Donnelly Fresh Foods | Agrifoods
The Fresh Food Specialists For over 35 years, Donnelly Fresh Foods have built their reputation on the superior quality of the fresh produce they source and supply.
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ased in St. Margaret’s amidst the fertile fields of North County Dublin and employing approximately 200 people, Donnelly Fresh Foods are purveyors of the freshest seasonal fruit and vegetables and are a 100 per cent Irish family owned business. Since the company’s foundation by Anthony and Brian Donnelly over 35 years ago, which was originally based in Dublin’s city centre Fruit Market, Donnelly’s have built their reputation on the superior quality of the fresh produce they source and supply combined with the highest level of service and retail innovation they provide to their customers. There are many strands to the Donnelly business; Donnelly Fruit and Veg go to great lengths to select only the finest quality fruit and vegetables through a network of Irish growers and specially selected growers worldwide. They pack, prepare and deliver to stores nationwide every day. At Wonderfoods, the Donnelly Food Service division, they produce the best tasting deli salads, ready to eat salad leaves, and a variety of prepared oven-ready vegetables. Creating great food is at the heart of everything Donnelly do, it requires super ingredients prepared with great care and of course a touch of imagination! Earlier in 2014, Wonderfoods expanded its operations from its original base in St. Margaret’s to a redeveloped production facility in Ballycoolin, Blanchardstown, providing almost 50 per cent more
operational space and providing an extra 20 jobs to the area. Glan Arís is Donnelly’s award-winning crate-washing operation, providing reusable clean crates for the food industry, saving unquantifiable amounts of cardboard and trees annually, and operating from its own independent depot at St. Margaret’s. At Kilshane Cross, the Ward, Co Dublin is where you will find the Donnelly Chilled Foods Division, a distribution partnership with BWG Foods (owners of the Spar, Eurospar, and Mace brands in the Republic of Ireland) and from here they distribute and supply all chilled foods to their stores nationwide. 2014 saw another period of innovation and growth within Donnelly’s as they expanded and ramped up production at their recently commissioned glasshouses and farms in Lusk and Skerries. Keeping the business within the Fingal area, the Donnelly Farm and the Donnelly Glasshouse and poly-tunnel operations have been a valuable addition to the business. The Glasshouse operation is very proud of a great season this year in growing their very own Elsanta Strawberries, carefully nurturing them all the way from seed to punnet! This season, Donnelly’s are delighted that their Glasshouses and Tunnels are producing two premium crops of strawberries which are being enjoyed daily by shoppers across the country. The Donnelly
Farm team are really excited to be growing a number of Irish vegetables, including leeks, tenderstem broccoli, winter cabbage, and white cabbage. Each of these products ends up in various different guises (and various different retailers) as they are harvested, but the one they are most proud of is their white cabbage. The white cabbage, which is grown at Lusk, is exclusively for use in Wonderfoods Coleslaw, and because of new and advanced techniques their farm employs – for example investing in ‘frost fleece’ and netting to keep pests away (birds and rabbits) – they can greatly increase the amount of locally produced ingredients in their best tasting coleslaw.
Did you know...? ...that Donnelly’s are also proud sponsors of the Leinster Women’s Rugby Team and the Donnelly Leinster League? Find out more about this, and all the goings on, through Donnelly’s social media channels; Twitter (@DonnellyFandVeg), Facebook (Donnelly Fresh Foods / www.Facebook.com/DonnellyFreshFoods), LinkedIn (search for Donnelly Fruit and Veg), YouTube (www.YouTube.com/ DonnellyFreshFoods), and also on their website (www.Donnelly.ie).
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