Onion contract secures co-op
The co-operative employs 30 people and processes onions from six different growers in the Cork area.
Co-op manager Gus O’Brien said that for the local growers the onion packing facility is the only dependable route to market for their produce.
Musgrave SuperValu-Centra has bought Irish onions from Bandon Co-Op for the past number of years to supply the independently-owned stores serviced by the group.
The retailer was also sourcing onions from Holland and the southern hemisphere when Irish product was not in season.
With the local packing facility in Bandon under threat, discussions between Musgrave SuperValu-Centra and Bandon Onions Co-Op have led to the co-op winning the entire year-round supply contract for onions.
It is understood that Bandon Onions Co-Op will work with its supply base to extend the Irish growing season, coming in earlier with product, and that it will also manage imports on behalf of Musgrave SuperValu-Centra, when Irish produce is not available.
Mr O’Brien said this business with SuperValu and Centra is a great boost to local growers and supports the entire packing facility.
“While the business was efficient, the lack of year-round processing meant that there was a question over the viability of the facility.
“We demonstrated to Musgrave that we could manage a year-round, large-scale supply operation, and compete very effectively, coming in on par with the company’s current supply arrangements,” he said.
Bandon Co-Op will supply 4,000 tonnes of onions annually to Musgrave SuperValu-Centra for distribution to stores countrywide through the group’s Cork central distribution facility.
Irish supply is expected to be available between October and March, with imports supplied for the remaining six months of the year.
Denis Cronin, fresh produce category manager with Musgrave SuperValu-Centra, said the Bandon Onions Co-Op deal makes sense on a number of levels.
“We know that by giving a trading commitment to local growers that we can then rely on quality product, produced to our standards and with excellent service levels.
“We also know that shoppers in SuperValu and Centra support our efforts to expand our local supply base, and that they prefer to buy an Irish product, once the quality is assured and the price is competitive.
“We’re in a very competitive business and we wouldn’t do business with local suppliers unless we were 100% confident in their ability to develop with our business, which is what we’ve established with Bandon Onions,” he said.
Musgrave SuperValu-Centra is the retail franchise division of the Musgrave Group. The independently-owned stores within the group account for almost a quarter of the Irish grocery sector.
The company sells €750m in fresh foods sourced in Ireland every year.
