Tourism NI is delighted to open registrations for a specially developed Food and Drink Experience Development workshop at three locations across NI. These 1 day workshops are aimed at businesses who want to create or further develop unique Food and Drink tourism experiences, for visitors to Northern Ireland. The programme is designed to support industry to: Understand our Giant Opportunity surrounding Food and Drink experiences in Northern Ireland. Develop saleable ‘Giant Taste’ Food and Drink experiences. Collaborate to enhance the attractiveness of Northern Ireland as a world class Food and Drink destination. Dates and Locations This workshop will be delivered from 9.30am – 4pm on the following dates and locations: Wednesday 25th March, Corick House Hotel and Spa, Clogher Thursday 26th March, Orange Tree House, Greyabbey Thursday 2nd April, Beech Hill Country House, Derry~Londonderry Please select the session which best suits you by clicking ‘find out more’ below and following the registration instructions. Each session will cover: Opportunities around local food and drink and how to deliver an authentic experience to visitors. Motivations and expectations of visitors with regards to food and drink tourism. ‘Saleable’ experiences and how ‘buyability’ can be improved. Best practice examples, both at home and international. Insights from other destinations as to how they communicate their food and drink stories. Opportunities for collaboration and creation of food and drink experiences. Who should attend? Individuals within tourism and hospitality, wishing to enhance or create Food and Drink focused visitor experiences. Food and Drink businesses that are seeking to develop and collaborate within the tourism sector. Find Out More HERE

 

 

Multi-award winning Irish Black Butter has strengthened its market positions in Scotland and England as a result of new retail deals there. The artisan producer of a savoury sauce, listed by the UK Guild of Fine Food in last year’s Great Taste Awards as one of the top products, has lined up from its participation at the recent Scotland Speciality Food Show in Glasgow. Alastair Bell, founder and managing director of Irish Black Butter, the small artisan company he established in 2017, describes the deals as “encouraging green shoots of activity.” The new deals include retailers at Loch Lomond and the Isle of Skye “In addition. I am also seeing benefits from being listed with Craic Foods on the Artisan Food Club in the shape of new business in Lancashire,” Mr Bell continues. “We are now steadily developing a network of delis, independent retailers and cafes using our products which include peanut butter spread, a prize winner in the Scotland Speciality Show. “The new business is the outcome of hard work in Britain and our commitment to taking part on food shows across the country with Invest NI and Food NI,” he adds. It will also be presenting its products at the UK Guild of Fine Food’s Fine Food North food show in Harrogate next month.

Captain Jack’s Fish and Chip Shop in Portaferry, Co Down has taken the top gong at the Northern Ireland Fish and Chip Shop Awards. After winning the Best Fish and Chip Shop in Co Down it went on to win the Best overall in Northern Ireland at a ceremony at the Europa Hotel in Belfast.

Portaferry is one of the biggest fishing villages in Northern Ireland, so owners James and Jacqueline Higginson don’t have to go far for their catch which comes from the neighbouring village of Portavogie.

“Our biggest sellers would be cod and prawns. We make our scampi fresh in-house every day and we get through about twenty pounds of prawns a week which is a lot of scampi” says James.

“We couldn’t have done it without our amazing crew and customers, so thank you to them and the Awards organisers” said James.

www.captain-jacks.com

 

Bakery secures new listings with Asda 

Magherafelt based bakery, Genesis, has secured two new product listings, with the arrival of its Iced and Coconut Fingers to Asda stores across Northern Ireland.

The deal builds upon Asda and Genesis’ existing relationship, which has seen the bakery supply products to the retailer since 2010.

JP Lyttle, Commercial Director for Genesis explains,

“The Iced Fingers 4pk and Coconut Fingers 4pk, whilst still the much-loved traditional products they have always been – have been updated following market research, which showed a moister bread with a softer texture was what most consumers wanted.”

The redeveloped Genesis iced finger has an improved recipe which creates a softer baked finger, compared against the current UK market offering.

JP continued, “We are delighted to continue our relationship with Asda with the arrival of these two new products.

“Our lines are still produced by hand, which sets them apart from many similar products on bakery shelves – and our iced and coconut fingers are no different, with each one dipped and finished by one of our skilled bakers.

“We redeveloped these products last year and these new listings with Asda give us the perfect opportunity to showcase our innovation to shoppers across Northern Ireland.”

Emma Swan, Asda’s Buying Manager for NI Local added,

“At Asda we pride ourselves on bringing our customers the best quality products at great prices – and our work with Genesis is no different.

