The Pride of Northern Irelands Butter & Cheese 

Dromona is so proud of its unique local heritage and unrivalled quality that they’ve wrapped it all up in a fresh new look designed to tell the brand stories.

The new look will herald on pack what makes Dromona the most local, best quality and most delicious butter and cheese on the market.

Speaking about the reasons behind the rebrand, Sharon Campbell, Senior Brand Manager said

“Provenance has never been more important to consumers. We want to know the story behind our truly local brands, their ingredients and how they are made. So we have set out to simply share our brand truths, namely that Dromona has been only ever made in Northern Ireland since 1958, that our butter is made at our Creamery in Cullybackey and our cheese is made at our Dairy in Cookstown and both are crafted with care and tradition from the freshest, local Northern Irish milk. In short, Dromona is made here for people who live here and it does not get anymore local than that.”

Dromona cheese was delighted to pick up three accolades at the National Virtual Cheese Awards on 7^th May 2021. 

Dromona Mild Cheddar claimed 1^st place in the Creamery Mild Cheddar class with judges describing it as ‘An excellent mild cheddar, very balanced with a nice rounded finish and a perfect level of flavour’ 

In the Irish Regional Cheese class, Dromona Extra Mature cheddar claimed 1^st place with judges complimenting its rich, rounded flavour and Dromona mature Cheddar hot on its heels claiming 2^nd place

Team Dromona takes great pride in winning such awards for our cheddar which is genuinely only ever made in Northern Ireland. The awards coincide nicely with our new look cheese packaging which celebrates our great local hero

Three Food NI member companies have been shortlisted in the prestigious annual Grocer Gold Awards.

The three companies in the running for the highly influential awards run by the magazine that’s regarded as the single most important in retailing throughout the UK and Ireland are:-

Henderson Retail, Newtownabbey in the Independent Retail Chain of the Year

The Henderson Group is Northern Ireland’s biggest retail and wholesale food supplier. It is the franchise holder of EUROSPAR, SPAR and VIVO food stores.

Mash Direct, Comber in SME Brand of the Year

Mash Direct is now a major innovator and supplier of vegetable and convenience meals. It is a family business based on a family farm in Co Down. The company supplies supermarkets and other retailers across the UK, Ireland, other parts of Europe, the US and Middle East.

Moo to You, Belfast Startup of the Year.

Moo to You is a food delivery service launched by StreamvaleOpen Farm Dundonald in 2020 during the pandemic to enable people shielding at home to have access to locally sourced food. The mall business has developed into a successful service covering Northern Ireland.

The Grocer Gold Awards 2021 will be the biggest programme ever. The enhanced lineup of categoriessees more emphasis given to products and suppliers, with new awards for alcoholic drinks brands, household goods, personal care and petfood, as well as the return of Own-label and Branded Supplier of the Year competition. 

In total there are 34 awards to be won, in a lineup that aims to capture the full and diverse contribution that the grocery retail, wholesale and supply sector has made since the outbreak of the pandemic, said The Grocer’s editor, Adam Leyland. 

“No-one can be in any doubt of the value of the grocery sector to this country since April 2020 in particular. The effort has been heroic, with an extraordinary and enterprising response accompanied by some stunning performances across the sector, from the smallest community stores, to multinational fmcg giants. 

“The Gold Awards has always celebrated the industry’s greatest accomplishments. In 2021 it’s fitting that there will be awards than ever, so the celebrations can be the biggest and best ever.”

Successful Newry entrepreneur Michael McKeown is starting to reap the export benefits from a major marketing campaign in Europe for Matt D’Arcy Irish Whiskey, the historic brand he revived in the city in 2019. 

The small company, which has already won international recognition for the quality and outstanding taste of its single malt and blended whiskeys, has recently achieved a substantial business breakthrough in Germany.

A Food NI member, the ambitious company, which successfully revived the historic Matt D’Arcy Irish Whiskey brand – originally launched in 1817 – has just shipped a significant consignment of two blended products to a specialist whiskey distributor nearHamburg.

The order – D’Arcy’s biggest export success to date – follows another important agreement last month with a premium whiskey distributor in France, its first European sales. In addition, the company is also lining up distributors in the US and Canada.

Michael, a passionate Newry resident who has written extensively about the history of the area and especially its whiskey heritage, brought the business, which had closed in 1918, back to life a century later. 

Commenting on the first exports, Michael says: “These distribution deals are a tremendous boost for our whiskeys so early in the development of the revived business and our initial portfolio of products. 

“They are major milestones for us on our exciting business journey. We are immensely encouraged by the positive feedback from the new distributors about our whiskeys and look forward to supporting them in selling the products and to growing the business with them and other distributors we’ve identified,” he adds.

The deals are the first in Europe for the iconic D’Arcy’s Irish Whiskey in over a century and are the outcome of a marketing drive launched by the distillery at the end of last year. A distribution deal has also been agreed recently in Britain.

The new deals are for two of D’Arcy’s blended Irish whiskeys –the 4-year-old and the award-winning 10-year-old.

