Seen and heard

Your business waste – easily sorted!

A new initiative designed to take the uncertainty out of waste segregation for businesses has been launched by MyWaste, Ireland’s official guide to waste. This government-funded initiative provides a free and extensive suite of signage and training materials to help workforces make accurate recycling decisions.

This will assist Irish businesses achieve greater circular economy performance through increased recycling and composting rates. A waste characterisation study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that almost 70% of materials being placed in the general commercial waste bins is waste that should be placed in the recycling or food waste bins. Targeted materials (those suitable for recycling) accounted for only 60% of the materials in the mixed dry recycling bins, with food waste among the contaminants.

The study found that by improving waste segregation practices, businesses could divert up to 350,000 tonnes of waste from the general waste stream annually.

“This initiative will empower small and medium size businesses, particularly those in the retail, hospitality, manufacturing and corporate sectors, to further improve how their waste is managed,” said Kevin Swift of the Connacht Ulster Region Waste Office, speaking on behalf of the Regional Waste Management Planning Offices.

“With clear language and visuals, the materials will make it easy for staff to quickly understand what waste goes in what bin,” Swift added. “This should help significantly increase the amount of recyclables and food waste diverted from the general bin and correctly placed in the recycling and food waste bins.”

The toolkit is free to download or order from www.mywaste.ie/business/.

MyWaste Brand Toolkit

Identity Usage Guidelines V1_September 2018

The MyWaste toolkit materials will make it easy for staff to quickly understand what waste goes in what bin

Energia can reduce lighting costs by up to 80%

The Cúl-est Camps return for summer 2022

Mattress and foam manufactuer, Kayfoam Woolfson whose brands include King Koil, Emma and Maymed, recently turned to Energia Lighting Solutions to complete a full lighting upgrade to its two manufacturing sites located in Dublin and Kildare.

Production engineering and quality manager at Kayfoam Woolfson, Martin McCurdy explained that it was a combination of cost benefits and the impact on the company’s carbon footprint and sustainability which compelled them to sign up.

The lighting solutions provided by Energia can reduce lighting costs by up to 80% meaning businesses gain a brighter working environment, become more energy efficient and reduce their carbon footprint.

“Lighting levels are important to us, particularly in our bedding plant where detailed inspection is required throughout the plant,” McCurdy said.

Operating across two sites in Dublin and Kilcullen, both sites had fluorescent strip lighting which was not ideal in an industry where employees are performing an exceptionally highskilled craft.

“The reason for wanting to upgrade the old lighting system was down to ethical reasons which were twofold,” continued McCurdy. “Firstly, we wanted to provide a well-lit and comfortable workspace for our employees.

“Secondly, we wanted to make sure we were doing our bit to protect the environment by cutting down on energy usage and costs. Our lighting bill has since reduced by 65% and energy savings by 25%. It really is like a completely different environment,” he added.

“We had 2,000 units which needed replacing and the installation from Energia was seamless with all the works carried out effortlessly. The feedback from our staff has been excellent and the new lighting definitely makes it easier to keep the work areas clean and tidy.”

Overall, he was delighted that the “new lighting levels exceeded our expectations”.

Kellogg and the GAA have announced the most hotly anticipated summer camp, Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camps, has returned for 2022.

The camps are anticipating an extra level of excitement this year with numbers back at full capacity across the country following Covid restrictions.

Camps will kick off on Monday, 27 June and will run up to 26 August. GAA clubs across the country are set to be a hive of activity this summer with bookings for participants aged 6-13 now open.

Launching the 2022 Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camps were Kellogg ambassadors and sport superstars, Mayo footballer, Tommy Conroy and Antrim Camogie player, Roisin McCormick. Both county players are past participants and credit the camps for giving them the most fun summers.

Kellogg has recently built on its 10-year partnership with the GAA by sponsoring the newly renamed Kellogg’s Skyline Tour at Croke Park. Conroy and McCormick took a visit 44 metres above the ground to see the iconic stadium of Croke Park from a different angle.

As in previous years, the Assisted Needs Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camps are back this summer, providing a calmer environment for those who need it with the same level of fun*.

“Kellogg is very proud to be involved in a partnership which involves children taking part in outdoor exercise where fun is at the core. Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camps are in all four corners of the country throughout the summer,” said Sarah Ferguson, Kellogg Ireland general manager.

