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Cheesemaker goes crackers for funding

A NORTHAMPTONSHIRE cheesemaker is celebrating after being awarded funding which will enable the company to treble production of its award-winning wares.

Hamm Tun Fine Foods in Hannington, which produces the likes of Cobbler’s Nibble and Northamptonshire Blue, is set to receive £6k from FEAST (Food Enterprise Advisory Support Team), a project part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund aimed at supporting eligible food and drink manufacturers across the SEMLEP area (covering Northamptonshire) through grants, technical support and business mentoring.

The money will help in purchasing new production equipment which will see the company’s daily output increase from 60kg to 200kg per day and which, as owner Gary Bradshaw explains, could not have come at a better time: “I’ve recently changed my recipes so that my entire range is suitable for vegetarians, so I’m expecting demand to only increase further as it has done consistently since I launched the company three years ago.

“Better still, I was helped every step of the way through the application process so it really couldn’t have been simpler and I’d encourage other businesses to make sure that they benefit from the funding and related support that’s available.”

Further details of the FEAST project, which is worth £7.1 million in total, and which will receive £3.5 million funding from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020, were announced at the latest meeting of the Made In Northamptonshire (MIN) group – a networking body set up by The Mallows Company to help the county’s food and drink producers, retailer and eateries – held at The Red Lion in East Haddon, winner of the Great Service Award in the Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2016/17.

At the meeting MIN members also had chance to put their staffing queries – everything from recruiting to absenteeism, pensions to sick pay – to Senior HR Manager from awards category sponsor Dawn Farms (formerly TMI Foods) in Northampton, Jav Mistry, who was on hand to share her expertise in an informative and engaging presentation, while they also learned about other sector opportunities to strengthen and grow their business.

For more details of FEAST, including registering your business for the free project, or further information about MIN, please contact Anna at The Mallows Company on 01933 664437 or email

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