Handcrafted fudge from three Belfast sisters is Simply Better for top Irish grocer
Three talented sisters in east Belfast are hand making fudge which Ireland’s biggest retailer reckons is Simply Better.
Multi-award-winning Melting Pot gourmet fudge from sisters Dorothy Bittle, Jenny Lowry and Cathy Johnston, owners of Blackthorn Foods at Ballymacarrett, has just been listed by leading Irish grocer Dunnes Stores, which has an impressive reputation for premium food and drink.
The quality conscious retailer has placed a significant order for traditional butter fudge, salted caramel and vanilla flavours developed by the enterprising trio.
The order, Melting Pot’s biggest to date, will see the fudge an integral part of the top retailer’s premium Simply Better range in more than 100 stores in the Republic and its five stores in Northern Ireland.
“We’re absolutely delighted to be working with Dunnes on our fudge for its premium range,” says Jenny Lowry. “It’s a marvellous opportunity and endorsement for our products by the prestigious retailer and offers us tremendous scope to market our fudge throughout the island of Ireland. The Republic, in particular, is a target market for us. So, winning business with Dunnes Stores is exciting and a volume breakthrough for us there,” she adds.
A winner of UK Great Taste and Blas na hEireann awards, Melting Pot fudge is also available in Great Britain and in export markets. The company is a Food NI member.
The sisters set up Blackthorn Foods in 2004, their second successful small business together. They previously established and sold a popular enterprise specialising in prepared salads.
“We work well as a team, with each of us having different strengths,” says Dorothy. “When we started the fudge business we all had young children and working together gave us the flexibility to work the hours that suited each of us best. We also loved working together.
They had loved making fudge with their father as children and subequently decided to develop this as their second business together. The sisters continue to hand craft fudge using traditional techniques and their father’s original recipe,” adds Cathy.