“In recent years, we’ve reached incredible milestones in terms of participation levels,” she added, “and we love hearing the feedback from kids and their parents about the camps.”

For more information on the Kellogg’s GAA

Mayo footballer Tommy Conroy and Antrim camogie player Roisin McCormick with Emily, age 8, during the launch of the 2022 Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camps

Cúl Camps, visit www.gaa.ie/kelloggsculcamps.

*(Assisted Needs Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camps are run by local GAA clubs and are not available at each camp across the country)

Peeling great! Fyffes introduces Ireland’s first National Fitness Games

Participants in Ireland’s first Fyffes National Fitness Games were “peeling great” after enjoying the recent weekend-long ‘festival of fitness’ held at Dublin’s UCD Sports Campus.

Using the tagline ‘Fuelled by Fyffes’, the event followed a formula established in the UK where it attracted a high level of entries over a number of years.

Providing a test in terms of power, endurance, speed and strength, challenges included weighted runs, rowing machines, sandbag carries, kettlebell snatches, assault bikes, deadlifts and more from which ‘Ireland’s Fittest Male and Female’ were crowned.

Ancillary activities forming part of what was Ireland’s first functional fitness event of the year included health and wellness workshops and pro-curated fitness programming, all in a carnival-like atmosphere with live music and street food stalls.

Ireland’s number one chicken brand, Moy Park, will bring back its popular BBQ range and hopefully the sunshine – just in time for the summer.

Packed full of flavour, the products take the hassle out of preparation and give consumers time for hosting and enjoying al fresco entertaining with family and friends.

Moy Park’s branded BBQ range includes three fresh chicken lines - Cajun Marinated Chicken Breast Sizzlers, Mango, Lime & Coconut Chicken Mini Fillets and Sweet Chilli Chicken Drums & Thighs.

“At Moy Park we pride ourselves on being market leaders in innovation and consumer trends,” explains Ellen Wright, brand marketing manager at Moy Park.

“We continue to see a desire for new and exciting flavours inspired by global cuisines, which informed the development of this product range,” she adds. “We’re delighted to bring the lines back to the BBQ for summer 2022. There really is something for everyone to enjoy!”

For further information on products and distribution, contact Moy Park commercial manager Kat Reid on 00 44 788 1037022. The Irish Farmers Journal is the largest selling national newspaper title for most retailers every Thursday. At the new cover price of €3.60, it delivers a net margin of €0.825 on every copy sold. Retailers are advised to position the title on the top shelf of your newspaper display (extra facings where possible) every Thursday and Friday to maximize category revenues.

Ciaran Fagan, from Castlepollard; Aine McElroy (Castleblaney); Aoife Rigney (Glasnevin); Rebecca Smyth (Mullingar) and Pia Farrar (Enniskerry) pictured enjoying Ireland’s first Fyffes National Fitness Games

Yay for summer! Moy Park’s BBQ range is back

A brush with true entrepreneurial spirit

Moy Park’s branded BBQ range includes three tasty fresh chicken lines

Honest, effective collateral begins with the belief and commitment of the people behind the brand. Take Derek Doyle, for example, the man behind Proud Paints, whose showroom and website are going live this month.

Using experience and expertise from his career working with paints, Doyle has developed a high-tech, world-class paint - as he says, “Science has never looked so good”. To realise his vision for the Proud Paints business, Doyle wanted to overhaul and invigorate the website and refine the packaging designs, to give customers better interaction with the brand, both online and in the showroom.

Graphic design and digital website agency Open (www.weareopen.ie) worked with Proud Paints to achieve these goals and bring its vision to life.

“I’d like to thank Open for their fantastic creativity, openness and experience,” Derek Doyle said. “The project totalled 14 months from start to finish, and entailed new product packaging design, colour cards, ecommerce website, and the branding of our new decorating store - inside and out. Every step of the way, their team was available to support and discuss our project details at a moment’s notice.”

Derek Doyle of Proud Paints, which offers a range of indoor, outdoor and specialist paints, with over 1,000 colours

€5000 in prizes must be won!

