Aldi Ireland has agreed to a new two-year contract with Macroom Buffalo Mozzarella that will see the West Cork based artisan cheese-maker provide Aldi with over €1m worth of Irish buffalo mozzarella.
Commenting on the new agreement Johnny Lynch, owner of Macroom Buffalo Mozzarella said, “The security and certainty provided by our partnership with Aldi has enabled us to invest in and substantially grow our business over the last three years.
“Before Aldi listed our product in its stores, we primarily sold it at farmers markets and to restaurants around the country. We are now expanding into making other cheeses including buffalo ricotta, buffalo Greek style cheese and buffalo halloumi, and hope to begin exporting products for the first time next year.”
Lynch will grow his herd of buffalo on his West Cork farm by 40%, to almost 300 animals in order to satisfy customer demand and to increase production quantities in order to supply Aldi’s 130 stores.
Grow With Aldi
Finbar McCarthy, Aldi’s Group Buying Director said, “The success of Macroom Buffalo Mozzarella is an excellent example of the fantastic opportunities that exist at Aldi for innovative small and medium-sized Irish suppliers.
“We recently launched our new Grow with Aldi supplier development programme in partnership with Bord Bia, to support Irish food and drink businesses in developing their products with the end goal of securing a national listing with Aldi.
"Our aim is to provide the necessary mentoring to enable food and drink businesses realise their potential and hopefully unearth the next standout Irish supplier like Macroom Buffalo Mozzarella, ensuring Aldi continues to give our customers access to the most innovative and best quality new products from Ireland.”
Aldi has partnered with Johnny Lynch’s Macroom Buffalo Mozzarella since May 2015 and was the first Irish supermarket to introduce own-brand Irish made buffalo mozzarella to its stores.
The discount retailer launched its Grow with Aldi programme in April this year, saying that it will invest €500,000 in the new supplier development programme.
© 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.
