Kilkeel-based Rooney Fish is already taking orders from its overseas customers for this year’s festive season.

While the rest of the world settles into the new year, Kilkeel-based seafood company Rooney Fish is getting ahead of the Christmas 2020 rush and already taking orders from customers including Michelin-star restaurants, five-star hotels and supermarket chains for this year’s festive season.

Established in 1975, the second-generation family business specialises in catching, preparing, farming and processing the finest seafood sustainably sourced from the Irish Sea. Its products include langoustines, crabs, whelks, scampi whole tails, scallops, lobsters and Millbay Oysters which are exclusively available from Rooney Fish.

Andrew Rooney, managing director of Rooney Fish, said:“We pride ourselves on the quality of our seafood, which is what sets us apart and has helped us build a global reputation. We have customers across Europe calling to book Christmas orders in the first week of January – never mind Valentine’s Day or Easter.

“There is growing demand for our products so we’re looking to take our Millbay Oysters to Japan and Singapore. We now need a licence for another oyster farm which will help us employ more staff.

“Selling overseas has always been an integral part of our business as it is crucial to boosting profit, and the support we’ve received from the UK Government has been incredible. I would encourage other businesses in Northern Ireland to consider exporting and find out how the Department for International Trade can help,” he added.

With 67 employees based in its 6,000sq metre high-tech processing plant in Kilkeel, exports to 15 countries across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America account for 99% of the company’s turnover. Orders for next Christmas started rolling in last week from customers in Spain, France and Italy. By February, Rooney Fish expects to receive Christmas orders from South Korea.

Last October, the UK Government’s Department for International Trade provided financial support for Rooney Fish to attend the China Fisheries and Seafood Expo in Shanghai. During the show, the business exhibited its products and met a buyer in Taiwan who ordered 50 tonnes of crab on the same day. Rooney Fish now sells 800 tonnes of crab to China each year and is looking to export its Millbay Oysters to Japan and Singapore in 2020.

Shortcross Gin, Northern Ireland’s original gin, has won business from one of the world’s biggest purchasers of spirits with help from Invest NI

Shortcross, based at Rademon Estate Distillery in Crossgar, county Down, is now supplying gin across Ontario as a result of an agreement with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), the Crown corporation which retails and distributes alcoholic beverages throughout Ontario, Canada’s largest province with over 13 million people. LCBO currently distributes to almost 700 liquor stores. The company is a member of Food NI.

Fiona Boyd Armstrong, managing director of the family-owned and managed Rademon Estate Distillery, commenting on the LCBO agreement, says: “We are delighted to gain the approval for the sell and distribution of our multi-award winning craft gin in such immense global marketplace.

“The agreement is the outcome of extensive discussions and subsequent negotiations with LCBO over the past few years including, most recently, an Invest Ni organised trade mission.It was an exacting process which ended with the endorsement of Shortcross Gin for sale throughout the province.

“As a result of this rigorous process, we are now gearing up to develop what is a marvellous business opportunity for the company in 2020 and beyond,” she adds.

Invest Northern Ireland has supported the development of the Shortcross Gin brand, and helped the company reach a number of international markets.

John Hood, Director of Food & Drink, Invest NI said: “The Shortcross team joined our specialist Irish Whiskey and Irish Gin Trade Mission to Toronto, Canada in March 2019. The programme included meeting with the LCBO buyers, potential distributors and gave important insights into the local Canadian market.

“It is great to see the company now able to add Canada to its export markets.”

Fiona and husband David, the Master Distiller, established Shortcross Gin in 2012 and built a state-of-the-art distillery and visitor on the family estate outside the county Down village of Crossgar.   The unique recipes for the gins have been developed by David Boyd Armstrong.

Shortcross has won a host of international and national awards for the outstanding flavours and quality of its range of gins which also include an innovative Rosie’s Garden Pink Gin.

The innovation-led company creates its gin using fresh water from an artesian stream on the estate and botanicals such wild clover and apples grown there.   These are blended by Mr Boyd Armstrong with juniper, coriander, citrus peels, cinnamon and cassia to create a distinctively refreshing gin.

