PEPPUP, the Northern Ireland producer of authentic Italian sauces, dips and ketchup, has launched three new products on the back of recent successful growth in sales across Ireland.

The family business is owned and managed by Dr Luca Montorio, a nutritionist originally from Turin, and wife Liz and is now based at Newtownards in county Down.

The company has seen sales in the Republic grow by 10 foldin the past year as a result of a strategic decision to focus resources on family butchery stores, delis and independent grocers throughout the island of Ireland. It is now the market leader in many of these outlets. PEPPUP is a Food NI member company.

The new products just launched expand the company’s existing and successful portfolio. They are an original bolognese and a smooth bolognese, both in 480g jars, and a 330g chilli dip.

“The new products have also been influenced by feedbackfrom retailers and customers. Our new bolognese sauces are a response to those in both Northern Ireland and the Republic seeking original and smoother in addition to our existing basil and chilli bologneses. The Irish market seems to have a preference for original and a smoother bologneses, the latter similar to passata,” he adds.

“I’ve drawn on the very positive feedback from retailers and customers I’ve received during my many marketing trips to existing and potential outlets throughout Ireland. I’ve spent much of my time visiting butchers and smaller grocers in the Republic over the past year and it’s now paying dividends in terms of increasing business. PEPPUP is now the preferred Italian sauce in many butchers,” he adds.

All PEPPUP products feature premium roasted red peppers and tomatoes and are based on original recipes developed by Dr Montorio and influenced by his upbringing in Turin, where his parents still live.

The portfolio includes two ketchups – original and mild chilli, two pasta sauces – original and mild chilli – a Mediterranean cooking sauce – two dips and the four bologneses. Several of the products have won multiple UK Great Taste and Free From awards.

PEPPUP’s bolognese and dips use only natural ingredients, are gluten free, dairy free, fat free, and with no added sugar. They are also unique in not having onion and garlic and so are IBS friendly.

“This gives a fresh taste, free of allergens and preservatives and suitable for vegans, reflecting the strength of ourcommitment to nutritional and tasty food,” Mr Montorio adds. “They reflect our commitment to clean food.”

The company, in addition, has introduced a PEPPUP channel on You Tube with recipe ideas and guidance on how to use its range of Italian products. “The channel is influenced by the growing trend towards cooking at home especially of popular Italian dishes such as lasagne, spaghetti Bolognese and meatballs,” Dr Montorio explains.

The company, in addition, has introduced a PEPPUP channel on You Tube with recipe ideas and guidance on how to use its range of Italian products. “The channel is influenced by the growing trend towards cooking at home especially of popular Italian dishes such as lasagne, spaghetti bolognese and meatballs,” Dr Montorio explains.

PEPPUP was formed by Dr Montorio and wife Liz in 2014. The initial products were ketchup and pasta sauce, which are now on sale in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The company has received assistance from Invest NI towards development of its products and marketing.

 

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North Down businessman Michael Heaslip has completely transformed his business from manufacturing his own brands of healthy snacks to importing and distributing medical grade PPE, helping support essential workers in Northern Ireland.

The owner of Food Stories watched with horror as the extent of the crisis in PPE supplies for the healthcare sector began to unfold in early March. Aware that food manufacturers in Northern Ireland were also desperately looking for essential PPE for their employees, Michael decided to source the supplies.

He found the two major challenges were: sourcing a reputable factory manufacturing quality PPE and getting the products out of China, quickly.

“One of Food Stories’ own brands is manufactured in Asia, so with existing contacts in there, I began researching the market and quickly established a stable supply chain and distribution to bring in Type 1 medical-grade face masks and other items of PPE to Northern Ireland,” he explains.

He continues: “Once a reliable source was found, getting the products out of China quickly, proved to be an even greater task. Instead of shipping product in containers, I found myself navigating the unknown logistics of tracking individual boxes, arranging airfreight in massively reduced numbers of passenger aircraft, and dealing with continually changing international regulations and cargo capacity restrictions.

“However, the result has been a regular supply of face masks and essential PPE to health providers and businesses in Northern Ireland,” he adds. He has now set up a new company – Sia PPE – specifically for these products and is currently holding a rolling stock of 500,000 face masks for immediate delivery.

