March is Guaranteed Irish Month; Nestlé’s Wyeth Nutrition achieves

March is Guaranteed Irish Month

MARCH 2021 is Guaranteed Irish Irish Month, a month-long celebration of the 1,500 Guaranteed Irish member businesses and all locally based businesses across all sectors throughout the country.

The launch of Guaranteed Irish Month is supported by various marketing & PR activity across the month, to include the launch of the Guaranteed Irish Business Index, the launch of a new GuaranteedIrish.ie website, the launch of ‘Guaranteed Irish,’ the second series of the successful 6-part show on TG4, the launch of the Guaranteed Irish ‘Ones To Watch’ initiative in association with KPMG and Grant Thornton, the launch of a full events calendar of webinars & eLearning workshops across the year and much more.

In recent consumer sentiment survey carried out by RedC Research and Market Dynamics: • 95% of consumers believe that by purchasing from firms with the

Guaranteed Irish brand they are ‘helping the local economy’; • 81% of Irish consumers agree that the

Guaranteed Irish brand portrays an image of trust; • 82% of Irish consumers agree that the

Guaranteed Irish brand stands out from others in its genuine support of Irish jobs, communities, and the circular economy; • 93% of consumers believe that by purchasing from firms with the

Guaranteed Irish brand they are supporting local employment.

Guaranteed Irish members expect to increase employment by 7.4% this year as we move towards recovery in 2021. 87 % felt that Guaranteed Irish was important in

Brid O’Connell, CEO, Guaranteed Irish.

promoting their goods or services during the pandemic in 2020.

Nestlé’s Wyeth Nutrition achieves Platinum Cert for Water Stewardship

NESTLÉ’S Wyeth Nutrition facility in Askeaton, Co. Limerick, is the first factory in Ireland, and the company’s first food manufacturing factory in Europe, to achieve the prestigious Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard Platinum Certification, in recognition of its water stewardship initiatives. The Platinum standard is provided where it has been proven that responsible water policies and initiatives, which lead to water preservation and reduction, are in place throughout a factory at a highest standard possible, and there is demonstrable engagement with stakeholders in the local catchment area. The Platinum Certification was awarded to Wyeth Nutritional Ireland Ltd after a rigorous independent assessment, which showed water stewardship throughout the factory being undertaken by its management and staff. The AWS Standard is the global standard for measuring responsible water stewardship across social, cultural, environmental and economic criteria, with the Platinum rating being the highest level of certification available. “We are delighted to be the first AWS Platinum-certified site here in Ireland, it is reflective of our continued commitment to meet the highest standards of water stewardship,” noted Antonio Prochilo, Factory Manager, who Antonio Prochilo, Managing explained that the Director; Patrick O’Grady, Water team placed significant Treatment Plant Operator; and focus to improve water Ian Ryan, Utilities Manager; sustainability on site as pictured at Nestlé’s Wyeth part of Nestlé’s wider Nutrition facility in Askeaton, global prioritisation of Co. Limerick. water sustainability.

Resilient performance for Glanbia in 2020 results

GLANBIA plc has announced its preliminary results for the 2020 financial year ended January 2, 2021. The group navigated Covid-19 well with the business portfolio delivering a resilient performance Siobhán Talbot, Glanbia Group Managing Director. in 2020, with revenue of €3,823.1m (2019: €3,875.7m), up 0.6% constant currency on prior year (down 1.4% reported). Like-for-like revenue grew 1.8% constant currency on the prior year. There was a robust performance from Glanbia Nutritionals, which drove likefor-like revenue growth of 10% constant currency on the prior year, while Glanbia Performance Nutrition was impacted by Covid-19 restrictions, in particular in Q2, and delivered like-for-like revenue decline of 13.3%, constant currency. “I am exceptionally proud of how our people responded to the many challenges of Covid-19,” noted Siobhán Talbot, Group Managing Director. “Throughout the pandemic, we lived our purpose and our values, delivering essential, nutritious food during the most challenging of circumstances and proving the resilience of our business. We delivered on our priorities of protecting our people, continuing the supply of food and maintaining our strong financial position. We kept our operations running safely with the aid of enhanced health and safety measures. Our business portfolio delivered a robust operating performance supported by our swift and decisive actions, which resulted in improving trends across the Group in the second half of the year.” Glanbia outlined the evolution of its sustainability strategy, ‘Pure Food + Pure Planet’. “As part of this strategy, we are signing up to Science Based Targets and aiming to reduce manufacturing emissions by 30% and supply chain emission intensity by 25% by 2030, while achieving net zero carbon emissions no later than 2050,” said Talbot.