Shortcross Gin, now Northern Ireland’s leading gin, is exported to over 30 countries including Europe, the Middle East and Australasia.

A single malt whiskey is also being created by Mr Boyd Armstrong and is scheduled for release in the near future.

Established in 1927, LCBO is the chief supplier of alcoholic beverages to bars and restaurants in Ontario, which are generally required by law to purchase their alcoholic products through the organisation, which is based in Toronto, the provincial capital and Canada largest city with a population of almost 5.5 million.

The hugely successful RARE BREED – A Farming Year returns to our screens next Thursday 9th January at 8.30pm, and it is all change again with new families, new farms and businesses, and new challenges, with some familiar faces thrown in!

Rare Breed is the ground-breaking year-in-the-life observational documentary series charting the reality of farming in 21st century Northern Ireland.  In the eighth season of this series we follow ten families steeped in farming and the industry, on a range of farms (dairy to beef to pig to sheep) across the six counties (from the mists of Fermanagh to the Belfast hills to the world-famous north Antrim coast).

Filmed in all weathers, this series follows the families from a variety of farms across Northern Ireland over a 12 month period. We follow the producers of cattle, sheep, bees, llamas and this series, we also meet a vet, and a contracting family who both play vital roles in keeping the agri-food industry going.

In the first episode we meet 23 year old Jack Smyth from Newtownstewart, who farms with his parents and partner Emma.  The family is well-known in the farming world for producing top quality cattle. In January they have their hands full looking after their pedigree and commercial flocks too.

The McGovern family is back. Sean and his four daughters are hoping for a good year at their farm near Clogher in Tyrone. Like thousands of other farmers, their January is spent getting all the jobs done that don’t need good weather. While they work at erecting boundary fencing, they look forward to the coming months.

Near Antrim town, the McConnell family come home after work and school to care for their collection of animals, including goats and llamas. Dad Mark is enthusiastically helped out by daughters Caroline and Olivia, who are proving more and more helpful as they get older.

Near Newtownards in Down, January is an exciting month for beekeepers Valentine and Chris Hodges – they get to say hello to their bees as they open their hives after the Christmas break. But there’s also serious work to be done in ensuring they keep a deadly virus at bay.

Other famers in the series include a pig farmer from Crossgar, a farm vet from Ballyclare, and brothers from Coleraine who are in the contracting business.

Terry Brennan, Head of News and Programmes at UTV said,“Rare Breed – A Farming Year has become a firmfavourite amongst UTV viewers who look forward to the return of the agricultural series each year in our New Year schedule. One again, each of the 12 episodes take us through the year, and show the realities of modern farming and gives the viewer a real insight into the lives of the people who carry on this vital tradition and industry. I’m sure the series will entertain, educate and delight in equal measure.”

The series is produced for UTV by local independent production company Crawford McCann Television. Kelda Crawford-McCann, Managing Director of the company said: “We are delighted with the continued popularity of Rare Breed.  Many of us are just a generation or two away from the land. In fact, no one lives more than a dozen miles from the farming industry. Yet, despite this close relationship most of us are unaware of the realities of life on the land. The 12 episodes totally encapsulate the daily sacrifice made by the people that farm and live in the countryside.”

UTV’s Mark McFadden will narrate the series. Sponsored by Moy Park, Rare Breed – A Farming Yearstarts on Thursday 9th January at 8.30pm on UTV.

White’s Oats, Northern Ireland’s award winning and market leading porridge and oat cereal brand, has announce its Title Sponsorship with Team Joe Barr for 2020.

Following a record breaking year in which 60-year-old World Ultra Cyclist Joe Barr was crowned winner of the 2019 World Cup for his age category (60-69); the World’s Ultra Cycling Association most prestigious award, Joe Barr will undertake his most ambitious season yet in 2020.

White’s Oats and Team Joe Barr will activate the sponsorship under a campaign message of ‘reaching further’ as together they endeavour to bring the world ofendurance cycling to cyclists and non-cyclists and inspire others to reach further in their own everyday lines.

