Bord Bia will showcase Irish food and wine today (17 March), through its network of 13 overseas offices with a series of business development and consumer initiatives to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and everything Irish.
In a recent statement it outlined that from Stuttgart to Shanghai, it has scheduled over 65 marketing activities aimed at consumers, retailers, trade and foodservice operators to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and everything Irish.
Tara McCarthy, Bord Bia’s Chief Executive emphasized the importance of the celebration to the Irish food industry stating, “St. Patrick’s Day provides the Irish food and drink industry and Bord Bia with a real business opportunity to highlight our export credentials on a scale unmatched by the national day of any other country. Now more than ever, in the context of Brexit, we are capitalising on this opportunity to deliver key business development meetings, events and campaigns that allow us engage with new and existing customers. We will also be undertaking targeted retail promotions in some 400 stores from Japan to France over the period aimed at introducing overseas consumers to the taste of Irish food.”
According to the Irish Food Bord, food and drink is currently available in 180 markets around the world and exports reached over €11 billion for the first time in 2016.
It also outlined that trade meetings, retail promotions tastings, media events, advertising and social media are just some of the other export building activities Bord Bia is undertaking across cities in over 20 countries.
Some of the key international promotional activities Bord Bia has in place for Irish produce are as follows:
- Its is supporting many events across the US from an Irish food showcase on a TV station in Atlanta to the provision of Irish food for St. Patrick’s Day business events
- An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, will present a hamper of Irish food and drink products to the White House representing Ireland’s food exports to the US market.
- In France, Bord Bia has engaged a number of leading retailers to support its St. Patrick’s Day promotions.
- In the UK, Bord Bia has launched a comprehensive digital campaign for Irish beef, Beef Encounters, encompassing recipes, competitions and online advertising across key platforms such as BBC Good Food, Jamie Oliver and The Guardian.
- It will be hosting an ‘Irish Street Food Market’ this weekend, as part of the Mayor’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival in London’s Trafalgar Square, serving an array of dishes to over 90,000 people.
- In Japan, Bord Bia is bringing a taste of Irish seafood to local consumers through an extensive sampling programme with leading retail group, Aeon, in over 100 stores which aims to raise awareness about seafood from Ireland.
- A range of Bord Bia organized promotional activities will also take place across other key markets including restaurant promotions in Sweden, whiskey tastings in Moscow, a cookery demonstration in Korea and a focus on Irish lamb in Denmark’s leading retailer, Coop.
From Michelin star chefs to some of the biggest retailers in Europe, 'the business of Irish food will be to the forefront during this period'.
© 2017 - Checkout Magazine by Donna Ahern
