Going large in Lancashire

Lancashire Farm Dairies is a family business. It began in 1984 as Pakeeza Dairies in Rochdale, run by Ghulam Zouq, the current managing director Azhar Zouq’s father.

Today, it has moved into yogurt drinks and is riding the wave of the interest in Greek yogurts, and has grown into a £25 million (€27.6m) annual turnover business. However, the issues surrounding Brexit affect even this most British of businesses, despite its milk supply being local, Zouq notes. “We’re being affected by Brexit with our packaging, as our packages come from Europe, and the crude oil prices are going up again, which also affects plastic prices,” he says. “This is a quite volatile time, with an upcoming shortage of milk, coupled with Brexit, and the market is down within the commodities sector. Right now, dairy milk is a lot cheaper than water.” Jack Morrison, brand manager for Lancashire Dairies, says the firm has a solution for these issues – added value. “We are championing natural yogurt, which is up by 10 per cent year on year. It is reaching 18 per cent growth over the traditional yogurts. The amount of UK farms has fallen from 100,000 to 10,000 over the years, so there are fewer small farms but the ones remaining are more efficient. There is constant pressure on commodities, but added value products are expanding and the range continues to grow.”

Zouq agrees, “Our sub-category of natural yogurt is doing well, and the hype around protein is now moving over from the US. But just adding protein isn’t enough – the product has to taste good as well.”

 Awards

This taste has resulted in awards, most recently this summer. The dairy collected 17 in total, with nine awards being given at July’s Great Yorkshire Show, and another eight being bestowed at the International Cheese Awards at Nantwich. The soured cream product alone collected a total of four awards, including Supreme Champion Dairy Product and Best Chilled Dairy Product at Yorkshire. 

Other products performing well were Lancashire Farm’s Greek Style Yogurt and Mango Yogurt, with both taking gold at Yorkshire and a silver at Nantwich. 

Zouq notes, “The summer’s country shows offer tough competition from some really major brands as well as small gourmet products, so to be taking home 17 awards this year really demonstrates the quality and growth of our brand.” 

In addition to yogurt and soured cream products, Lancashire Farm also won plaudits for its cream and lassi products under the Pakeeza brand. “It always helps to have awards – a lot of effort goes into it, and it reinforces the brand with retailers as well as consumers,” Zouq says. 

Morrison concurs, noting, “The awards are the final seal of approval and validation. Retailers are looking for those more and more. What is also very important is our technical team, who are testing every single day.”

Zouq also says that with retailers and customers alike, “We have to rationalise why we exist and why we do what we do – otherwise we get lost in the category.”

 Lassis and Greek yogurt

To that end, Lancashire’s Pakeeza lassi range is adding value drinking yogurts. “We source the mangos from India,” Zouq says. “In the UK, the other yogurt companies source mangos from South America. This is the real deal, with a 55 per cent fruit. The flavours include masala chai, coconut, vanilla strawberry and pomegranate.”

Morrison notes that there is a lot of interest in this ascending category. “There is a massive drive to dairy drinks and a lot of interest in that area. We have refreshed and rebranded the range, and listed in Sainsburys and Asda,” he says. “£1.59 (€1.76) is a nice price point and we definitely see added value by contributing our strong skill set in yogurt to the line.”

Another bright spot for Lancashire is its Greek yogurt line, Zouq says. “Our Greek yogurt line has moved from being the ninth to our second best-selling range, and that is because it has a health benefit. People are using the 10 per cent fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream or crème fraiche in recipes and on dishes.” Price points range from 50p and £2 (€0.55-2.21) for pack sizes that range from 150g to 1kg for the Lancashire Farm range, and it is available in major supermarkets throughout the UK. 

Morrison ends, “The outlook is strong and positive growth reaffirms why we’re here and what we’re doing. It’s a tough business, but we’ve got the formula to get it right.” 

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