Farm Week 23/11/23
Top chef celebrates 30 years in successful food business
I’ve had the privilege and great pleasure of enjoying many fine meals created by Yellow Door, by both Simon and Andrew Dougan, both wonderful chefs and tremendous supporters of local artisans. Jilly Dougan is also a great champion of the local food and drink industry, respected for her pioneering work to promote the agri-food industry in schools here.
It’s hard to believe that Yellow Door recently celebrated 30 years of culinary excellence. Time really does fly!
The Yellow Door first opened its doors in 1993 in a small restaurant in Gilford, Co. Down that set a new standard in the local hospitality industry, a restaurant driven by the commitment of Simon to creative meals that were superb taste experiences.
Led by the talents dedicated efforts of Simon and his cousin, Andrew Dougan, Yellow Door has grown successfully over the years as a true family endeavour, expanding their footprint with various hospitality enterprises in Portadown and Belfast, including a stand-alone wholesale bakery supplying fresh and innovative breads and patisserie daily across Ireland’s hospitality sector.
For many years the Yellow Door catered for members of the Royal family and visiting dignitaries from across the world at Hillsborough Castle and other venues throughout Ireland and beyond. The company also nourishes the Ulster Rugby team on a daily basis and have been crafting memorable experiences at some of Northern Ireland’s grandest events and weddings. Many corporate organisations regularly turn to Simon, Andrew and their teams for memorable food.
Congratulations to the Yellow Door for all that has been achieved so far. Here’s to the next 30 years!
Saluting the achievements of the local food and drink industry gives me tremendous satisfaction. Particularly because there’s so much good news coming from our companies. It’s one of the most important Food NI roles to showcase the achievements of food and drink here.
Among recent success stories from Food NI members is the remarkable business growth of Karri Kitchen in Portadown, a creator and producer of an eight-strong range of excellent South East Asia meals.
Owned by Chris and Shera McAloran, Karri Kitchen has just been listed by the Henderson Group, another Food NI member, to supply its vast network of SPAR, EUROSPAR and VIVOEXTRA stores. This will strengthen the position of this most enterprising business especially in Northern Ireland. Karri Kitchen is a tremendous success story in our developing ready-meals category. It already supplies LIDL and Musgrave Group stores.
We’ve also seen Green Fingers Family in Larne, a producer of handcrafted granolas and energy balls winning significant business in the Republic of Ireland with major distributors like ODAIOS in Dublin and deals with top retailers like Donnybrook Fair and Avoca.
Owned by Andrea and Zsolt Bohar, both originally from Hungary and now loving life and business in Co Antrim, Green Fingers Family is becoming among our most innovative enterprises and one that’s focused on sustainability and preserving the environment though a sharp focus on eo-packaging.
Another ambitious and successful local family business is Melting Pot Fudge from east Belfast which has just been listed by Dunnes Stores for its premium Simply Better range.
Driven by three remarkable sisters – Dorothy Bittles, Jenny Lowry and Cathy Johnston, Melting Pot has created an impressive reputation in confectionery and now supplies its fudge, including gluten-free varieties throughout the UK and further afield. The deal with Dunnes, its biggest business to date, will enhance its position in the Republic through more than 100 stores operated by Ireland’s biggest retailer.
Berties Bakes in Magherafelt is also now supplying Tesco with a range of superb foods.
Shortcross in Crossgar, the first developer here of a local gin in over a century, has formed an innovative company, Irish Bonding Company, to expand sales of its successful Irish whiskey.
Two Stacks in Newry has won business with Tesco for its original whiskey and an award- winning and highly innovative Irish Double Cream Liquour, a winner of double golds in the World Liquour Awards – a great Christmas treat!
Another member to win business with Tesco is Symphonia Gin in Pomeroy, another highly original and delicious drink that is produced by sustainable processes.
As well as a great deal of hard work by all of these companies, credit also has to go a whole network focused on supporting the food and drink industry. For example, DAERA, for supporting initiatives that support the development of these businesses’ such as the Food Pavilion at Balmoral Show, to InvestNI for their excellent work on securing buyers and training businesses on how to present to buyers, and to councils for encouraging start up food and drink businesses.
Hearty congratulations to all the above companies on their outstanding achievements.
