Bord Bia hosted a number of international promotions for St. Patricks Day this year to promote Irish food and drink. The events were aimed at retailers, trade and foodservice operators around the world to highlight the quality and sustainable nature of Irish food and drink to a global audience. In the UK, 11 Irish food and drink companies including Clonakilty Black Pudding, Burren Smokehouse and Keogh's Crisps participated in the ‘Irish Food Market' at Trafalgar Square, as part of the annual Mayor's St. Patrick's Day Festival. Bord Bia also engaged a number of leading French retailers to support its St. Patrick's Day promotions. Irish Angus Beef and Irish Seafood – including crab, mussels, salmon and oysters – were the centre of attention across some 120 Casino stores. Meanwhile, Intermarché, the third largest grocery retailer in France, held a nationwide promotion on Irish ribs across 1,500 stores.
Teagasc teamed up with the Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust from Northern Ireland to host the Économusée All Ireland Business and Networking Forum in the Ballinahown Craft Village, Co. Westmeath last week. At the event, the All Ireland Économusée Network was established, launched by Carl-Éric Guertin, CEO of the International Économusée Network Society which is based in Québec (Canada). An 'Économusée' is an artisan business that opens its doors to the public to provide a learning and interpretive experience for visitors. The forum was part of a two and a half year innovative rural enterprise support project called Craft International, which was funded by the EU Northern Periphery Programme. Together with seven partners from around Europe and Canada, Teagasc and the Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust supported the development of rural artisan producers in Ireland.
Senator Feargal Quinn will speak about his campaign to abolish Upward Only Rent Reviews, as well as some of the current issues affecting the retail sector, at a 'Coffee Conversations' business breakfast event being held by Plan Ireland at Fire Restaurant, Dawson St, Dublin 2. The event takes place on Thursday 27 March, between 7.30 and 9am, and will take the format of a live interview, carried out by business journalist Tom McEnaney. Plan Ireland is a children's overseas development charity. For more information, visit www.plan.ie/coffeeconversations
LoyaltyBuild, the Clare-based firm that was managing the SuperValu Getawaybreaks programme until a data breach halted its operations last November, has recommenced trading in Norway and Sweden, two of the territories it services. In a statement, the loyalty systems provider said that it has has "made significant investments in its systems and infrastructure, implementing the most up-to-date technologies and payment processes to ensure all transactions are secure. Our system has recently received PCI Level 1 compliance, which was independently audited and certified." It added that it is "continuing to work with our valued clients to bring our other loyalty programmes back on line."
Nestlé has launched a new variant on the Lion bar with added peanuts. The new bar comprises wafer, caramel, cereals and peanuts, encased in milk chocolate. Nestlé UK and Ireland senior corporate communications manager James Maxton commented, “Peanut Lion has been designed with the express intent of helping convenience retailers grow their confectionary sales. Not only is the bar itself priced to encourage both trial and repeat purchase from shoppers, but the smaller count outer has been designed to appeal to smaller retailers making it more accessible for them to trial the product for their stores.” The Lion Peanut bar will be available to buy at the end of this month.
Irish Rail has banned the use of e-cigarettes on all DART and train services in Ireland. Irish Rail imposed the policy in response to a number of complaints from passengers. Jane Cregan from Irish Rail told The Journal, “We’ve worked hard to eradicate smoking on our services and we didn’t want a situation where there was confusion about what cigarettes could and couldn’t be smoked." She said that it is hard for staff to police, but that Irish Rail didn’t want any ambiguity in relation to smoking. She added, “We will now have clarity from that point of view. All cigarettes are now banned.” Irish Rail said that so far reactions have been positive to the ban and that the company is following on from its counterparts in the UK and Europe who have also banned electronic cigarettes onboard.
Connacht Gold has launched a new campaign for its popular Low Fat butter. The six week campaign runs across TV, radio, in-store and online. Connacht Gold butter is now the fastest growing brand in the multi-million euro butter and spreads category and has achieved a 15% growth in sales in the past year. Seamus Hannon, Connacht Gold National Account Manager said, “The strong vote of confidence by consumers in Connacht Gold highlights the latent demand for real food, real taste and real butter. Our innovative campaign highlights the difference between Connacht Gold’s real butter and contrasts it with butter substitutes on the market.” The campaign was created by Havas Worldwide Dublin and was filmed in Sligo. It is built on a comparative advertising strategy that contrasts Connacht Gold’s real butter with other butter substitutes available on the market. Connacht Gold is part of Aurivo, one of Ireland’s largest co-operatives.
Kerry Group is set to give a two and a half acre site, which formerly hosted a Denny factory, to Tralee town council. The site closed over five years ago and the food group feel its land could be a catalyst for a redevelopment of the town centre. Frank Hayes, Kerry Group director of corporate affairs told Radio Kerry last week, "It’s a large prime site in the middle of the town centre, so we were very anxious to secure a future for the site that would perhaps lead to a regeneration of the town centre." Meanwhile, Kerry Group will also invest €5 million to refurbish its headquarters in Tralee. The original office there was built in 1978 and needs an overhaul to “make it fit for purpose,” said Hayes.
The Central Bank has received strong support from retailers and consumers to eliminate one and two cent coins. A pilot programme in Wexford was implemented whereby products were rounded up to the nearest five cent at the cash register. A survey carried out after the programme showed that 85% of consumers and 100% of retailers surveyed believe rounding should be applied nationally. The Central Bank said its National Payments Plan's committee as a result, has recommended to the Finance Minister that symmetrical rounding be rolled out nationally. They also suggested that it be done on a voluntary basis for both consumers and retailers. The Central Bank says that producing the one and two cent coins costs more on average than their worth. Five European member states have already implemented a rounding policy - the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Hungary. Belgium is also considering the policy.
Cuisine de France has announced a new multi-million euro strategy to position Irish retailers as leaders in fresh bakery. The leading bakery brand’s new nationwide investment programme will focus on new recipes, a re-design of the in-store experience, a Learning and Innovation Hub and a prime-time television and digital consumer campaign called 'Vive lés differences'. Commencing April 21, the brand will also launch its first television and digital marketing campaign. Peter Jackson, Managing Director, Aryzta Food Solutions Ireland, owner of Cuisine de France said, “Our new strategy is the culmination of a comprehensive review of every part of the Cuisine de France brand. We engaged extensively with retailers and consumers. We analysed the global bakery market, benchmarking ourselves against countries like the US, UK, France and elsewhere. The outcome is a celebration of the unique Cuisine de France offering of quality breads and pastries, premium in-store experience, and leading innovation.”
© 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Genna Patterson
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