Industry News

Finalists revealed for National Lottery Good Causes Awards

IRELAND’S only children’s hospice, a rehabilitation service for adults living with acquired brain injuries, an archive celebrating local LGBT history, a GAA club helping their community through the Covid pandemic and a rural community support service providing vital youth counselling, are amongst the 36 community groups, sports clubs and organisations from all over Ireland who were announced as finalists in the National Lottery Good Causes Awards. The 36 winning groups now proceed to the grand final in six categories: Sport, Health & Wellbeing, Heritage, Arts & Culture, Community and Youth, while a seventh category, Irish Language, will have a special award to be announced at the Awards final on May 29 at the Mansion House in Dublin (subject to public health measures at the time). Each national category winner will receive €10,000, while the overall Good Cause of the Year will get an additional €25,000. “The Good Causes Awards allow us to shine a light on the outstanding work being done in our communities by extraordinary groups,” noted Andrew Algeo, CEO of the National Lottery. Nuala Carey and Grainne Seoige are pictured at the launch of the Good Causes Awards last year. For more information, visit www.lottery.ie/good-causes-awards/finalists.

Bewley’s celebrates 25 years of Fairtrade

BEWLEY’S recently celebrated 25 years of Fairtrade coffee as part of Fairtrade Fortnight, from February 22 to March 7. Bewley’s was the first company in Ireland to introduce Fairtrade produce to the country and to celebrate, it launched the Fairtrade Collection, with products sourced ethically and made with the environment in mind, including Bewley’s Special Blend Fairtrade Tea 80s, Bewley’s Americano Coffee Capsules, Bewley’s Gold Roast Ground Coffee and Bewley’s Indulgent Hot Chocolate. See www.bewleys.com for more information.

Musgrave MarketPlace raises €48,000 for Alzheimer Society of Ireland

MUSGRAVE MarketPlace has announced it raised €48,000 for the Alzheimer

Society of Ireland in 2020, with funds raised helping to provide support services for both families and people with dementia to ensure no one has to face dementia alone.

Musgrave MarketPlace will continue its partnership with The

Alzheimer Society of

Ireland in 2021, with an ambition to raise an additional €60,000 for the Charity. “I would like to thank the Musgrave

MarketPlace team, who put a huge amount of time and effort into raising this money in unprecedented circumstances,” noted Michael

McCormack, Managing Director at Musgrave MarketPlace. Pictured are

Thomas Williams, General Manager, Musgrave MarketPlace Ballymun, and

Jackie Hughes, HR & Customer Service Manager. Musgrave MarketPlace. Aldi donates €30,000 to Homeless Care CLG

ALDI Ireland Group Managing Director Niall O’Connor (left) and Homeless Care CLG Director John Cradock stand together at the Homeless Care CLG Facility in Naas, County Kildare, to mark Aldi’s €30,000 donation to support its opening. The donation of €30,000 to the charity is part of Aldi’s long-term commitment to helping the local areas in which its stores and distribution centres are located. Homeless Care CLG aims to provide comprehensive residentialbased care, training and education programmes to young homeless adults, with the aim of helping service users transition from state care to independent living.

SuperValu & AsIAm’s autism-friendly learning resource back in-store

SUPERVALU and AsIAm, in collaboration with Mary Immaculate College, have announced the return of the Bridge Back to School learning resource to help students, teachers, SNAs and parents to support children as they go back to school. The autism-friendly resource was available in every SuperValu from February 19 to support families in re-establishing routines that may have been disrupted with the closure of schools and prepare them for a return to school when the time comes. Ian Allen, Managing Director, SuperValu, said, “We’re committed to making SuperValu inclusive and autismfriendly and the work we do in communities around Ireland raises much-needed awareness and support for the autism community.” James Moriarty from Moriarty’s SuperValu is pictured launching Bridge Back to School.

Industry News

Aldi to open new Ballina store in 2022

ALDI Ireland has been granted planning permission to build a new store in Ballina. Co. Mayo, bringing 30 new permanent jobs to the town. Expected to open in 2022, the new store will also create 50 jobs during the construction phase. The development of the new Aldi store will see a substantial investment into the local area. The store will be constructed in Aldi’s award-winning Project Fresh design and feature 80 car parking spaces, EV-charging stations and a bicycle stand unit. “We are very excited to be coming to Ballina. This is fantastic news for shoppers and employment in the town,” said Colin Breslin, Regional Managing Director, Aldi Ireland, who reaffirmed Aldi’s commitment to Mayo, with four stores in the county.

Dealz digs deep for Make-A-Wish Ireland

DEALZ has paid tribute to the generosity of its customers who, despite the global pandemic, helped the company beat last year’s fundraising total to raise over €77,000 for its charity partner, Make-A-Wish Ireland. The money was raised through a series of events across its 70-plus stores in Ireland, such as raffles, fancy dress days, pyjama days and sponsored runs. As a mark of appreciation, the Dealz stores that raised the most money chose a team member to take part in a parachute jump that is currently scheduled for April, restrictions permitting. Pictured at the Buncrana store are Ciara Gillen, Clothing Manager; Ronan Gildea, Store Manager; Antony Gorry, store colleague; Michael Faulkner, Duty Manager, and June Doyle, store colleague.

