Now in its fifth year, Grow with Aldi entries are now open to food and non-food Irish producers until the 21 January 2022.
Whether you are an artisan cheese supplier, adventurous chilli chocolate connoisseur or innovative baker, Aldi Ireland said that it is looking for business innovators; the bold, the brave, the fearless and the future thinkers who want to get to the next level.
Grow with Aldi is a supplier development programme designed to help small to medium sized Irish suppliers in building their brand.
The applicants will face a judging panel in February and if successful, they will have their product launched in all 149 Aldi stores nationwide in May as part of the Grow with Aldi Specialbuy promotion.
Speaking about the 2022 programme launch, John Curtin, group buying director, Aldi Ireland, said, that to date Grow with Aldi has supported over 200 Irish producers on this journey and invested over €5.5 million to make these long-term partnerships a reality.
"We can’t wait to see what amazing products we discover during this year’s programme,” he said.
Further Opportunities
The six Specialbuy winners will be chosen and offered further opportunities with Aldi, the discounter said.
This will include mentoring and development through a number of workshops such as Buying Process, Supply Chain Management and Social Media Marketing, followed by a number of individual mentoring sessions with the Aldi Buying team, the Aldi Marketing team and Bord Bia technical experts, it added.
Speaking about Grow with Aldi 2022, Gillian Willis, small business manager, Bord Bia, added, "Recent research from the Bord Bia Thinking House has shown that more and more Irish consumers are making conscious decisions to buy locally sourced products, so having the Grow with Aldi programme support some long-term success stories plays an important role in showcasing the innovative products that we as a small nation can create."
2021 Irish Suppliers
In 2021, 117 products from 63 Irish suppliers went on sale as part of the Grow with Aldi Specialbuys events in June and November.
Having been highly commended by the judging panel, six producers secured the opportunity to become a core or seasonal range listing in Aldi stores nationwide, these included:
- Cookie Dó (Tallaght, Co. Dublin)
- ChanChan (Firhouse, Co. Dublin)
- Woodfire & Green (Sandyford, Co. Dublin)
- Vanilla Bean Patisserie (Ballinagh, Co. Cavan)
- Blackcastle Farm (Blackcastle, Co. Tipperary)
- The Fig Tree (High Street, Co. Kilkenny)
To register or find out more about the Grow with Aldi programme 2022, visit here.
2022 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern, For more A-Brands News click here. Click sign up to subscribe to Checkout.
