Comber Early Potatoes have recently gone on sale in local shops on time for the annual festival in the Co. Down town to celebrate one of Northern Ireland’s three EU Protected Geographic Indicator accredited food products. Sam Butler talked to Lewis Cunningham, managing director of Wilson’s Country of Craigavon, one of Ireland’s leading potato packers.

Leading Irish potato processor and packer Wilson’s Country has launched a unique four-strong range of convenience products for time pressed consumers seeking new taste experiences. The innovative range, launched under the Northern Ireland company’s established ‘You Say Potato’ brand, represents a significant diversification into convenience meals, among the most dynamic of food categories.

The company is a significant supplier of Comber Early potatoes and other locally sourced varieties to retailers across Northern Ireland.

Marketing initiatives implemented by Wilson’s Country are steadily changing the way consumers think of and buy the humble potato, our most traditional food. It’s an initiative, according to Lewis Cunningham, managing director of Wilson’s Country, that’s been shaped to offer shoppers, especially younger consumers, a tasty and nutritious alternative to pasta and rice. Greater success in the marketplace also benefits the network of farmers here supplying the company.

“Our objective is to continue with our strategy of sustainable growth through further development of existing markets and exploiting new opportunities for different products in what is a very challenging business environment,” he says. We are continually exploring opportunities to increase sales by attracting younger consumers in particular. They tend to be focused on convenience.

“Investment in new products, infrastructure and marketing initiatives has continued in 2015 and has led to the launch of the new prepared products we hope will result in further growth particularly in Great Britain. We believe the new range gives us unique products for this and other markets,” he adds.

“The new range is a response by us to the growing demand for convenience foods including meal accompaniments. What we have done is to use our longstanding expertise in potato processing to create four new dishes – two for consumers still preferring to use their oven and two for those seeking a quicker microwaveable option that doesn’t compromise on taste.

“We’ve developed flavours that should appeal to many consumers,” he explains. The company has also used focus groups to provide useful feedback. A steam cooking system has been introduced by us to retain the taste and texture of the potatoes.

The new range offers potatoes packs in a stand up pouch with a sturdy handle for convenience. The smaller packs, 400g and 650g, are easier to stand up in a fridge or cupboard and are geared for a meal for two people.

Based at Craigavon in county Armagh, the company has a successful track record in providing potato packs to foodservice and major retailers including Tesco, Asda, The Co-Op and Dunnes Stores. It is one of Northern Ireland’s best known food brands and has a longstanding commitment to new product development for key customers.

The new range is the latest development in the company’s drive to boost potato sales in Northern Ireland and also to expand its share of the market in the Republic of Ireland and especially to grow sales in Great Britain and further afield.

The prospects look good because market research has found that the new products are unique in both Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

The new convenience dishes use only Irish potatoes from the company’s network of 25 farmers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and are steam cooked in the Armagh plant. Before processing and packaging. The range comprises two oven products and two that can be microwaved. They are:

Diced potatoes in a 360g foil tray which can be oven cooked in 15 minutes and is available in a garlic and herb flavour; and

Spicy wedges also in a 360g foil tray for cooking in an oven for 15 minutes. The products are steamed before processing.

The microwave products are designed to be cooked in around three and a half minutes and are supplied in 360g pouches. The two microwave pouches are available in garlic and herb and tomato and basil flavours.

The retail price of all four new products is £1.89. They have a shelf-life of six days. All four new products are gluten free and ideal for vegans. They are also free from additives.

Lewis Cunningham’s command of market data on potato sales, consumer requirements and developing dietary trends throughout Ireland is impressive. His finger is well and truly on the pulse of the market for what used to be a staple product in the daily diet of families throughout the island.

This comprehensive market knowledge has led to Wilson’s Country’s standing with retailers and consumers as among the most innovative food businesses in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. The business is headed by founder and chairman Angus Wilson.

Established in 1987, Wilson’s Country moved into new purpose-built premises in Craigavon in 2005, where it now employs around 80 people.

From 7th-14th October the week long celebration of seafood makes an exciting return! Seafood Week celebrates the amazing fish and seafood on offer in the UK, creating the perfect platform to encourage more people, to eat more fish, more often. Whether it’s promoting seafood in the home, at a café, restaurant, fish and chip shop, or at an event, our campaign will provide all sectors of the industry with the opportunity to get involved.

There is a suite of marketing materials and promotional ideas which will hopefully help you to get involved and generate increased sales of super tasty seafood. In this toolkit (Seafood Week FS April16 Print) you’ll find specific plans and ideas on how you can take part, including information on how to get hold of all the marketing materials you need to make the most of the week – from a local media press release template, written and ready to be sent, to social media ideas, downloadable logos, posters and bunting.

Below is some information to get you started!

My Seafood Week:

To help promote and share what you are doing for Seafood Week click here and login. You will then be able to update your promotions for the week.

Seafood Week Toolkit:

To download and access all co-lateral and resources to help promote this event in your organisation just click here.

Ideas for your business:

For some information on how to get started just click through here.

If you have any questions or require any additional information please email seafoodweek@seafish.co.uk.

