of speciality food producers. The rigorous judging system ensures that the results are a reliable barometer of excellent flavour and the public put their faith in the decisions that are made. Quickes has had a very exciting year and being awarded three gold stars for our goats cheese is a fantastic achievement. We hope that more people will be encouraged to sample our cheese as a result and help us to build our already loyal following – not just locally but on a national and international level as well.”