Food NI and Broughgammon Farm..

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Food NI have played a massive part in helping Broughgammon get to its feet.

Broughgammon is a forward thinking family run farm with a core driver of sustainability. With this in mind it set about highlighting growing agricultural wastes in a bid to improve global food security. In doing so Broughgammon Farm has established a unique market specialising in artisan products such as Cabrito (Kid-Goat), Free Range Rose Veal,  Seasonal Wild Game and Hand Harvested Irish Seaweeds!

Here we would like to explain our story and the role that Food NI have played:

Food NI helps Broughgammon Start-up.

Being a small family run farm it was bound to be a steep learning curve to establish a route to market and finding a clientele who loved food as much as us! However with the help of Food NI Broughgammon Farm didn’t even struggle. Pointing us in the right direction they assisted with advertising, events and even some recipe ideas!

Market day at Queen’s – Northern Ireland’s finest foods showcased

Sarah Campbell from FoodNI, Charlie Cole from Broughgammon Farm and Chris Elliott, Director of Queens University’s Institute for Global Food Security, show off some of the home-grown products that were on offer at the FoodNI Artisan Market at Queen’s.

 

Food NI helps Broughgammon find new Markets.

Food NI was a already established threshold for Broughgammon Farm to use to launch itself into the untapped (Northern-Irish) world of Cabrito! Without it we can picture a slow and arduous journey to getting to where we are today, without a doubt Food NI has been a great assistance.

Food NI not only has many one off events around Northern Ireland but is now also getting more involved with permanent markets and pop-up catering, and if they aren’t their diverse range of members are! Through Food NI Broughgammon has been able to market itself alongside other local, artisan traders. It has allowed for the business to boom towards greater success stories!

 

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Street Food Free Range Rose Veal Kid Goat Cabrito Seasonal Game Venison Rabbits Pidgeon Pheasant

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Balmoral Show 2014, Broughgammon Farm Food NI

Food NI helps Broughgammon Market Research.

Food NI hosts a number of events nationwide, and beyond. Allowing Broughgammon Farm to engage with everyone directly, enabling us to be very dynamic.  Without this direct consumer/producer relationship we would be far slower in picking up trends and responding to ur customers need.

We should also mention that the copious amounts of high quality chefs associated with Food NI‘s Taste of Ulster has allowed us to broaden our pallets for various tasty recipes for you all!

 

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hardeep singh kohli and Broughgammon Farm Food NI

 

Food NI helps Broughgammon make friends!

Food NI has not only helped market Broughgammon, but their diverse range of clientele and traders has been a invaluable source of contacts for a start up business. Broughgammon has always said networking and advertising in Ireland & Northern Ireland is not about SEO management and TV presence, but word of mouth. For some reason the Irish in general love to natter, a good old chit chat! To us this is perfect, we like nothing more than telling our story, teaching others what we know and how to avoid the steep learning curves, and undoubtedly Food NI is one of these not-so-secret secrets!

 

Photo by Aaron McCracken/Harrisons 07778373486

The Build up to the Balmoral Show with Broughgammon Farm, Royal Ulster Agricultural Society, Irwins Bakery and Food NI

 

Boughgammon Farm is happy to call everyone in Food NI its friends, we love Good Food NI.

 

DALE FARM ARE BIG CHEESES AT AWARDS

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Dale Farm has picked up an impressive 17 awards at the International Cheese Awards at Nantwich.

They won three gold, two silver and two bronze awards for their cheddars. They also won a gold, a silver and a bronze for their recently-acquired Fivemiletown speciality cheeses, including a gold for Ballyblue.

This was no mean feat as Nantwich is regarded as one of the most competitive cheese competitions in the world.

Dale Farm owns the Dromona, Fivemiletown and Loseley ranges of cheese.

Cheers- Hilden Beer Festival Toasts 30 Years!

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THE Hilden Beer and Music Festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a line-up that reflects all that is great in terms of craft beers and ciders, gourmet food and a huge range of live musical acts.

Now firmly established after three decades as one of the top attractions on the Northern Ireland festival scene this year’s event, which runs between August 22 to 24th will be jam-packed with quality on all fronts.

The importance of the Festival as an integral part on the local tourism and leisure calendar has been underlined this year by significant sponsorship support from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Lisburn City Council. There has also been an increased level of sponsorship from the local private sector.

Hilden Brewery is Ireland’s longest established independent producer of internationally recognised award winning craft beers.

The Brewery was established in 1981 with the first festival taking place in 1984.

The festival, during the difficult years of the 1980’s was viewed as a pioneering enterprise, one that generated support from both locals and from further afield.

Seamus Scullion, the founder of Hilden Brewery said the festival recipe was straightforward.

“We were able to deliver a tremendous atmosphere, one in which our visitors could leave behind them all the tensions and worries of that time outside the gates of Hilden House,” he said.

Three decades on the annual festival in the spectacular grounds of historic Hilden House has developed from hosting just a few hundred people to an event that now attracts thousands.

The 30th anniversary weekend has been designed to bring an extra dimension to showcasing everything from authentic craft beers and ciders from across the UK and Ireland to the very best in terms of locally sourced food products.

That focus on excellence will be further underpinned by the launch this year of both a Gourmet Garden and a “Fine Dining at the Festival” concept in Hilden’s award winning Tap Room Restaurant.

And with every musical taste from Rock, Bluegrass and Indie to Traditional, Soul and Acoustic being catered for on two stages the Hilden Beer and Music Festival has all the ingredients to make a spectacular contribution to the positive promotion of Northern Ireland PLC.

Hilden Brewery’s Owen Scullion explained that the huge growth in the popularity of the craft beer and cider sector was a platform for jobs and exports.

