Retail News|March 2020|www.retailnews.ie|13
Industry News Tesco Ireland raises €5m in five years for Temple Street TESCO Ireland has reached a monumental fundraising milestone, having raised €5m over the course of its five-year partnership with CHI at Temple Street. Throughout the course of this partnership, the funds raised have helped the hospital to buy over 270 pieces of vital medical equipment for patients, including ultrasound scanners, patient monitors and respiratory equipment. Tesco also announced a further extension to its partnership for one year for 2020, continuing with its ambition of purchasing much-needed equipment to aid the treatment of sick children with the aim of raising an additional €1m. Pictured are Kari Daniels, CEO of Tesco Ireland, and Denise Fitzgerald, CEO of Temple Street.
Ireland’s €2m Coffee Morning PICTURED are Jason Doyle, Managing Director at Bewley’s, and Fintan Fagan, CEO of St Francis Hospice Dublin, celebrating the announcement of a fundraising milestone. €2m was raised for Ireland’s Biggest Coffee Morning for Hospice Together with Bewley’s 2019. This brings the total funds raised over the course of the 27-year partnership to €39m. Every euro raised locally stays locally, with funds raised supporting local hospice and specialist palliative care services nationwide. “It’s been a privilege for Bewley’s to lend its support as sole sponsor for Ireland’s Biggest Coffee Morning for Hospice for the past 27 years,” said Jason Doyle. “To be part of this incredible fundraising milestone is something we are very proud of.”
Carving out a market
LIDL Ireland has announced a two-year supply deal with Kildare-based cooked meats producer, O’Brien Fine Foods (OBFF) worth €40m. Lidl has also made a further €50,000 investment in O’Brien Fine Foods, which will see their Irish beef produce exported to more than 3,000 Lidl stores in Germany as part of their 2020 Christmas offering. The deal will see O’Brien Fine Foods supply Lidl’s 201 stores across the Island of Ireland, as well as Lidl’s 797 stores across Great Britain. It comes as Lidl and O’Brien Fine Foods mark 10 successful years of supply partnership in Ireland. “In terms of quality and flavour, the O’Brien Fine Foods range of cooked meat products are second to none and we are delighted that our customers in Ireland will continue to enjoy them, and that our international customers will have the opportunity to sample the best of Irish produce,” said Henry Howard, Senior Buyer for Lidl Ireland, pictured (right), with Brendan Conway, Buying Executive for Lidl Ireland; and John O’Brien, Managing Director of O’Brien Fine Foods.
€500,000 EuroMillions Plus ticket sold in Tipperary STAFF at Ely’s Centra Store in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, are pictured celebrating after they sold a winning ticket for the EuroMillions Plus top prize of €500,000, which was won on February 26. Speaking on selling the lucky Quick Pick ticket, Ronan Ely, one of the owners of the family business said: “It’s tremendous news to get and there’s a massive buzz about Thurles town since early morning.” The Ely family business currently employs over 100 staff at their three Centra stores in Thurles and Urlingford, Co. Kilkenny, which they have operated for the last 30 years.
Java Republic travels back to its roots LUIS Alvarez (pictured), Java Republic Coffee Quality Consultant was recently in Costa Rica on a Coffee Origin Trip, with global green coffee merchant, DR Wakefield. During this trip, both teams were given the opportunity to cultivate on-the-ground relationships with Costa Rican farmers and more importantly understand the day-to-day challenges that these farmers face as producers of the highest quality coffee beans in the world. A law was passed in 1989 prohibiting the planting of low-quality beans, encouraging Costa Rican farmers to pursue true excellence, ensuring that bad coffee is literally against the law!
