Pilgrims Choice is a cheese

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...

owned by Irish dairy exporter Ornua (formerly Adams Foods Ltd and the North Downs Dairy), with UK operations based in

Leek, Staffordshire Leek is a market town and civil parish in the county of Staffordshire, England, on the River Churnet. It is situated about north east of Stoke-on-Trent. It is an ancient borough and was granted its royal charter in 1214. It is the administra ...

. Despite an Identification Code of UK LK002, Pilgrims Choice is substantially sourced from Irish-produced cheese. The company packs include Mature Cheddar, Mature Lighter and Extra Mature Cheddar.

History

Pilgrims Choice was founded by David Hardisty, the founder of North Downs Dairy, in 1985, and was bought by the Irish Dairy Board in 1997. The company's brand name comes from the route known as

Pilgrims' Way The Pilgrims' Way (also Pilgrim's Way or Pilgrims Way) is the historical route supposedly taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. This name, of comparatively recent coinage ...

, which Hardisty drove down daily on his way to

Wincanton Wincanton ( or ) is a small town and electoral ward in South Somerset, southwest England. The town lies off the A303 road, a main route between London and South West England, and has some light industry. The town and electoral ward has a populati ...

. The brand Pilgrims Choice was launched onto the retail market in 1999 as a pre-packaged cheese in its trademark black packaging. Pilgrims Choice Farmhouse Vintage Extra Mature then became Britain's fastest growing Protected Designated Origin West Country farmhouse cheddar brand, with sales of more than £20 million by the year 2000. In 2014, Pilgrims Choice partnered with

Britain’s Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially ...

to launch the ‘Make The Pilgrims Choice’ campaign. The campaign gave viewers the chance to vote for contestants that didn't get through the first round of auditions by visiting the company's website and casting their vote. In September 2020, it was announced that Ornua would revamp Pilgrims Choice cheese blocks with a plastic-saving eco-friendly pack format. In July 2022, Pilgrims Choice launched a 10-second TV advertising campaign targeting gastronomes on

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, as well as

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and YouTube. The campaign also included a recipe partnership with the online cooking platform Mob Kitchen. In October 2022, it was announced that Simon Ball was appointed by Ornua as the managing director of Ornua Foods.

Reception

In 2019, Pilgrims Choice was ranked the UK's 4th top cheese brand by

The Grocer ''The Grocer'' is a British magazine devoted to grocery sales, published by William Reed Business Media. It has been published since 1862. The Grocer 33 A feature of the magazine is 'The Grocer 33'. This is a survey of each of the 5 leading s ...

. In 2020, Ornua reported sales of Pilgrims Choice had grown by 25% in the past 52 weeks, outperforming the general category by 10%. In 2022, Pilgrims Choice was ranked the UK’s 2nd top cheddar and Kerrygold and 3rd block butter.

References

External links

Official Website
{{British cheeses English cheeses Food brands of the United Kingdom Wincanton