“It’s obvious that the general public want quality and real flavour when they decide to buy from the increasingly diverse range of beers that are now on sale.

“That’s why being able to access at the Hilden Festival the very best in beer that is available in the UK and Ireland ensures that we have increasing numbers of visitors year on year.

“Our own range of award winning beers being built into the Fine Dining at the Festival menu in the Tap Room restaurant.

The same attention to detail has been provided in striking the right musical balance explained Festival organizer Rory Maguire.

“Just like good beer there has to be a range of tastes catered for. The line-up of acts this year in music terms is the finest we have ever compiled.

“It includes Bap Kennedy, Rackhouse Pilfer, Malojian, Anthony Toner, Kaz Hawkins, Farriers, Best Boy Grip, Raised on Rock Indigo Fury and Tony Villiers and is guaranteed to satisfy every music genre.”

With the added bonus of a Family Fun Day linked to a range of children’s activities on the Sunday the Hilden Festival is set to further enhance its reputation as a must visit event.

Access to the venue is available via the rail link to Hilden Halt station, bus or on foot along the Lagan towpath.

The Brewery is located just two minutes walk from Hilden Halt train station In partnership with NIR, the festival is offering a £2 reduction on ticket prices for those visitors arriving before 4 pm and in receipt of a valid train ticket.

Tickets are available to buy directly from Hilden Brewery, Molly’s Yard, Visit Belfast or the Tourist Information Centres in Lisburn and Hillsborough.

 

*Issued by Baxter PR on behalf of Hilden Brewery

Vote Now! Support Titanic Belfast’s Top Travel Award Nomination

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TITANIC Belfast has been nominated for the Best UK Leisure Attraction award in the 2014 British Travel Awards.

The visitor attraction, located in Belfast’s historic shipyards where Titanic was built more than 100 years ago, is the only Northern Ireland nominee included in this year’s shortlisting.

Titanic Belfast will compete with last year’s winner Eden Project (Cornwall), The Scotch Whiskey Experience, and LEGOLAND Windsor Resort.

Titanic Belfast CEO Tim Husbands MBE said: “It’s a big honour for Titanic Belfast to be nominated for this prestigious travel award which is accredited by the industry experts.

“It is also a huge boost to Belfast and Northern Ireland that just two years after Titanic Belfast opened we have a visitor attraction that can compete with the elite in the UK.

“We would encourage everyone to support this nomination. It’s a simple online process – so show your pride in Titanic Belfast and cast your vote.”

Previous winners of the Best UK Leisure Attraction award include the London Eye and the Eden Project.

Titanic Belfast was Northern Ireland’s first-ever Northern Ireland Tourist Board 5-star accredited attraction and is the second-most popular paid-for visitor attraction in Ireland, second only to the Guinness Store House in Dublin.

It has welcomed more than 1.7 million visitors since opening on March 31, 2012, and has hosted major events such as MTV Sounds, BBC Proms in the Park, the Giro d’Italia Big Start and will host the Titanic Showdown Frampton and Martinez World Title boxing match on 6th September.

Endorsed by celebrities such as TITANIC movie director James Cameron, Titanic discoverer Dr Robert Ballard and Her Majesty The Queen, Titanic Belfast is proving that is has enduring local and  worldwide appeal and that it can compete with the best in the industry.

The winners of British Travel Awards are determined by the public via an online voting platform. To help Titanic Belfast bring the award back to Northern Ireland you can cast your vote now on https://britishtravelawards.com/vote_form.php or via the official British Travel Awards website www.britishtravelawards.com

Invitation to Merchant & Maker Collective Concession Store – Opening Soon in Belfast

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This is an invitation for companies to become part of the Merchant & Maker Collective!

The store will open in September 2014, 20 Donegall Place, Belfast.

There are spaces available from a price of less than £10 per day for local startup. Other terms will apply to retailers who need prime retail space.

There are many benefits of being part of a collective community of local retailers – prime location, shared footfall and costs!

For more information, please email merchantandmakercollective@gmail.com or telephone 07718 385155.

 

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Hannan Meats Needs Your Vote!

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The Guild of Fine Foods had some of their tasting carried out this year in Northern Ireland for the 1st time and there was a great buzz in the food industry. Hannan Meats  were lucky enough to win  Supreme Champion 2 years ago and the Golden Fork for Northern Ireland for the past 2 years. Last year they broke all records for total number of stars awarded to a producer, most ever 3 star foods, 7 in total all for beef, breaking the previous record by a company who earned 3 number 3 star foods (only time that has been done), with 5 of their beef cuts being named in the top 50 foods in the United Kingdom and Ireland with their Glenarm Shorthorn Beef Rib coming 2nd overall.

This year, Hannan’s have been shortlisted in a category called Very Important Producers, the details of which I have listed below- taken from the Hannan Meats / Meat Merchant Facebook site.

“The Great Taste Awards have joined forces with Woman & Home and Feel Good Food to celebrate their shared passion for the rise of the small business (as well as fine food and drink). They want your help to choose which of our Very Important Producers should win our Favourite Local Producer Award.

The Woman & Home editorial team have shortlisted 6 producers and it’s now up to you to vote for your favourite and who is deemed the most deserving of the accolade. By voting, you could be in with a chance of winning a Great Taste hamper packed with award-winning foods.
Please click on link below and vote for Hannans”

https://www.demographix.com/surveys/V6RF-XHDX/ZW7MY2Y6/

There are 6 companies nominated, though Hannan Meats are the only one from Northern Ireland (in fact the only one from Ireland).  Once nominated, it’s all down to the public vote! So we need your help, simply click on the link and choose ‘Hannan Meats- Peter Hannan’ Let’s get behind this great local producer and help produce from Northern Ireland get the recognition it deserves!