Ten Irish food and drink companies will join the first FoodService Academy, a new programme run by Bord Bia and Musgrave MarketPlace from today. The FoodService Academy seeks to help small Irish food and drink companies develop their business in the foodservice market (commonly referred to as “out of home food market”). The programme also aims to help the companies achieve growth within Musgrave MarketPlace’s foodservice business, which works with over 6,000 customers each week ranging from hotels and restaurants to pubs and nursing homes.
Blanco Nino, Europe’s first producer of authentic corn tortillas and Nobó, the dairy free ice-cream company, have already been set up as suppliers in advance of the programme starting today. Other companies that will benefit from the programme include Tipperary Kitchen, a family run artisan bakery and Secret Recipe, the only producer of halal and gluten free meals to the foodservice industry in Ireland and the UK as well as other bakery, seafood, pork and beverage producers.
According to Maureen Gahan, Bord Bia’s Foodservice Specialist, “Bord Bia is delighted to work with Musgrave MarketPlace for the first time on the inaugural FoodService Academy, looking to grow the sales of small businesses in the market. The foodservice market is delivering real growth and value for Irish food and drink companies, as is evidenced in our recent industry report. The ‘out of home’ market is now worth €6.37bn and this is forecasted to grow to almost €6.9bn by 2018 so this is an area we are encouraging companies to develop.”
Sheena Forde, Trading Director, Musgrave MarketPlace added that, “Following on from the success of Musgrave’s SuperValu Food Academy programme with Bord Bia and the Local Enterprise Offices, we are now looking forward to bringing a similar programme to Irish foodservice producers through MarketPlace. A number of the participating companies are Food Academy graduates so we are proud to be in a position to introduce their products to our foodservice customer base. As the largest and fastest growing wholesaler in Ireland, we are ideally placed to understand the needs of the foodservice market and, as an Irish family business, we are delighted to work with small Irish manufacturers, many of which are family owned, to give them a head start in the market. The FoodService Academy programme offers a combination of commercial and marketing expertise and will provide invaluable consumer insight for the companies involved. We would like to acknowledge the excellent support of Bord Bia throughout the development of this programme, their shared passion for supporting Irish food business has been evident throughout.’’
The FoodService Academy programme, coordinated by Bord Bia, will take place over four months and comprise of workshops and mentoring, with the first workshop taking place today (Thursday, 24th March). Representatives from Musgrave MarketPlace will participate in the workshops, sharing practical insights and experience to help the companies understand areas such as supplier set-up, food safety requirements and distribution model as well as sales and the marketing support.
The ten companies that have been chosen to participate are:
- Atlantis Seafood, a family seafood business based in Wexford
- Blanco Nino, Europe’s only producer of authentic corn tortillas and un-fried tortilla chips made in Tipperary
- Coffee House Lane, a Waterford family run coffee roaster
- Lily’s Tea House, blenders of a range of premium, loose leaf teas as well as matcha tea and premium tea pyramids based in Co Louth
- Nobó, the dairy free ice-cream producer, which is made without any refined sugar, gums or stabilisers
- Maria Lucia Bakes, a Dublin producer of gourmet gluten, wheat and dairy free granola cereals
- Outdoor Oinks, a range of Bord Bia approved pork and bacon products in Kildare
- Secret Recipe in Cork is the only producer of halal and gluten free meal solutions to the foodservice industry in Ireland and the UK
- Tipperary Kitchen, a family run artisan bakery producing a range of handcrafted meringues, dessert sauces and chocolate biscuit cake
- Wildberry Bakery, an artisan gluten free bakery in Cork
Wishing them all the best of success!
Zack