In addition to winning acclaim for its 10-year-old at major international awards, the company’s super-premium 17-year-old single malt was named Best Irish Whiskey at the influential San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2020. A new 18-year old super premium malt is in the pipeline.

The 17-year-old single malt rum cask finish was also acclaimed at the Las Vegas International Whiskey Competition and the 10-year-old blended port cask finished whiskey picked up gold and silver medals at these awards too.

The export agreements came from direct approaches to potential distributors in Europe pinpointed by its extensive market research last year. “We then contacted them and sent samples for them to experience,” Michael explains. “We followed up quickly to discuss and several agreements followed from premium whiskey specialists in Europe,” he adds.

The reintroduction of the historic Newry whiskeys had also resulted in business with hundreds of bars and off-licences outlets throughout the island of Ireland. 

The company aims to re-establish a working distillery on the original Matt D’Arcy site on Monaghan Street in the heart of Newry. The £8 million project will also include a visitor’s centre, Victorian bar and restaurant. Construction tenders are expected to be issued soon. The project will provide an attractive cross-border tourism destination at the heart of Newry.

Matt D’Arcy’s is the latest local whiskey to join Northern Ireland’s remarkable success story in distilling whiskey, gin, poitin and rum. There’s been huge international interest especially in Irish Whiskey over the past two decades particularly in the US and Canada; now the fastest growing brown spirit there. Locally distilled whiskey is now on sale in more than 30 global markets. 

While Old Bushmills in Co Antrim, which is in expansion mode, remains the outstanding industry leader, other brands such as Dunville, Kircubbin; The Sexton, Bushmills; The Quiet Man, Derry; Hinch, Ballynahinch; Two Stacks, Belfast; Mourne Dew, Warrenpoint; and Killowen, Rostrevor are developing an international profile and, more importantly, global sales. In addition, Shortcross in Crossgar, a multi-award winning leader in gin, is soon to launch a new premium malt whiskey. And there are plans to develop another craft distillery in Bushmills. Dram in a Can, the world’s first canned whiskey, was created here by Two Stacks.

D’Arcy’s export breakthrough also comes as arrangements have been finalised to celebrate the remarkable achievements of the spirit in third Belfast Whiskey Week from Friday 23^rd July toSaturday 31^st July. Ireland’s largest whiskey festival has been organised by Belfast businessman Paul Kane “to reclaim the city’s whiskey heritage, celebrate its distilling history as well as look forward to the exciting innovations and growth within the region”. 

Following Covid guidelines and restrictions, this year’s festival will provide limited in person access to a range of tasting events including a gala dinner featuring nine local whiskies at the Europa Hotel.

Northern Ireland snacking brand Forest Feast, a Food NI member, has launched a new range of 60 percent Cocoa Dark Chocolate Dipped Fruit at Waitrose.

The launch comes by Forest Feast, which is based at Craigavon in county Armagh, at a time when more consumers are looking for healthier snacking options.

The new Forest Feast range is vegan-friendly and gluten-free, and made with real chunks of sustainably sourced fruits. There are three Dark Chocolate Dipped Fruit variants – Sour Cherries, Mango, and Mountain Figs.

Bronagh Clarke, Forest Feast’s marketing director, says: “We have seen chocolate dipped fruit gain huge traction in the US and so it’s only a matter of time before it lands here in the UK in a big way – home-made options are already popping up all over Instagram and Pinterest.”

She adds: “The trajectory of healthier snacking options has been on the rise for a while, which has seen huge innovation in the category – but nothing like this. 

“We’re really excited to see this range land in stores. As the only 100 percent vegan and gluten-free option out there in dipped chocolate fruit, we’re going to really deliver for shoppers and hopefully in turn grow the category too.”

Forest Feast’s Dark Chocolate Dipped Fruit range is launching into Waitrose with an RRP of £3.50.

Ke Nako Biltong, the North’s Specialist in South African influenced cured meats, has won three major awards in the prestigious British Charcuterie Awards 2021.

The artisan business, a Food NI member, based on an organic farm near Ballyclare in county Antrim, won a gold award in its category and was named as Best in Class for Snacking Charcuterie for its unique “Pain in the Hole” Biltong, a spicy collaboration with Belfast’s Blackfire Hot Sauce.  Ke Nakoalso gained a silver medal for its original biltong.

Alanagh van Standen, who founded the business with husband Ilse, an experienced butcher, in 2012, commenting on thelatest awards, says: “This is absolutely fantastic news for us. We always knew that our biltong would marry well together with Blackfire’s unique sauce.

“To say that we are delighted would be an understatement. We are blown away by these results,” she adds.

The British Charcuterie Awards is the primary competition for the charcuterie and cured meats industry in the United Kingdom. The annual awards are judged by a panel of food experts and are designed to promote the industry in the UK among shoppers and chefs.

Winning a medal demonstrates the quality, integrity and high standards of that charcuterie product to traders, chefs as well as consumers.

Ilse and Alanagh cut, dry-cure and produce the tasty and spicy beef snacks, sausages and other cured meats on Ballylaggan Organic Farm, using locally sourced premium meats. 

The company also produces South African favourites such as Droewors and Droewors Bites.