Gilfresh Produce, based in County Armagh, is set to supply an extensive range of local vegetable lines to all 16 Asda stores across Northern Ireland this year, including over 1,000 tonnes of root crops and 500,000 heads of brassica and salad crops.

Gilfresh Produce a FoodNI member, is one of the biggest vegetable growers and suppliers on the island of Ireland and has been supplying Asda since 2008. The relationship has grown in the past 16 years, and today Gilfresh Produce supplies a range of 21 lines of local vegetables to Asda, including cabbage, carrots and swede throughout the local produce season.

Founders of the business, the Gilpin Family, established Gilfresh Produce in 1965, when Thomas Gilpin started his career growing vegetables in a 4-acre field. Thomas’ son, William Gilpin joined the family business in 1999, and is the current Managing Director. Today, he leads a team of 140 staff based in the company’s Loughgall headquarters.

William Gilpin, managing director at Gilfresh Produce, said :“After a difficult start to the growing season in 2024, with the wet weather meaning crops were delayed going into the ground, we’re very pleased to be harvesting local crop, albeit a few weeks later than planned.

“Gilfresh Produce has supplied Asda for just over 16 years now with locally grown in season vegetables. Asda is a committed supporter of local growers and produce in Northern Ireland and we really value the long-standing relationship we have with them.

Cathy Elliott, Asda’s NI local buying manager, added: “We have been working with Gilfresh for nearly as long as Asda has been in Northern Ireland, and as we’ve expanded to 16 stores, they have continued to grow with us and supply a wider range of veg to stock our shelves.

“It’s important to us to work with companies who not only have a commitment to local farmers, but also a strong commitment to sustainability in their operations, processes and ultimately our supply chain. This means we can provide our customers with fresh produce that has been harvested and packed locally, as well as being mindful of the environment.”

William explained: “We promote a circular economy on site using an anaerobic digester plant and wind turbine to produce our own green energy using waste vegetables. This sustainably powers the site and reduces food waste.

“Working with large retailers such as Asda has allowed us to invest and take steps to reduce our carbon footprint, protecting our natural resources and enabling us to continue to work in harmony with the local habitat.”

Economy Minister, Conor Murphy, has launched a £46m Agri-Food Investment Initiative to support local agri-food and drink processors. 

The Initiative, developed by Invest Northern Ireland, has been designed to help improve the overall competitiveness and productivity of the agri-food and drink processing sector in Northern Ireland.

Minister Murphy said: “Agri-Food processing makes a significant contribution to local communities throughout the region, and especially to rural communities. By targeting support to this sector, this scheme will promote regional balance. The capital investment will help companies adopt greener technologies, and so contribute to our net zero targets. Importantly, the scheme also aims to increase the sector’s productivity.”

The Minister was speaking at an event attended by businesses and stakeholders for the agri-food and drink sector. He also visited drinks processing company Classic Mineral Water in Lurgan. The company has invested heavily in new production equipment resulting in productivity improvements for the business alongside growth in both employment and sales.

Welcoming the Minister to the company’s state-of-the art facility in Lurgan, Liam Duffy, Chief Executive and owner of Classic Mineral Water said: “Investing in your business is essential if you are to ensure continued success. 

“Since taking ownership of Classic Mineral Water I have made multimillion-pound investments in new machinery, process improvements and innovation. As a result, we are the first in Ireland to produce isotonic drinks for the private label market, the business is much more productive, our sales continue to grow and we now employ four-times the number of people we had five years ago.

“Access to support through an initiative like this will significantly help a business like mine continue to make capital investments in new technologies.” 

Joining the Minister on the visit, Kieran Donoghue, CEO Invest Northern Ireland said: “The aim of this new Initiative is to improve the overall competitiveness of Northern Ireland’s agri-food and drink processing sector. To this end, we are particularly seeking projects which are innovative and demonstrate how they will improve the productivity and sustainability of the business.

“The Initiative is now open to applications from all eligible agri-food and drink processors in Northern Ireland, and I encourage businesses in the sector to avail of this significant opportunity to invest for future growth. Classic Mineral Water here in Lurgan is an example of what can be achieved through investment and innovation undertaken in partnership with Invest NI.