Joe will undertake five physically and mentally gruelling races on a global stage to compete for the most coveted title of all – ‘Overall World Cup Winner of Endurance Cycling. The year will also see Joe compete for an historic third ever win for Race around Ireland; a race local man Joe holds dear.

Danielle Mc Bride, brand manager of White’s Oats, says: “Joe and his team have had an amazing year, putting Irish cycling on the map globally and we were honoured to be a part of his journey in 2019. Team Joe Barr’s commitment to excellence, performance and success are values that White’s emulates- ourselves a local company passionate and dedicated to growing and milling award winning porridge oats of the highest quality and we couldn’t think of a better sponsorship partner for 2020.

‘’It’s set to be a thrilling year of performance cycling and as sponsor and Team Joe Barr nutrition partner we very much look forward to the challenge of keeping Joe fuelled with our range of porridge oats and oat cereals to reach further in 2020.’’

Jillian Mooney, Performance Nutritionist at Team Joe Barr adds: ‘’We are thrilled to have White’s Oats on board as Title Sponsor for what is sure to be Joe’s biggest undertaking to date. In order to achieve world class performance, building nutritional resilience is Key and for Team Joe Barr that means quality nutrition from natural real foods. White’s Oats has been producing multi-award winning porridge oats for over 178 years and is an excellent fit as a trusted and quality nutrition partner that will help Team Joe Barr go the distance.’’

Carol Banahan, the founder of Carol’s Stock Market in Derry, has been recognised in a UK award for enterprise.

Mrs Banahan, the developer of a range of natural bone broths and gravies, was named runner-up in the Northern Ireland category of the prestigious National Business Women’s Awards 2019.

The category in the UK awards celebrates business women operating in Northern Ireland and was open to business owners, leaders and inspirational business women who have achieved accomplishments of significance over the past 12 months. Successful finalists were required to show qualities of vision, innovation, entrepreneurial drive, leadership and to demonstrate their commitment to gender diversity.

The National Business Women’s Awards are made up of 21 categories that allow any successful business in the UK to enter these prestigious awards. All entries are judged by up to four of a national panel of judges. The pinnacle of the awards is the Grand Awards Celebration, in Wembley later in the year.

Mrs Banahan, commenting on the recognition, says: “I am delighted to have reached the shortlist for the final stage and to have achieved this national recognition which should help as I seek to grow sales especially in Great Britain. It’s immensely encouraging.”

Mrs Banahan recently announced a business link up with chef Paula McIntyre to develop new products for launch later in the year.

Based at Derry’s Skeoge Industrial Park, the small company, a Food NI and a Slow Food NI member, has developed a range of natural products for home cooks in particular.

Originally from Dublin, Mrs Banahan returned to Ireland in 2014 after a successful career in investment banking in Canada. A keen cook, Mrs Banahan set up her food production business with help of the Foodovation centre at the North West Regional College in Derry.

Finnebrogue Artisan, a Food NI member based inDownpatrick, won a national supply deal with Asda to produce 10 special Christmas lines, which will be available in its 578 UK-wide stores.

Six of the 10 products have been created especially for this Christmas, including a range of vegan products – stuffing balls, cocktail sausages and a vegan Wellington centre piece.

Other new products for this year include pork & red onion cocktail sausages, pork, sage & onion balls and the BBC Good Food & Good Housekeeping award-winning pigs in blankets festive feast stuffing centre piece.

Due to shopper demand, Asda has brought back four lines produced last year by Finnebrogue such as pork, sage & onion stuffing, pork cocktail sausages, sausage meat and bacon & chestnut stuffing.

The deal builds on Asda and Finnebrogue’s existing relationship, which has seen the family business supply sausages to the retailer since 2014.

John Cowen, Finnebrogue’s account manager for Asda, said: “We’re pleased to grow our long-standing relationship with Asda through the development of products for this year’s extra special Christmas range.

“We pride ourselves on innovation and are confident customers will love these new festive products and flavours, which cater to everyone at the Christmas table.”

Asda’s NI regional buying manager Emma Swan added: “We work alongside suppliers to create innovative, affordable, delicious and high-quality products, and this year’s Extra Special Christmas accompaniments from Finnebrogue are no exception.”