Rodda’s has announced a move into cottage cheese with a £6m investment into a state-of-the-art facility at its Scorrier site.
The Cornish clotted cream giant said the project was entering the final commissioning phase and will involve specialist cottage cheese manufacturing equipment installed alongside the business’ existing operations.
It will create up to 20 new skilled roles as the site ramps up to full production capability of 4,000 tonnes of cottage cheese per year.
“As a fifth-generation Cornish dairy business, we’re proud to be investing in a new manufacturing capability in Scorrier and in skilled jobs for local people,” said Nicholas Rodda, managing director of Rodda’s. “It’s a business-led investment that also supports our long-term ambition to run a more efficient manufacturing business here in Cornwall, with our journey increasingly guided by circular economy principles.”
Aiming to capitalise on the growing demand for cottage cheese, the site, which will begin production in the summer, will be one of a small number of dedicated cottage cheese manufacturing facilities in the UK.
Rodda’s would make cottage cheese at scale for leading UK retailers and build on its reputation for high-quality Cornish dairy products, it said.
“Cottage cheese is one of the fastest-growing dairy categories in the UK, and this facility allows us to respond to that demand while getting more value from every litre of milk we buy from our farming families,” added Rodda.
The company handles 61 million litres of milk per year, only 7% of which goes into its flagship clotted cream with skimmed milk largely sold back into the commodity market.
Rodda’s said that by manufacturing cottage cheese on site it would be able to use a greater share of surplus skimmed milk in high-quality product SKUs.
Rodda added: “This more efficient use of our milk intake will not only support farmgate returns, but also provide more predictable demand for farming families in the Rodda’s supply chain, and strengthen domestic food production resilience.”
The project will introduce new processes and automation technology to the Scorrier site, building on recent investments in advanced production machinery across the business to improve efficiency, consistency and technical capability.
Rodda’s will also upskill existing colleagues and recruit new team members to operate the factory.
The investment is part-funded with £500,000 from the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, allocated by Cornwall Council via the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth Programme.
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