“As well as providing efficiency and productivity benefits directly to the business, we also expect investments through this Initiative to have a positive impact on the agri-food supply chain across rural areas.”

Full details on eligibility, the support available and how to apply is available at https://bit.ly/3zVLaW4

American tourists and other international visitors to destinations in the Republic of Ireland such as the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands are now able to enjoy chocolates and fudge handcrafted near Ballymena in Co Antrim.

Artisan Granny Shaw’s Fudge has seen “a significant growth” in exports to the Republic from its participation in a series of food markets and international trade shows in Dublin and other centres over the past year.

The boost in exports has also encouraged the company as it builds on a recent investment in new machinery for the production of boiled sweets for its impressive range handmade confectionery.

Granny Shaw’s Fudge, an award winning manufacturer of a range of original and flavoured fudges, has also expanded its product portfolio to include authentic Victorian confectionery in an investment of around £50,000. Typical Victorian sweets included toffee, liquorice, marzipan, marshmallows, soft favourites such as jelly babies.

“We’re excited by the potential of a new range of flavoured hard sweets in the near future. Our investment in the essential machinery for the sweets has been significant,” explains Glen Houston, the managing director, who runs the artisan enterprise with wife Rhonda.

The complex machinery, sourced from a US manufacturer, has now been installed in the factory in Broughshane, near Ballymena, and is turning out traditional favourites such as clove rock, pear drops and “Yellowman” honeycomb.

Commenting on the growth in exports to the Republic, Glen continues: “We took a strategic decision over a year ago to focus on growing our sales in the Republic as part of a drive to increase awareness of our fudge and chocolates across Northern Ireland.

“This included doing more shows there including Gifted trade show at the RDS in Dublin, the National Ploughing Championships in Laois, and Flavours of Fingal, near Dublin, one of Ireland’s biggest community events. The ploughing championships attracted upwards of 150,000 people and is one of Europe’s biggest outdoor events.

“This campaign helped us to connect with dozens of new stockists, distributors and other potential customers across the Republic.

“As a result of some of the contacts made during the campaign, we now have a generous chocolate and confectionery supply that now goes monthly to the visitor centre at the spectacular Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare and a large white label order of our Crumbly Butter Fudge goes to the picturesque Aran Islands, Inishmore and Inisheer, Co Galway.

“Both are located on the stunning Wild Atlantic Way which attracts thousands of tourists and other visitors every year to the Republic. Almost two million people visited the Wild Atlantic Way last year,” adds Glen.

The marketing drive and investment in growth, Glenn continues, has also “seen a recent increase in supply to Northern Ireland retailers/stockists”.  The small company is now popular at food markets here especially the big Causeway Speciality Food Market held in Coleraine and Junction One in Antrim on a monthly basis.

“The markets are a great way to increase awareness of the business and our wide range of products. We’ve also found that worthwhile business flows from the markets,” he says.

The small company is “fine tuning our offerings” in response to findings from the strategy. “We are looking for more potential stockists. We have recent collaborations, for example, with Christine Marshall of Marshall Beekeepers Honey that’s involved using her award-winning honey to make a range of fantastic confections, from boiled sweets, tablet, fudges and a delicious honey caramel. A new fudge is being produced using Mussenden Sea Salt from another artisan enterprise in Coleraine,” he adds. It also produces a range of creamy sauces for desserts.

Creator of the first genuine fudge factory in Northern Ireland, at Glenarm Estate in Co Antrim, one of Northern Ireland’s most enterprising country estates, in 2012, Glen has continued to develop confectionery products and has invested in retail and in production facilities at Broughshane.

The company’s unique identity and successful fudge recipe came from Rhonda’s grandmother. “We all liked the fudge she made and were also influenced to start Granny Shaw’s by the remarkable growth in artisan foods here over the past decade,” Glen explains. “All our confectionery is handmade using the freshest ingredients as is the case with all our fudge.  In addition to growing sales here, we also receive orders for varieties of our fudge regularly from international customers,” he adds.

Granny Shaw’s has won a UK Great Taste Award for its handmade, hand-cut kettle-churned soft fudge and traditional handmade tablet fudge.

