More than 100 of Ireland’s top food and drink companies will be presented with a major opportunity to market their produce to 250 national and international buyers at Bord Bia’s Bloom festival this morning.
The buyers*, from ROI, NI and UK retail, foodservice and independent stores, who together have a combined buying power of more than €10 billion, will be introduced to the Irish producers at an early-morning meet-and-greet trade event organised by Bord Bia.
The breakfast briefing and product showcase will present the food and drink companies - all of whom are exhibiting their products over the course of the five-day festival - with a highly-valuable networking opportunity, as well as allowing them to display their product ranges to some of the industry’s most prestigious and successful buyers on both sides of the water.
Run by Bord Bia and now in its 11th year, Bloom takes place in the Phoenix Park, Dublin until Monday, 5th 2017.
Now in its fourth consecutive year, the Bord Bia trade event has already helped secure multiple new routes to market for exhibiting food and drink companies. Attending buyers will include UK retailers such as Dean and Deluca, Selfridges, Buckley and Beale, Costwold Fayre and Ocado, alongside Irish-based companies like Aldi, Lidl, Tesco Ireland, Dunnes Stores, SuperValu, Insomnia, Pallas Foods, Compass Group Ireland, Topaz and Applegreen.
Tara McCarthy, Chief Executive, Bord Bia said: “Bloom not only offers an opportunity to showcase the best of Ireland’s horticultural and food industry to the Irish public, but it has also become an established hub for trade. While visitors to Bloom spend in excess of €7 million at the event and our records show that up to €30 million is spent directly with exhibitors after the show our annual trade breakfast has become an important commercial date in the Irish food and drink calendar. Irish producers large and small get the potential to secure significant new contracts with some of the UK and Ireland’s leading companies. For visiting retailers and food service buyers, it provides a unique platform to engage directly with suppliers and identify new trends, new products and opportunities to bring to market.”
One of the many success stories from the 2016 trade breakfast includes Miena’s Irish Handmade Nougat, Ireland’s only dedicated nougat producer, based in Co. Wicklow. At the 2016 event, the company had the opportunity to meet with the ‘Simply Better’ team from Dunnes Stores, who were very impressed with the range. A subsequent meeting resulted in a trial listing in six Dunnes Stores’ outlets. Three months later, the number of stores exhibiting Miena nougat had reached 13. Miena will expand into the majority of Dunnes Stores in the coming months.
Innovation
Among the 110 food and drink exhibitors at Bloom 2017 are 33 food and drink exhibitors who are new to the Food Village at Bloom. Exhibitors frequently use the opportunity as a platform to launch new products to sample with the visiting public.
At Bloom 2017 a number of new products will be introduced including a new beef burger from The Farmer's Daughter in Meath called the “Skinny Cow” that is less than 5% fat, gluten free and has no added water or preservatives; a new Irish sliced chicken and turkey product from O’Brien Fine Foods called ‘Homebird’; a new raw fruit and nut bar from Karma in Mayo called “Karma Free” that comes in a biodegradable and fully compostable wrapper, a first for snack food in Ireland; and a new-to-market offering of tea plants from Mr. Middleton, Irelands oldest mail order garden retailer based in Mary Street, Dublin; and McCambridge’s Bread will launch a new range of home bake bread kits.
The Bloom Inn showcase of Irish craft beer and spirits will also feature a number of innovative new products such as Black Twist - a spirit infused coffee liqueur - and exciting new gin offerings from The Shed Distillery, Mor Irish Gin and Listoke Gin.
Bord Bia’s Consumer Insight Centre, ‘The Thinking House’ will also relocate to Bloom and will serve as a hub for business development and networking for exhibitors and potential buyers over the course of the 5-day event.
For more information visit www.bloominthepark.ie or follow Bloom on Facebook and Twitter @bloominthepark.
Full list of buyers attending
Retailers:
- National Multiple grocery retailers (Dunnes Stores, Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland, Tesco Ireland)
- National Discounters (Aldi Ireland, Lidl Ireland)
- Symbol / Forecourt / Distributors (Applegreen, BWG Foods, Barry Group, Topaz)
- Irish Independent Stores (Cavistons, Donnybrook Fair, Fallon and Byrne, The Hopsack)
- NI retailers / symbols (Musgrave Retail Partners Northern Ireland, Nisa Retail)
- UK distributors, online and independent stores (Buckley and Beale, Costwold Fayre, Dean & DeLuca, Ocada, Selfridges, Sourced Market)
Foodservice:
- All of the major national foodservice distributors (MWP; Pallas; BWG; La Rousse Foods; Odaios Foods; Hendersons Foodservice)
- All of the major national contract caterers (Aramark; Compass; Sodexo; KSG; BaxterStorey; Gather&Gather; Q Café)
- Main Forecourt Convenience operators (Applegreen; Topaz; Maxol)
- Coffee Shop Chains (Insomnia; Starbucks; Butlers Coffee Shops)
- Restaurant Chains (Abrakebabra/O’Briens; Freshly Chopped; Eddie Rockets)
- Hotel Chains (Dalata; Doyle Collection; Tifco; Intercontinental)
- Travel (Airlines & Airport operators