“We are delighted to add to our Genesis range with the two new product lines of much-loved Coconut Fingers and Iced Fingers – as well as supporting a local supplier that has been in business since 1968. We hope our customers enjoy these new and improved traditional Northern Irish treats!

Ewing’s Seafoods in Belfast, the leading Northern Ireland fish and seafood retailer, has gained the highest global standard for quality food, processing and safety for consumers.

The family business, which has been processing and selling seafood to other retailers as well as leading hotels and restaurants and directly to shoppers, on the Shankill Road for over a century has just been awarded for the sixth consecutive year  the British Retail Consortium (BRC) hugely important double A star rating, its highest certificate for a food business.

“We are thrilled to have again gained this very significant certification, the highest ever for a fish business in Northern Ireland supplying directly to food service,” says commercial director Crawford Ewing. “BRC prescribes quality, safety and operational criteria to ensure that manufacturers fulfil their legal obligations and provide protection for the end consumer. It was awarded to us following the most rigorous inspection by an experienced panel of experts.

“It means all our customers in both retail and food service can now count on Ewing’s for supreme quality fish and seafood processed to the highest globally rated hygiene and safety standards.

“We are the first fish and seafood business in our sector to achieve this certification. It will be enormously beneficial as we continue to grow our business,” adds Mr Ewing.

Ewing’s now supplies major retailers such as Sainsbury’s and top chefs in over 300 restaurants with a range of fresh and processed seafood especially its multi-award winning smoked salmon for which it has won a series of UK Great Taste Awards. A smoked cod loin also gained three gold stars for outstanding taste and quality in the Great Taste Awards.

The company recently completed a new smokery at its Belfast plant for curing fresh and organic fish especially its salmon and cod. It has been smoking fish since its establishment in 1911.

The delicate process involves a unique cure created by the company. Fish is smoked slowly over oak and beech wood and the processing takes around a week. The overall investment also included a purpose-designed high care packaging facility and an extensive additional freezer.

It sources fish and other seafood from local trawlers in Kilkeel, Co Down, Northern Ireland’s main seafood hub, as well as from Portavogie and organic salmon from Glenarm.

BRC was founded in 1996 by retailers who wanted to harmonise food safety standards across the supply chain. It has developed a family of standards referred to as BRC certification.

It’s a jam packed episode this week for Rare Breed fans, with five of our families keeping us up-to-date with their busy lives.   It’s August in the next episode of UTV’s Rare Breed – A Farming Year and we travel the length and breadth of Northern Ireland getting an insight into what’s keeping our folks busy at this time of year.

We’re off first to the McGovern’s farm near Clogher in Tyrone. Orlagh is celebrating a great set of ‘A’-Level results as well as her 19th birthday!  The family then head out to the Jason McGovern Memorial Tractor Run.  This is the fifth year of the event which all the family supports as well as the local community. Over 200 tractors turn up for this year’s event. Three of the girls are driving tractors on the day – pointing out it’s not much different to driving a car, you just need to be more aware of the surroundings.

Next, we head to Cloughmills Co Antrim, whereWallace Gregg’s new milking parlour is proving a big hit with him and his herd alike. The parlour was over tenyears in the planning with anxious times waiting for planning permission as well as a sizeable investment. He can now milk 24 cows in ten minutes when it took half an hour in the old parlour.  His young son James is proving a dab had with the new technology.

Farm vet Diane Beattie is doing a surgical shift at Ballyclare Animal Hospital, and taking a break from farm work.  She gets gowned up to neuter a boxer dog and while she operates she talks about how neutering dogs can help calm them down, and also prevent certain cancers.

In Lisnaskea in Fermanagh, Stephen Maguire is battling bad weather and reassessing the future of his beef herd.  He’s separating six month old male and female calves, and discusses the pros and cons ofdiversifying into dairy, poultry or pork.  He weighs and vaccinates the calves to cut the risk of pneumonia, until the heavy rain stops the work for a while.

Finally, it’s back to outside Newtownards to Valentine and Chris Hodges. The bees have to come out of the frames before they extract the very first honey of the year.  The Hodges have invested in a new spinning machine to make the process easier but results in Chris throwing himself across it to keep it on the ground!  The bees too have suffered as a result of the heavy August rain and has hampered honey production.

UTV’s Mark McFadden narrates the series, sponsored by Moy Park.   Rare Breed – A Farming Year continues on Thursday 27th February at 8.30pm on UTV.