Moy Park, a Food NI member and Northern Ireland’s biggest food company, has won another major award in Great Britain.

The Craigavon company, one of Europe’s most successful chicken and turkey product businesses, has been named Poultry Processor of the Year 2024 in the National Egg & Poultry Awards.

The awards were announced at a prestigious awards ceremony backed by the British Poultry Council (BPC), the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) and the National Farmers Union (NFU), to honour and reflect achievement, excellence and best practice in the British egg and poultry sector, while promoting the industry and providing networking opportunities for sector members.

Another local company, Skea Eggs of Dungannon, Northern Ireland’s biggest producer, was named Egg Packer of the Year. Farmlay Eggs of Armagh was ‘Highly Commended in this category.

Jawbox classic Belfast gin, a multi-award-winning spirit, has won international recognition at one of the industry’s most influential events.

Founded by experienced publican Gerry White in 2016, Jawbox’s Export Strength Gin has been awarded a Master medal at The Gin Masters 2024 – the highest accolade in the world’s most highly respected series of blind-tasting competitions for spirits.

Jawbox is distilled by Echlinville Distillery, a Food NI member, in Kircubbin, Co Down.

Gerry, 65, commenting on the latest award, modestly puts it all down to “the extremely hard work, passion and dedication of every single member of the absolutely amazing Jawbox Gin team”.

The Gin Masters 2024, part of The Global Spirits Masters Competitions (GSMC) is an influential international spirits competition that is blind-judged by some of the most experienced experts in the global industry, including leading distributors, educators and on-trade professionals from across the global spirits trade.

Held every year, the judges are tasked with tasting hundreds of juniper spirits across different price tiers and subcategories. From organic to micro-distillery and ultra‐premium to contemporary, the competition showcases the diversity of the gin category and the high‐quality standards set by producers.

Only the best in class are awarded medals, based on appearance, aroma, palate and overall balance.

 “We are thrilled to see Jawbox Export Strength Gin is continually ranked so highly among brands from all over the world,” adds Gerry.

Distilled at Echlinville and produced in small batches, Jawbox features 11 select botanicals including local Black Mountain heather harvested from the Cavehill overlooking Belfast.

Jawbox, the first gin from Belfast in over a century, takes its name from the huge jawbox sinks once found in homes across the city. Jawbox is described as “a juniper-forward gin with hints of citrus and pairs perfectly with ginger ale.” Jawbox Export Strength has “a punchy flavour that’s perfect for cocktails”.

Wild Oregano from the rugged mountains of Greece is now readily available for pizza makers, in particular, from an artisan company in Newtownards that specialises in authentic Mediterranean foods which have won UK Great Taste and Irish National Food awards.

The oregano, a plant that’s found in mountainous regions of the Mediterranean, is the latest artisan product from PEPPUP Sauces, a business owned and run by husband and wife team Luca and Liz Montorio, that’s developed a range of tasty Italian products include ketchup, pickles, roasted peppers, pasta, pizza sauces and Bolognese sauces.  The company is a Food NI member.

Most of the company’s 20-strong range of Italian influenced products are gluten and fat free, low in salt and sugar, and suitable for vegans.

Luca, who’s originally from Turin, one of Italy’s food hubs, says the oregano launch has been partly influenced by the growth in pizzas here from local producers and the interest of home cooks, many using their own pizza ovens.

“More people than ever before are turning to a traditional Italianpizzas as a tasty meal or snack. Sales of our pasta and pizza sauces are also benefiting from this fast developing trend. There’s also been a significant expansion in pizza providers of the quality and innovation,” he adds. Oegano can also be sprinkled on meats and salads.

Harvested fresh for PEPPUP, by a longstanding business contact in Greece, the plant is said to have been created by the goddess Aphrodite in her garden on Mount Olympus as “a symbol of happiness and joy”.

The Oregano is packaged in sealed bags at source and then shipped quickly to PEPPUP in Northern Ireland, ensuring freshness and intense aroma.

An experienced home cook and qualified nutritionist, Luca develops the unique recipes which are based on his family background.

The couple set up PEPPUP in 2014 and began trading the following year from the family home in Portaferry. It is now baed in nearby Newtownards.