In just a few short weeks, he has now imported millions of items for healthcare and other essential workers. As many companies prepare to return to the workplace in coming weeks, his supply chain could be one part of the solution to ensuring workplace safety for employees.

For members of the public also struggling to access high quality face masks as lockdown gradually starts to lift, a retail pack has been developed and will be available in Northern Ireland supermarkets by the end of May or can be ordered from the website at www.siappe.co.

Before starting on this new venture, he took action to ensure the supply chain was ethical, responsible. “We engaged Intertek, the worldwide inspection agency to visit the facilities within our supply chain, so everything has been thoroughly checked and quality assured. It was critical to me that the working conditions and quality of the materials we were proposing to bring in were unimpeachable. The face masks we’re supplying are 3-ply, medical-grade and tested to EN 14683:2019. It’s very difficult to source reputable manufacturing partners and the market is confusing. We hope that our regular supply will help companies source quality PPE so they can focus on ‘getting back to business’.

He set up Food Stories in 2014, developing premium snack brands Pink Finch and Cloud Corn and supplying retailers such as Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Tesco and a range of independents, as well as exporting to 13 countries.

A traditional Ulster Fry ‘Breakfast in a Box’ has been created by an enterprising family farm in Northern Ireland as it tackles the cashflow challenges from the current Covid-19 lockdown.

The farm, owned and run by Damian Tumelty and his partner Jackie Gibson, has developed the ‘Breakfast in Box’ for home delivery to or for collection by customers around parts of county Down. It’s the latest in a series of food boxes from the farm, which is based near Downpatrick, and is best known for its prized grass-fed Dexter beef as well as lamb, pork and poultry. The farm is known throughout Northern Ireland for its Wee Cows Big Beef branding.

The new breakfast box features products from the farm which has its own butchery and shop that also sells other artisan foods from Northern Ireland. The box includes the popular ingredients for the much loved Ulster Fry such as bacon, Dexter beef and pork sausages, vegetable roll and free range eggs.

The unique box also includes breakfast products from other local producers including apple juice from Long Meadow Cider in Portadown, county Armagh and tropical granola from Tasty Wee Numbers in Ballynahinch, county Down.

Explaining the thinking behind the launch of the breakfast box, Mr Tumelty says: “The box is aimed at people here who have had to self-isolate because of the virus and subsequent lockdown and have been unable to shop for themselves.

“Most people here love a traditional cooked breakfast. And so we’ve put together this box with all the essential ingredients required for a tasty breakfast they can cook easily at home. We have total control over all the contents and this means that customers can count on these for quality, provenance and traceability,” he adds.

The farm, he explains, had to develop the boxes for home delivery or collection at the Farm Shop because of the lockdown closure of the farmers’ and food marketswhich provided much of the farm’s cashflow. “We had also been developing good business with hotels and high-end restaurants here for our grass-fed Dexter steak and, of course, this disappeared with the lockdown,” Damian continues. “Some of that business is beginning to come back as restaurants are now offering home delivery and call and collect services.

“We decided to start the special boxes for breakfasts and main meals to provide some income to help us with the bills we still have to pay. Farm prices are also under pressure at the moment and this doesn’t help,” he adds.

As well as a range of premium quality Dexter beef products, Castlescreen has expanded to include other meats including pork, lamb and chicken, all readily available in the butchery now a central part of the recently opened farm shop. There’s also honey from hives on the farm. It has also developed specialist products including salami from its own meat.

Mr Tumelty is among a small group of Dexter breeders in Northern Ireland and has won a cluster of prestigious awards for the cattle and meats especially steak.

He currently rears a herd of around 100 Dexter beef and breeding cattle on the sprawling farm which has been in the Tumelty family for over 40 years.

Premium and innovative culinary ingredients and products preferred by chefs in the UK and Republic of Ireland are now available for home cooks from Northern Ireland specialist processors Craic Foods and En Place Foods.

The two companies, which are well-established and successful in foodservice throughout the UK and Ireland, have recently embraced e-commerce and this enables home cooks to enjoy their products in meal preparation.

