Aldi has announced that over 70 new Irish products from 38 local suppliers will be listed across its stores nationwide.
The announcement comes as part of Aldi’s Specialbuys Irish Food promotion which kicks off on 23rd August will see locally sourced products ranging from spices, sauces, snacks and craft beers introduced to its shelves.
Grow With Aldi
The selected products were winners of Aldi’s Grow supplier developer programme, developed in partnership with Bord Bia. Grow with Aldi has been designed to help small to medium Irish food and drink businesses secure a retail listing with a national retailer.
“We experienced a fantastic response to the programme, receiving hundreds of entries from small and medium-sized producers across the country. As we expected, the standard of entry was exceptionally high, and our judging team of expert buyers had an extremely difficult job witling down the entries,” Giles Hurley, CEO Aldi UK and Ireland.
“71 exceptional products have made it through to the final selection to take part in our Specialbuys Irish Food promotion. The selected products represent the very best that Ireland’s vibrant food industry has to offer.”
Participants receive tailored mentoring and access to bespoke workshops with Aldi buyers and Bord Bia technical experts, teaching them the skills to help grow and develop their products and business. Aldi is investing €500,000 in the programme this year
Working Local
Five of the successful products will now be given the opportunity to become core line Aldi listed products, winning a contract to be sold in Aldi’s Irish stores year-round.
The campaign furthers Aldi’s commitment to sourcing as much Irish produce as possible, as it currently works with 175 Irish suppliers, spending over €700 million with Irish businesses last year.
“Grow with Aldi represents the next step in our continuing commitment to buying Irish,” Hurley continued.
“We know that for a lot of food and drinks businesses, securing a listing with a major retailer can be the source of a lot of pressure for their teams. This development programme makes it easier for companies to get their products on our shelves, and to give our customers access to the most exciting and highest quality new products from across Ireland.”
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
