Country Kitchen Celebrates 25th Birthday with Rebrand and New Products

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One of Northern Ireland’s best-loved brands is celebrating its milestone 25th anniversary by launching not one, but two innovative new products and a brand-new look, as part of a brand refresh.

County Kitchen, the own-brand of Lurgan-based Avondale Foods, has announced that Mexican-inspired Chipotle Coleslaw, featuring a hint of smoky spices, as well as Tomato, Pepper & Feta Cheese Salad will now be available in Tesco stores across Northern Ireland from today (16th May).

These new, ready-to-eat products will feature Country Kitchen’s new-look packaging.  New listings will also be introduced, such as a single-serve twin-pack of Coleslaw and Potato Salad, as part of the rebrand.

Dawn Cann, Marketing Manager at Avondale Foods said: “Since inception, Country Kitchen has been one of Northern Ireland’s best-loved food brands, consistently delivering a market-leading range of salads and traditional hearty soups for our loyal customers.

“In this, our 25th year, it was important to mark the occasion with something significant, hence our decision to rebrand our packaging. The new design is contemporary, exciting and eye-catching – the perfect complement to our delicious products including the new Chipotle Coleslaw and Tomato, Red Pepper & Feta Cheese Salad.

Caoimhe Mannion, Marketing Manager for Tesco Northern Ireland said: “The new prepared salad range from Country Kitchen responds perfectly to the growing trend for convenience products that deliver a premium luxury experience. Tesco NI has a longstanding and successful relationship with Country Kitchen, it has proven it can consistently deliver an excellent product so we are really excited to have its new prepared salad range in its newly rebranded packaging in Tesco stores across Northern Ireland – we expect it to be very popular with our customers.”

Dawn Cann continued: “This is a very exciting time for the team at Country Kitchen – our new branding and products really reflect our enthusiasm and professionalism in ensuring we bring only the very best products and service to our customers.

“We remain committed to new product innovation and quality and are very excited to be launching these new products which we’ve taken the time to perfect and ensure they meet today’s consumer needs and tastes.

“The Country Kitchen range is now presented in one single tier, meaning our customers only get the best coleslaw.   Our products are easy to spot on the aisle of your favourite supermarket, to take home and enjoy this summer. Whether a seasoned Country Kitchen consumer or looking to try something new, we’re confident our customers will love them!”

Clandeboye Estate signs exclusive £500,000 ALDI deal

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Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt in Northern Ireland, has signed a deal with ALDI worth a potential £500,000.

From this month, Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt, Northern Ireland’s only yoghurt producer, will be supplying ALDI with a range of flavoured Greek Yoghurts created exclusively for the supermarket chain using the milk from the estate’s award-winning herd of Holstein and Jersey cows.

The new yoghurts will be retailed under ALDI’s successful “Specially Selected” line of premium private label products that have been created with the aim of adding a little bit of affordable luxury to the weekly food shop.

Following taste tests to create exclusive flavours, the new 200g yoghurts will be hitting the shelves in ALDI stores across Ireland in May.   Based on Clandeboye’s much loved, authentically strained Greek Style yoghurt, customers will be able to treat themselves this summer to three new varieties, Raspberry and White Chocolate, Mandarin and Lime and Alphonso Mango and Nectarine.

“We are delighted to be joining ALDI’s ‘Specially Selected’ family,” says Bryan Boggs, manager of Clandeboye Estate’s yoghurt business.  “Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt has been stocked in ALDI and performing very well for over a year. It’s a great boost to the business to be identified for ALDI’s own brand premium range which includes products sourced from some of the best specialty food producers across Europe.”

Clandeboye Estate estimates that the ALDI contract could potentially be worth around £500,000 a year with supply extending to ALDI’s 129 stores across Ireland. The financial boost will allow plans to progress to expand the business with the building of new production facility on the estate which not only provides increased capacity but importantly will further the estate’s commitment to improving their environmental footprint by making use of Clandeboye’s Anerobic digester for the energy requirements.