 

Derry City and Strabane District Council is set to host its biggest ever culinary showcase during Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink 2016 with the Clipper Race Kitchens promising to cook up a storm in Ebrington Plaza from July 14th-17th.

The four-day flagship family-friendly event taking place as part of the Foyle Maritime Festival programme, is expected to be the second biggest food festival in Northern Ireland this year after the Balmoral Show, attracting an estimated 40,000 visitors to the city.

The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District, Alderman Hilary McClintock said she’s hugely excited that Clipper Race Kitchens will comprise three exciting food zones showcasing the wealth of delicious home-grown local produce on offer in the north west.

Ald. McClintock continued: “Festival-goers who love fantastic local food that is grown here not flown here, will be totally spoiled for choice at Ebrington where we will have two large marquees housing the Clipper Race Kitchen – incorporating the Flavours of the Foyle Seafood Showcase – and the Clipper Race Food Pavilion, as well as the Clipper Race Food Village, all on the plaza just across from the Peace Bridge.”

The Mayor said she’s delighted that the Clipper Race Kitchen will feature the LegenDerry Boulevard of Chefs where chefs from 12 restaurants across the north west will be serving up signature dishes that you can try and buy for around £5.

The Clipper Race Kitchen marquee will be a hive of foodie activity as some of Ireland’s best known celebrity chefs work their culinary magic in the popular Theatre of Food live cookery demonstrations. They’ll be whipping up creative mouth-watering meals using the finest and freshest local ingredients, with everyone getting a bird’s eye view of the sizzling action thanks to the big screens.

And if all that is not enough to whet your appetite and to tickle and tantalise your taste buds, the festival marquee will also incorporate a special Flavours of the Foyle seafood and shellfish showcase featuring Mourne Seafood Bar, Donegal Prime Fish (Skeoge, Derry), fish filleting as well as a Seafood BBQ.

The adjoining second festival marquee will be the Clipper Race Food Pavilion where 40 artisan food producers will be demonstrating and selling a wide range of tasty local produce including award-winning cheese and chutneys, ice-cream and patisserie, including a showcase of ‘Slow Food’ such as Broighter Gold oil and slow cooked breads.

The third zone will be the Clipper Race Food Village where high quality street food which has really taken off here in a big way – exemplified by Derry’s own award-winning Pyke ‘n’ Pommes – will offer the very best dishes from vendors across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland using locally sourced ingredients.

In addition, the four-day festival celebrating all things food related – and which is free to access – will comprise lots of interactive and ‘hands on’ opportunities throughout all zones including fish filleting, cookery demos and talks, sampling and tasting opportunities.

As always there will be a wide range of family-friendly animation guaranteed to entertain little gourmands, including comedy chefs, walkabout fish, talking vegetables and a culinary themed kids zone with arts and crafts as well as kids water boats, jungle playground, cheroplanes and live music, all on the Ebrington site.

Mary Blake, Council’s Tourism Development Officer, said excitement is already building ahead of Clipper Race Kitchens which will be open to the public on Thursday, July 14th, Friday, July 15th, Saturday, July 16th, and Sunday, July 17th, from 12 noon-6pm.

She continued: “Clipper Race Kitchens is the biggest event in our Year of Food calendar as we showcase LegenDerry food and produce from across our Council district and beyond. This is an excellent opportunity to profile the city as a food destination with international appeal, particularly following our success last year as runner-up in Ireland’s Foodie Towns competition, and we have some really exciting celebrity chefs lined up for the event which will create a huge buzz for the city.”

Citing the numerous industry awards bestowed on local restaurants, chefs and Council itself over the past year, Council’s Tourism Officer said: “It is not just us saying it. Our LegenDerry Food Festival was runner-up in the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Awards 2015 and won the Chartered Institute of Marketing Awards 2015.

“We had another 38,000 visitors at the LegenDerry Food Festival in March this year and almost 15,000 people attended the Big Cheese & Beer Expo in April. We are hoping that Clipper Race Kitchens as part of our Foyle Maritime Festival will beat all records.”

For further information on Clipper Race Kitchens, visit www.foylemaritimefestival.com

Article by Michele Shirlow for Farmweek 23/06/2016

Bought my first bag of New Season Comber Early potatoes at the weekend. There’s nothing I enjoy more than boiled Comber potatoes with lashings of our butter and local beef, a delicious dish. Forget pasta and rice. The Comber Early tastes a whole lot better.

We’ll be helping to celebrate the ‘mighty spud’ at the annual potato festival in Comber over the weekend as part of our support a series of initiatives by this important industry to promote Combers and other local potatoes to younger shoppers in particular.

The Comber Early, of course, is one of three food products to have gained EU protected name status – the others being Lough Neagh Eel and the Armagh Bramley Apple. It was tremendously encouraging to see two of our cider processors, Armagh Cider in Craigavon and Kilmegan in Dundrum winning a series of awards in the recent International Cider Challenge. Kilmegan in particular struck gold for its cider.