The new Craic Foods online store offers home cooks – as well as professional chefs – access to novel ingredients such as freeze dried fruit, vegetable powder, black garlic and seaweedincluding flakes and kelp pesto, tapenade and salsa verde.

Craic Foods, which is based in Craigavon, county Armagh, and En Place Foods in Cookstown, county Tyrone are both run by experienced chef Paul Clarke and have won national awards for novel products for restaurants and hotels in particular.

Mr Clarke, commenting on the move into e-commerce, says: “I had always intended on an online presence for Craic Foods but recent events especially the closure of foodservice outlets pushed this up our agenda. Both companies had long had a predominantly foodservice focus.

“The lockdown because of the coronavirus hit us pretty hard, however, just like many of our customers in this sector we have had to find other ways of working. We needed, of course, to provide a revenue stream for Craic Foods and then also offer another sales channel for the other artisan brands we work with,” adds Mr Clarke.

While both businesses were only partly in operation, Mr Clarke said he is continuing to work with start-up companies to bring their ideas to market. “Alongside the product developing and manufacturing facility we offer, we can help them with some initial sales via the new Craic online store and showcase their products to a broader audience,” he continues.

In addition to developing, manufacturing its own brand products such as vinegars, sauces and jams, En Place produces a range of products from other artisan food firms especially in Northern Ireland. These include products from Irish Black Butter, Erne Larder Preserves and Islander Sea Foods.

The small company is an innovation-led business and has won UK Great Taste and Blas na hEireann awards for its original products.

British and Irish Lions, Ireland and Munster star forward CJ Stander has been ‘signed’ by Hellbent, the Northern Ireland producer of South African Boerewors coiled beef sausages, spicy burgers and meatballs, as the company’s first-ever Brand Ambassador.

The appointment of CJ Stander as Brand Ambassador was announced by Louis Ludik, the managing director of Belfast-based Hellbent which has just been listed by Aldi Ireland to supply 142 supermarkets across the Irish Republic. The Aldi business, the company’s first in the Republic, follows a listing in EUROSPAR stores in Northern Ireland.

“We were delighted when such a prominent and respected sportsman on the island of Ireland and the UK agreed to help us to promote our original products especially in the Republic of Ireland,” says Louis, an established and popular player for Ulster Rugby who brought his love of spicy and delicious beef products to Northern Ireland from his homeland in South Africa.

Hellbent uses prime beef from Northern Ireland farms in its coiled sausages, meatballs and burgers.

Louis formed Hellbent with Schalk van der Merwe, another South African rugby star, in 2018. Schalk also played for Ulster and is now the specialist coach and a player with Lurgan Rugby Club.

Louis continues: “CJ grew up on a sheep farm in South Africa and has vast experience of boerewors and the other meat products that we are now making in Northern Ireland and have been marketing extensively here for over the past year.In addition to the Aldi listing, an immensely exciting development for Hellbent, the Henderson Group is selling all our products in EUROSPAR across Northern Ireland.

“Both retail listings represent a massive endorsement from major food retailers in the quality of our products and their market potential. We are now keen to build on these endorsements and believe that our great friend CJ can help us to realise their tremendous potential especially in the Republic, a key target market for us outside Northern Ireland,” adds Louis.

CJ, commenting on the appointment, adds: “It’s a tremendous privilege and a great pleasure to be working with my friends Louis and Schalk in support of their superb quality and deliciously flavoured meats from our homeland in Ireland and, in time, further afield.

“They have created sausages, burgers and meatballs on a par with the very best available in South Africa in terms quality, taste and texture. It would be tremendous to be able to introduce the products in South Africa,” he adds. “In addition, I look forward to working with them on new product ideas from our homeland,” adds CJ.

CJ Stander (30) joined Munster Rugby in 2012 and has since won widespread acclaim for his outstanding performances for the province, Ireland, making his debut in 2016, and then for the British and Irish Lions the following year on a challenging tour of New Zealand. He played in all the test matches against New Zealand.

He was raised on his family’s sheep farm at George in the Western Cape and played rugby there before joining Munster. CJ was also named as Limerick’s inaugural International Ambassador in 2017 and is a hugely respected personality in the city, the province and indeed throughout Ireland.