Weekly prizes

The Irish Farmers Journal is giving away €5000 in weekly prizes over the summer months to retailers who submit photos of the Irish Farmers Journal displayed in a prominent location in their store. Prizes include luxurious hotel breaks in FBD Hotels & Resorts four-star properties located in Dublin, Waterford, Kildare and Laois plus GAA tickets, merchandise and much more! Retailers can enter every week from 5 May- 31 August 2022 at ifj.ie/retailer.

Business expense

The Irish Farmers Journal is also a legitimate business expense directly related to the running of your customer’s farm business. For that reason, farmers can claim back up to 52% of the price paid for the Irish Farmers Journal as a tax-deductible business expense.

A top tip for retailers is to make regular customers aware that they can get the Irish Farmers Journal for half price if they purchase the paper from your store every week. At the end of the year, retailers simply need to provide the customer with a receipt for papers purchased to make a claim.

Musgrave MarketPlace invests in digital future

Musgrave MarketPlace has invested significantly in a digitisation strategy in a move which the national wholesaler says will create both a seamless online shopping experience for its customers and a selling platform for Irish suppliers.

Servicing more than 50,000 customers across the island of Ireland, Musgrave MarketPlace’s new website now offers customers a one-stopshop for all their business needs. Customers can purchase more than 14,000 products from the core Musgrave MarketPlace range, as well as the option to buy from its new Extended Range.

Extended Range is a digital-only curated range, hosted on the site on behalf of trusted suppliers, delivered directly to customers from the supplier’s own distribution centre. As this service grows, it will give customers even more choice and offer local suppliers the opportunity to access Musgrave MarketPlace’s vast customer base.

On the improved and optimised website, User Experience (or UX) is at the forefront of the design, and the site works seamlessly on desktop, mobile phones and tablets.

With a host of brand-new features, customers can benefit from real-time stock information, notifications for when items are back in stock and suggestions for alternative similar products. Accurate delivery lead times are also available on all products. Additionally, a click and collect service is available from local Musgrave MarketPlace branches nationwide, seven days a week.

Michael McCormack, managing director at Musgrave MarketPlace and Rory Stack, head chef at The Yacht Bar & Restaurant, who describes the new website as “slick, easy to navigate and, as ever, contains everything that we could possibly need to run our business”

The new login system permits multiple users per company to sign up with various permissions, allowing staff to put orders together and managers to approve them before they are processed.

In addition, orders can be uploaded using the brand-new Quick Order function where customers can use barcode scanners to create a list or enter the SKU codes on the site placing the products directly into their basket. Favourite lists can also be created.

Financial information including invoices, statements and previous orders can also be accessed at the touch of a button with the facility to add a purchase order number.

Fyffes finds North Donegal school is Ireland’s fittest Centra launches new campaign celebrating choice called ‘Choices Define Us’

Scoil Na Croise Naofa, Dunfanaghy, in North Donegal, has been chosen as ‘Ireland’s Fittest School’.

The award went to the primary school in recognition of what adjudicators called “a culture of fitness evident throughout the school”, following its participation in a competition in which over 500 primary schools

Students celebrating at Scoil Na Croise Naofa, Dunfanaghy

north and south took part.

Launched last November, the six-months long initiative – fronted by well-known Irish Olympians, athletes Phil Healy and David Gillick and organised by banana distributor Fyffes – had the goal of adding focus to the importance of exercise, fitness and healthy eating amongst young people.

In part, its purpose was to supplement and maintain the momentum built-up under the three-years-long Fyffes ‘Fit Squad’ programme of school visits in which, until the outbreak of Covid forced its deferral, more than 20,000 young primary-age pupils across Ireland had engaged.

A central feature was a series of exercise routines devised and recorded online by Olympians Healy and Gillick.

The award to the Dunfanaghy school will comprise some €5,000 worth of sports equipment plus a visit from athletes Healy and Gillick.

Thanking Fyffes Fit Squad for “providing the opportunity for schools to engage in physical activity in such a thoroughly enjoyable manner”, Mary O’Donnell, teacher at Scoil Na Croise Naofa, congratulated the children, teachers, staff and parents for all their “efforts and commitment”.

Fyffes head of marketing, Emma Hunt-Duffy praised the level of interest that the competition generated amongst schools across the country, noting, “really encouraging was the vast number of teachers and young pupils who incorporated the exercise routines in their PE classes, seeing them as a fun and easy way to stay active and keep fit”.

