Farm Week – Michele Shirlow 13/01/24
It’s always a great pleasure for me to see local farm shops and delis recognised for their outstanding contribution to the food and drink industry and especially their support for artisan and smaller food and soft drink producers here. In fact, I would argue that Northern Ireland needs more of them.
While the network of supermarkets and convenience stores makes a huge contribution to Northern Ireland’s biggest and most important manufacturing industry, many smaller food producers are never likely to be listed by the supermarkets, either because they operate in a specialist area or because of the price point of their product.
I certainly appreciate greatly the support the supermarkets continue to provide to producers here especially in terms of the introductions they have provided – and continue to offer – to shoppers in Britain and, indeed, further afield. It is encouraging to see operators such as Tesco invest in specialist buying teams focused on local sourcing.
Smaller producers also benefit enormously from the expert advice provided readily in areas such as product quality, packaging and marketing from farm shop and deli owners.
Many companies have been helped by owners and staff of smaller stores to take steps that have helped them attract the interest of supermarkets and C-stores.
Farm shops and delis, a developing locally focused network, offer something quite different in terms of products, knowledge and advice to shoppers. Many smaller companies have also begun their retail journey with these stores. Artisan and smaller food enterprises simply couldn’t do without the support of these businesses.
The tremendous support for the industry provided by four local food stores has been recognised in shortlisting in the prestigious Farm Shop and Deli Retailer Awards 2024 in Britain that is organised by the hugely influential Grocer magazine, one of the most important ‘voices’ in Europe for food retailing and processing. The awards are showcase how smaller grocers are meeting the rigorous challenges from the supermarkets.
In the running for the awards, the winners of which will be announced at the influential Farm Shop and Deli Trade Show in early March: are Coleman’s Farm Shop and Nursery at Templepatrick, Co Antrim; McKee’s Country Store, located just outside Holywood, Co Down; Millar Meats and Food Store, Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh; and High Street Harvest in Holywood, also Co Down.
The awards, covered fully in the opposite page, are highly respected in the industry for playing an important role in supporting, and celebrating, the UK’s independent, specialist retail market.
I am also delighted to say that we’ve a track record in the awards. The top award was won last year by Cunningham’s Butchers, Food Store and Steak House in Kilkeel, the first time the award has come to Northern Ireland.
And Millar Meats has gained the Butcher of the Year title in the past. Indeed, the butchery-led enterprise has earned a series of major awards.
The awards celebrate specialist retailers and recognises their achievements in the independent sector which has had to cope with the coronavirus pandemic before the cost-of-living crisis.
And congratulations are also due to three local delis and specialist food shops listed recently as winners in the Slow Food Awards 2023 for their work for consumers. They were Indie Fude, which has delis in Belfast and Comber; Arcadia Deli and Ewing’s Fishmongers, both based in Belfast. All three are Food NI members.
Two of our members were also listed as producers to watch by the influential Artisan Food Club in Britain, a distributor of original foods to hundreds of farm shops and delis across Britain. They are: Scott’s Crispy Onions and Whoosh Asian Foods, both from Coleraine. Congratulations to them on this significant recognition.