Lady Dufferin and Bryan Boggs, general manager of Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt

“Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt was founded on the desire to add value to the milk from our award winning herd and use it to create a food business that would go some way in sustaining this historic estate for the future.  We have come a long way in a decade and as we continue to grow the business with the support of large trade customers such as ALDI, we will be staying true to our roots and environmental values at the heart of our business.”

Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt is the brainchild of Lady Dufferin, the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava and a member of the Guinness family.  Determined to add value to the high quality milk produced by her award winning herd of pedigree cows and astounded by the fact that yoghurt production had virtually disappeared from Northern Ireland, Lady Dufferin seized the opportunity to develop a boutique yoghurt production business on her country estate.

Clandeboye Estate’s range of Greek style and Natural yoghurts were officially launched in 2008 and have been highly successful in the Northern Ireland market with listings secured in major supermarket chains Sainsbury’s, Asda NI Tesco, Spar, Musgraves and many independent retailers.  The products are also stocked in Fortnum & Mason in UK and Café Sol, Insomnia and Aldi in Ireland.

Clandeboye Estate yoghurts latest awards include:

2016 3 stars in Great Taste Awards: Greek Style
2016 1 star in Great Taste Awards: Natural, Madagascan Vanilla Greek Style and Mango and Granola Snack pots
2016 Gold in The Blas na hEireann Irish Quality Awards: Greek Style Best product in Co. Down: Greek Style
Best Food Product Dairy in The Irish Breakfast Awards, Failte Ireland and Georgina Campbell Irish Food Guides

 

Top awards for Northern Irish Genesis Bakery

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Genesis Crafty, the Northern Irish craft bakery, has been named the Overall Local Supplier of the Year Henderson Wholesale, the region’s leading wholesale food business

Based in Magherafelt, County Derry, Genesis also won the Tomorrow Matters award which recognises sustainable practices.

Genesis Crafty is run by the six baking McErlaine brothers and supples a range of cakes, pancakes, scones and a variety of local breads to Henderson Wholesale, and over 400 Spar, Eurospar and Vivo branded stores in Northern Ireland. 

Other winners at the awards included Armagh’s Daily Bake for the Own Brand Supplier of the Year Award, Around Noon, Newry, County Down who took home the Best Direct to Store Supplier award, and Moy Park, who won the Brand Innovation award.

Highly Commended awards were taken home by K&G McAtamney, Ballymena, County Antrim for Own Brand Supplier of the Year, Irwin’s Bakery in Portadown, County Armagh in the Tomorrow Matters and Best Direct to Store Supplier categories, Hovis, Belfast for Brand Innovation and Milgro, Coleraine, County Derry for Local Supplier of the Year.

Neal Kelly, fresh foods director at Henderson Wholesale, said; “This is the fifth year of the Local Supplier Awards, and the most successful to date. We received a record amount of over 40 entries from 29 of the local producers, farmers and growers who supply to the company and our stores in Northern Ireland.

“We have seen some truly innovative and sustainable practices from our suppliers in the past year, which helps us to continually grow our fresh food offering in store for daily shoppers. The enjoy local range is expanding and reached sales of over £25.5 million last year, and we wouldn’t be able to stock such a high-quality range without these suppliers.

The judges scrutinised the entries across five categories which reflect the workings of Henderson Wholesale’s fresh ambition to always be passionate about local food, local people and local companies.

Henderson Group is a local family business achieving 91st place on the latest 2016 Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 100 league table of the U.K’s private companies.

Henderson Wholesale has been distributing food and grocery-related products to the convenience retail sector for 120 years and is the largest operator of its kind in the country, supplying 422 stores. The group is committed to sourcing local fresh foods from farmers, growers and suppliers, with over 75 per cent of fresh products sourced on the island of Ireland. Operating out of its head office in Mallusk, the Group employs 3,099 employees across Northern Ireland.

