Preston couple's business success out of cheesy creations

While many businesses are sadly struggling during the lockdown, life is gouda for small Fulwood-based business Crackers About Cheese.

Owner Jacqui Howarth and her husband Derek, a BAe project manager, had only recently launched the business when the coronavirus crisis began, and had to get creative quickly after being left with five fridges full of cheese.

The small Preston cheese shop has been wowing dairy lovers with its range of novelty cheese characters since last year, attracting lots of attention on the Christmas markets with Jacqui’s caerphilly crafted creations - including Santa and Rudolph cheese bombs.

Their designs, using locally sourced products, proved so cheesy on the eyes that they are now exporting orders as far as Cheshire.

The fayre includes novelty characters made from waxed cheese bombs, wedges, cheese boards and designer cheese towers for weddings, parties and corporate events.

The couple, who have two children between them, had a cheese tower instead of a wedding cake when they wed in April 2018, which was so popular it triggered their initial ideas.

Complementary therapist Jacqui suffered a fractured elbow and ribs when she fell off her bike on the Guild Wheel, and needed a less strenuous job while she was recuperating.

Jacqui, 51, joked: “I don’t know where the idea came from, I think it was a few too many gins!”After the wedding we bought some waxed balls of cheese and started messing with them, and from there we started doing Christmas markets, our first in Scorton.

“We wanted to be a little bit different.”

“When the lockdown came in we had to adapt, like a lot of companies, and that’s where social media came in.

We offered a delivery service and people across Preston heard about it. We had repeat orders and now take 100 orders to Cheshire.

“We see the business expanding, and we’re talking to premises about cold room facilities to cope with demand. We can’t do all the markets ourselves so will need part time staff.

“It’s nice to have a positive tale about a business.”