Further details can be viewed online at www.fyffesfitsquad.ie. Centra has launched a new campaign that celebrates choices called ‘Choices Define Us’.

The campaign focuses on Centra’s position at the heart of communities all throughout Ireland with 481 locally owned and operated stores nationwide and the fact that it “is committed to offering choice that meets the evolving needs of shoppers today and into the future”.

“This is a defining time in our lives where people are making more considered choices than ever,” said Ray Kelly, marketing director, Centra.

“At Centra we take great care to understand what choices people are making and the impact that those choices will have on how people live, work, and eat so we can continue to adapt and evolve our retail offers and experiences to meet the needs of communities across Ireland.”

To mark the launch of this campaign, Centra commissioned an in-depth study to provide a deeper understanding of the choices people are making in Ireland in this period of revaluation, forced by the pandemic.

When asked to look at areas where people are currently making positive choices, shopping locally (95%) is something chosen by the vast majority of people.

“There is a clear recognition from this research that the local shop serves as a hub for the community,” Ray Kelly added. “We feel great pride and responsibility knowing that so many people choose to walk through our doors every day and we know that with the future of hybrid work that Centra will play an even greater role in many people’s lives as they choose to opt for more local amenities closer to home. We are committed to giving our customers the best choice every day.”

The Centra Choices campaign which is now live, encompasses TV, audio, out-of-home (OOH), cinema, podcasts, PR and social.

JP McMahon, Patrick Horgan, Paul Ryder and Ursula Walsh pictured at the launch of Centra’s new campaign, Choices Define Us

One year on for Nearby

Back in April 2021, after more than a century in the wholesale business, S&W rebranded its offering and promised ‘A Whole Lot More’ for its symbol customers. One year on and Nearby can now boast over 75 stores serving and supporting local communities across the island of Ireland. Completely exclusive to S&W Wholesale, Nearby continues to play a vital part in a wider modernization strategy to help independent retailers forge deeper connections in the local community. Despite the extensive challenges faced during the pandemic, the Nearby brand has grown from strength to strength and says it will continue to operate to the highest standard of safety precautions with the opening of even more new stores planned before year-end.

“Since the opening of that very first store back in April last year, we’ve been working to create a high-quality service for both Nearby retailers and their customers in-store,” said Jason McSteen, sales manager, at S&W Wholesale. “The new Nearby stores have been very well received in their local communities with retailers noticing an increased level of footfall in their stores as a direct result of the conversion to Nearby.”

With a strong focus on local communities, each Nearby store celebrated the brand’s first birthday over the weekend of 8 – 10 April with cracking birthday deals on grocery essentials, balloons, giveaways and local fundraising from each store. The key store for this milestone was based in Cabra, Co. Dublin with a community focused retailer who has been serving and supporting the local area now for over 12 years. “The S&W team have been superb in making the transition seamless and helping getting the store ready for launch,” said retailer Tommy Macken. “The customer feedback has been fantastic on the store and with all that has been going on around the store and the event, it has created a real buzz in the local area.”

Tommy Macken and his team have created a central hub right at the heart of Cabra with a busy deli serving hot breakfasts and delicious hot and cold lunches, a post office, off-licence, Cuppa Coffee to go, freshly baked goods, Irish Lotto and all consumers’ favourite brands offering them value right on their doorstep – nearby.

The event was supported during the run-up and on the day by local radio station 98FM with their Thunder Crew working alongside the Nearby team in handing out Nearby hessian bags packed full of goodies, as well as wine tastings, hot party food, balloons and much more. Some fantastic prizes including in-store vouchers and exclusive Nearby red present boxes were also hidden around the store.

“The dedication and commitment to the local community by the Macken family and their team underpins exactly what Nearby stands for,” said Daniel Comiskey, brand marketing lead. “We started this journey during the pandemic and to have reached this milestone with the amount of stores is a true reflection of the hard work and passion from all the retailers thus far and those working behind the scenes at S&W Wholesale. We are very much looking forward to reaching further milestones with the brand this year.” ■

Retailer Tommy Macken and the team at Nearby Cabra celebrating Nearby’s first anniversary

Push your potential

Open the door to your brand’s potential and great results will follow.

See for yourself at weareopen.ie