Results of the Henderson Wholesale Local Supplier Awards 2017

Own Brand Supplier of the Year

Winner: Daily Bake

Highly Commended: K&G McAtamney Butchers

Tomorrow Matters Award

Winner: Genesis Crafty

Highly Commended: Irwin’s Bakery

Best Direct to Store Supplier

Winner: Around Noon

Highly Commended: Irwin’s Bakery

Brand Innovation

Winner: Moy Park

Highly Commended: Hovis

Local Supplier of the Year

Winner: Genesis Crafty

Highly Commended: Milgro

Finnebrogue Secures another ‘Sizzling’ Deal with Asda

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Downpatrick-based meat processor, Finnebrogue Artisan, has been awarded a new UK-wide contract which will see it supply a range of own label ‘Extra Special’ Light & Lean Sausages to over 350 Asda stores.

Announced at the Balmoral Show, the new contract has a retail value of £2million and extends Finnebrogue’s existing national partnership with Asda from 2014, when it started supplying the entire Extra Special sausage range to the supermarket’s UK stores.

The addition of ‘Light & Lean’ to the 16-strong Extra Special range coincides with the start of the summer season when sausages sales traditionally spike. With almost seven million packs of Asda’s own-label premium  sausages expected to sell over the summer months alone, ‘Light & Lean’ provides a healthier, gluten-free alternative to the popular barbeque staple.

Made from top quality pork sourced from high-welfare farms across Northern Ireland the ‘Light & Lean’ sausages are low in fat, high in protein and contain only 71 kcals.

Paul Geary, Asda Snr Buying Manager, Meat said: “We’re always keen to support Northern Ireland’s agri-food sector and help local food companies grow their business through Asda’s national channels.”

“The Extra Special sausage range supplied by Finnebrogue has been an outstanding success since the contract was first announced at Balmoral in 2014. We’re delighted that our partnership continues to flourish and that we are marking the third anniversary by extending the range to include this premium, healthy option which reflects the ever changing needs of our customers.”

Over the past 12 months alone, the Extra Special range has won a number of prestigious awards including Product of the Year 2017.

Sarah Savage, Finnebrogue’s New Product Development Manager for Asda added: “We are proud to be one of Northern Ireland’s leading artisan food producers and have built our relationship with Asda thanks to our innovative approach, dedication to new product development and consistent quality.”

“Our Extra Special sausages have been a real success story and the addition of Light & Lean offers customers across the UK even more choice from a range they know they can rely on for quality and taste.”

(L-R) Paul Geary, Asda Snr Buying Manager, Meat, Sarah Savage, Finnebrogue’s New Product Development Manager for Asda and Michael McCallion, Asda Senior Buying Manager Northern Ireland and Scotland

Organic Raw Milk, Stoneground Chocolate and Cabrito win at Balmoral Show

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Organic Raw Milk from Weir’s Farm in Tandragee, Co. Armagh, NearyNogs Artisan Chocolate from Flurrybridge in Co. Armagh and Broughgammon Farm, which is based in Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, tickled the taste buds of a panel of expert judges at this year’s Food NI Awards at Balmoral Show.

The awards, organised by Food NI, were presented at the opening day of the show, which features over 100 food and drink producers showcasing their products in the NI Food Pavilion, now one of the most popular attractions at the event.

The judging panel, chaired by Charles Campion, MasterChef judge, and comprising experienced food writers and food stylists Xanthe Clay, Lucas Hollweg and Jeremy Lee, were impressed by the “outstandingly fresh and rich taste” of the organic raw milk from Weir’s farm, a business owned by husband and wife team Deane and Kerrie Weir.

Weir’s Organic Raw Milk was part of the Food Heartland stand arranged by Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon council, and was awarded ‘Best Food and Drink Product’ in the pavilion.

Charles Campion, a food writer for the evening standard, said: “Weir’s Organic Raw Milk was a standout winner in this category. The taste was exceptional. We were also hugely impressed by the couple’s enthusiastic presentation and their friendly interaction with visitors. Being able to sell products professionally is an important skill especially for a smaller producer.”