Here’s hoping for some good weather for what should be another successful local food festival around the square in Comber. The monthly farmers’ market there is certainly developing into one of the best community initiatives during Year of Food and Drink. There’s also been the recent launch of a new monthly market in the splendid setting of the forecourt of Hillsborough Castle

It was immensely encouraging to see talented chef Niall McKenna of the James Street South Group cooking with Comber Earlies at last weekend’s spectacular Taste of London show in Regent’s Park. Niall brought the message about the quality and originality of our food and drink to what is now regarded as the ‘world’s biggest restaurant festival’.

Niall served up brilliant dishes for visitors to his stand using beef and pork belly from Peter Hannan, Glenarm Organic Smoked Salmon, traditional Northern Irish potato bread, Lough Neagh Eels, Bramley apples and Walter Ewing’s smoked scallops with Rathlin Island kelp.

It was the first time that a Northern Ireland restaurant took part in Taste of London.

The company was among 40 restaurants from most parts of London putting on a show for foodies in the park. It would be great to see others following Niall’s enterprise next year. Surprisingly, only one local company, Peppup Sauces from Portaferry, had a stand at Taste of London.

And wouldn’t also be good to have a significant Northern Ireland culinary and product presence at Taste of Dublin.

We’ve certainly got a cadre of brilliant chefs who can more than hold their own with the world’s best and have superb ingredients for outstandingly tasty and creative dishes.

Paul Rankin, Michael Deane, Noel McMeel, Sean Owens and Emmet McCourt have also brought the Northern Ireland food message to important markets for exports and tourism such as the US, parts of Europe and Asia.

But we need to do much more to burnish Northern Ireland’s reputation as a region producing and cooking wonderful food and drink especially for those interested in buying from us and to attract more tourists. Both Taste of London and Taste of Dublin cover the two bases.

Our food and drink companies would certainly benefit from further initiatives to increase consumer awareness about of food and drink, especially branded products, in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, easily our two most important and readily accessible markets for external sales and tourism.

Derry’s Walled City Brewery has launched a new ‘LegenDairy’ themed ‘Derry Milk’ beer to celebrate Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink 2016.

Master Brewer James Huey has hand-crafted a single batch of chocolate stout and blended it with organic cow’s milk to create what is described as a “luscious, velvety beer”.

The beer is a celebration of NI’s Year of Food and Drink June theme of ‘Love Dairy’ and the Walled City Brewery will continue to launch a brand new beer every month based on the individual themes.

Master Brewer and owner James Huey said: “The Year of Food and Drink in 2016 is an extraordinary opportunity to put Northern Ireland on the map as a global destination for everything delicious.

“At the Walled City Brewery we pride ourselves in going against the grain by creating entirely new flavour combinations, and ‘Derry Milk’ is just another in the line of exciting new beers that Northern Ireland and possibly the rest of the world have never heard of!”

Welcoming the exciting announcement, Mary Blake, Tourism Development Officer with Derry City and Strabane District Council, said the news followed the Walled City Brewery’s success in securing ‘Most Promising New Business 2016’at the recent Northern Ireland Tourism Awards held in Derry.

She added: “The launch of their innovative new product is a brilliant example of the Walled City Brewery’s commitment to grasping the opportunities presented by NI Year of Food and Drink 2016. What a great way to celebrate this month’s Love Dairy theme by releasing a new product on a ‘LegenDairy’ theme.”

‘Derry Milk’ will be exclusively available at the Walled City Brewery, Ebrington Square, Derry-Londonderry throughout June 2016.

Photo Credit: James Huey (right), owner of Walled City Brewery, celebrating their new ‘Derry Milk’ stout with staff members Andrew Rough and Cathal Barr.

Mash Direct were thrilled to welcome the Home Secretary Theresa May to their farm along with Mike Nesbitt Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and Philip Smith Ulster Unionist MLA for Strangford. They took the opportunity to show the Home Secretary around their farm and demonstrate how they produce and market their wide range of gluten free products.

The Home Secretary Theresa May was on a one day tour of local businesses in Co Down, Northern Ireland on Tuesday (21st June). Mash Direct were fortunate enough to be amongst the chosen few involved in the visit as the Home Secretary was interested in learning about the success of company both in the UK and export markets and how they grow, steam cook and package all their products.

Martin Hamilton, Founder and Managing Director, Mash Direct, commented, “We were delighted to welcome the Home Secretary Theresa May, Mike Nesbitt and Philip Smith to our farm. We have had a number of recent successes at Mash Direct including being named as one of the top Small and Medium Enterprises of the Year by The Grocer, Winning Best Chilled Food Manufacturer in the Food Awards NI and achieving a number of key UK listings for our products. It is always a pleasure to give a tour around Mash Direct and tell the story of our success.”

This prestigious visit adds to the list of politicians, celebrity chefs and sports stars that have visited Mash Direct, including David Cameron, Jamie Oliver and Rory Best.

 L-R Martin Hamilton (Managing Director, Mash Direct), Theresa May (Home Secretary), Tracy Hamilton (Brand Director, Mash Direct) discussing the growth and success of the company highlighting the importance of local produce.