Vision and innovation sees speciality food sector go from strength to strength
THE vision, innovative spirit and passion of Ireland’s speciality food producers is noting short of infectious, as trade visitors to IFEX19, the country’s only international food, drink and hospitality exhibition, witnessed at the RDS in Dublin last week.
In co-operation with Bord Bia, County Enterprise Boards and Leader companies, the small scale food producers put on displays that not only attracted the attention of buyers from home and abroad but also people from large food groups on the look out for new ideas.
Speciality food is broken down into three categories, artisan, speciality-gourmet and premium.
Artisan food is produced on a smaller scale, with labour and craft intensity and is available locally. Speciality-gourmet has broader distribution, is novel and faddish while premium uses ingredients made on an industrial estate.
Bord Bia says the speciality food market in Ireland and Britain is estimated to be worth €6.1bn. The figure is predicted to grow to €7.5bn within three years. This market offers small food firms improved price and margin positions.
This affords the producers a better opportunity to cover the costs of distribution, food safety compliance and eventually to reward the personal and financial risk they take in establishing and developing a small food business. One of those producers is Ralph Haslam, an organic farmer from Clareen, near Birr in County Offaly, who achieved an extraordinary success with his Mossfield Organic Farm Cheeses at the World Cheese Awards in London, bringing home one gold and two silver medals.
A 240 acre dairy farmer at the foot of the Slieve Bloom mountains with 70 British Friesian cows, he was a milk supplier to Arrabawn before deciding to go organic and develop a range of high quality products such as organic farm cheese, organic farm ice cream, frozen yoghurts and sorbets.
The Hot Irishman, meanwhile, was conceived by husband and wife team Bernard and Rosemary Walsh.
Bernard, who originally hails from Ballylooby, Co Tipperary, and Rosemary, a Carlow woman, worked in the computer business for sixteen years, before developing the drink that is now being poured from Carlow to Chicago, Oslo to Osaka, from Reykjavik to Russia.
Rosemary, who did a course with celebrity chef Darina Allen in Ballymaloo, later worked in catering at a ski centre in France, where the signature drink every night was Irish Coffee. She often had to make 20-30 at night for guests, always hoping that the cream would float.
“We sat down one night and said that this drink is known all over the world. Yet it is difficult to make,” recalled Bernard, who gave up his job to set up the business in Urglin, Co Carlow, to produce a pre-blended Irish coffee that only requires boiling water topped with cream.
The product has won numerous awards including the top honours in the Irish beverage category at IFEX19.
This followed a Great Taste Award at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition, an Irish national enterprise award and the world young business achiever award at Istanbul in Turkey.
A great tradition also lay behind the Irish dairy sector winner at IFEX19 - Sheila’s (Mayo) Ltd, based at Shraheens, Balla, Castlebar, who launched the first pro-biotic farmhouse butter in the world.
Tom Butler and his family have been producing traditional farmhouse country butter and buttermilk for over fifteen years but are now offering a new healthy option with Cuinneog Pro-biotic butter.
Pro-biotics are regarded as having a multitude of health benefits, but the butter also reflects a continuation of Ireland’s traditional buttermaking skills introduced by the Celts 2,000 years ago.