The Weirs run a 70 acre -organic farm in the Armagh town and source milk from their herd of British Friesian cattle. They sell milk direct from the farm and also run a delivery service to customers. They began selling organic raw milk three years ago.

Kerrie Weir, commenting on the award, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have achieved this recognition in what is our first presentation within the NI Food Pavilion. The comments from the judges about the taste and freshness of our raw milk are brilliant and a marvellous boost for our small business.”

The judges awarded the ‘Best Artisan Product’ to Shane Neary, who owns NearyNogs with wife Dorothy and specialises in producing Northern Ireland’s only handmade bean to bar chocolate at their small processing unit in Flurrybridge. The artisan business sources cocoa beans from single estate growers.

Lucas Hollweg, a food writer for the Times and Sunday Times, presenting the award to Shane Neary, said: “This is an impressive and genuine artisan enterprise that has a great story to tell, some superb chocolate and a tremendous commitment to growing the business steadily to ensure long-term sustainability. This is how artisan chocolate should taste.”

The ‘Best Stand Award’ was won by Broughgammon Farm in Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, a specialist in artisan cabrito and rose veal meats.

Xanthe Clay, Daily Telegraph food writer, giving the award to Charlie Cole, who runs the small Broughgammon Farm with wife, Becky, and other family members, said: “I’ve tasted goat in many parts of the world and Broughgammon ranks among the best. The stand was dynamic and highly informative about cabrito and veal.

“It was great to see how they interacted with visitors, cooking cabrito and veal and explaining the benefits of the meats, especially in terms of taste, to visitors. It’s always good to see food being cooked for sampling. I am sure they made a great many convents to cabrito, a nutritious meat enjoyed in many parts of the world, at Balmoral. They were obvious winners because of the energy of their presentation, their strong branding and, above all, the outstanding flavours of their meats.”

The judges also commended Krazi Baker of Dromore, Co. Down, Lough Neagh Eels, Toomebridge, Co. Antrim, Peppup Sauces, Portaferry, Co. Down and Heatherlea Bakery, Bangor, Co. Down for the quality of their products. The judges were also impressed by the community focus and engagement of Clearer Water, Larne, Co. Antrim.

Sharon Machla, Food NI, added: “It’s tremendously encouraging to see so many smaller businesses recognised in this year’s awards. And it’s significant that two of the winners are from farm-based enterprises, demonstrating the hugely important link between farming and food. There’s tremendous dynamic and energy within the Food Pavilion, which indicates the strength of our most important industry.”

Slow Food Ambassador Paula McIntyre to host ‘Slow Food Lunch’ Event

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Northern Ireland has a unique culinary heritage with indigenous breads, fish from loughs, world class produce and progressive artisans contributing to the agri-food sector in the province.

Slow Food NI‘s aim is to work closely with farming and community groups to raise awareness of the global movement and increase membership. Its focus is to target schools and Further Education colleges directly to encourage young people to join.
It also wishes to raise awareness and funds for the 10,000 Gardens in Africa charity and to address food poverty and food waste issues.

Following on from previous success, Slow Food NI is excited to announce an upcoming special event with Paula McIntyre at the Europa Hotel, Belfast.
Chef, broadcaster and food writer Paula McIntyre, is Northern Ireland Director of Slow Food UK and coordinator of the Slow Food Chef Alliance in Northern Ireland.

‘Slow Food Lunch’ will be hosted in the Piano Restaurant of Belfast’s city centre Europa Hotel on Sunday 21st May at 1pm.
The event will showcase Ulster and Italian ingredients cooked by Paula and the Europa Chefs in association with Pizzolato Wines and Bianca & Mora, London.

Tickets: £60 (includes drink reception and membership to Slow Food NI for the year)
(£45 for Slow Food NI members)

All proceeds will go to Slow Food NI and Slow Food 10,000 Gardens in Africa charities. Please note this is a ticket only event.

Contact Paula McIntyre on paulamcintyre@hotmail.co.uk for tickets.