As part of the Meet the Maker food sessions at Top Drawer trade show, I enjoyed doing a live interview with the brilliant Ruth Holbrook, head of wholesale at the well-known London cheese purveyors, Paxton & Whitfield.

This was part of its live line-up area called RetailFest, that hosted a mix of inspirational talks on female entrepreneurs and their businesses, through to practical sessions interspersed with bite-sized business lessons.

Ruth and I talked about topics including:

• How to inspire customer loyalty
• How to enter the wholesale market
• The challenges and opportunities of working in the world of cheese retail, including: manufacturing, finances, finding clients, expanding your team, and quality control
• Expansion and growth of the brand
• Food trends and trends around flavour, packaging, ‘local’ and ‘artisan’
• The UK cheese revolution