Délifrance partners with Derry Group

LEADING bakery solution provider Délifrance has partnered with Derry Group, Ireland’s new bespoke logistics hub in Co. Armagh, to support the company’s continued growth across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. This follows the 2018 opening of a Délifrance office in Dublin. Previously, Délifrance products have been distributed to customers in Ireland from the UK. By fulfilling orders in Ireland, the new distribution centre offers these customers a faster and more efficient delivery with improved service. Derry Group Ireland owns Derry Refrigerated Transport, a renowned distributor in Ireland for chilled, ambient and frozen goods. The new hub includes a 70,000 square feet cold-store, from which Délifrance product will be managed and distributed across Ireland.

Go nuts for Cadbury Nuttier

CADBURY has unveiled its latest offering, which is the perfect combination of fruit, nuts and the nation’s favorite chocolate. There are two sides to every bar, with either nuts or a combination of nuts and fruits on one side, and a layer of delicious Cadbury milk chocolate on the other side. The Cadbury Nuttier bar launches with three different delicious flavours, including Cadbury Nuttier Peanut & Almond, Cadbury Nuttier Cranberry, Almond & Peanut, and Cadbury Nuttier Coconut & Almond. Cadbury Nuttier is available in a 40g single bar format with an RRP of €2. “We’re delighted to be able to give the people what they want and introduce a Cadbury product which is all about balance,” noted Cadbury Ireland Senior Brand Manager, Tricia Burke.

SuperValu renews partnership with everymum

SUPERVALU has renewed its ongoing partnership with everymum for an additional three years, which will see gift bags provided to new mums. Provided by Ireland’s largest online parenting community, the everymum gift bag is packed full of free baby product samples such as baby toiletries, nappy bags and wipes, along with discounts and useful information. The bag also includes a SuperValu online shopping voucher to the value of €10 off €80 spend. There are approximately 50,000 bags distributed each year to new mums across Ireland. “We are delighted to continue our work with everymum for another three years,” said Shane Lynch, SuperValu Marketing Manager. “Over the past 14 years, we have helped distribute almost 700,000 free baby gift bags to new mums across the country and we know how much they love coming in-store to collect their bags packed with useful products and information.” Pictured at SuperValu Grange, Cork, are store manager Pat Sisk and parent Lisa Connolly.

Industry News

Stephen Kenny launches Spar FAI School Zone

PICTURED at the launch of the Spar FAI School Zone at FAI Headquarters in Abbottstown recently were Colin Donnelly, Spar Sales Director, and Stephen Kenny, Republic of Ireland senior team manager. The Spar FAI School Zone is a new digital learning platform for teachers and parents of primary school children in 4th, 5th and 6th class that has been developed by the FAI and offers interactive and engaging lesson plans, designed with both the classroom and home schooling in mind. The new teaching resource is hosted on the FAI’s website, with innovative football themed lessons uploaded twice a week over the course of four weeks from March 15. The heavily-resourced and user-friendly lessons, covering core subjects such as Maths, History, Geography, English, Art, Irish and healthy eating, will be emailed to teachers and parents weekly, along with answer sheets. “We’ve been supporting the FAI for over six years now through our sponsorship of the Spar Primary School 5s competition,” noted Colin Donnelly. “It’s been an exceptional year for teachers, parents and students and while the Spar 5s may not be going ahead, we are equally delighted to be sponsoring this initiative.”

Fyffes announces sustainability target to reduce food loss

FYFFES has announced a new sustainability target, committing to reducing food loss in its own operations by 80% by 2030. Reducing food loss and educating people on food waste are key targets of Fyffes Healthy Food for Healthy Lives sustainability pillar, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12, Responsible Production and Consumption. Caoimhe Buckley, Fyffes’ Director of Corporate Affairs, says: “Our commitment to reducing food loss from our production processes is part of our Sustainability Strategy. We are planning to do this by repurposing our food loss through the development of new applications and uses for our core products, as well as further improving our logistics and planning capabilities.”

Bewley’s announces partnership with Alpro

BEWLEY’S has announced a partnership with plant-based and dairy-free category leader Alpro, offering new plant-based menu solutions for Bewley’s operators nationwide. Ireland’s first bean-to-cup, plant-based coffee dock has been installed by Bewley’s in the N4 service station, Mace Ballinalack, and plans are in place to roll out plant-based stations across Bewley’s c-store operators over the next 12 months. Bewley’s Plant-Based Coffee provides a plant-based alternative for coffee drinkers, with all traditional milk-based coffees prepared using the Alpro Barista For Professionals range, including Oat Gluten Free, Coconut, Soya and Almond options. “Our research identified a rise in popularity and demand for plant-based coffee and so we took these steps to ensure we’re delivering for both our customers and operators and providing them with the best, most innovative products,” noted Jason Doyle, Managing Director of Bewley’s Ireland & UK.

WaterWipes launches biodegradable baby wipes

WATERWIPES has released new parenting research to mark the launch of its 100% biodegradable baby wipes. The survey amongst Irish parents with children under five reveals that whilst parents are trying to be more conscious of the planet their children will inherit, this is causing increasing confusion, pressure and judgement. Nearly all parents surveyed (92%) said it is important to buy products that are ecofriendly, but 81% find environmentally friendly labelling on baby products confusing, and the most confusing ecoterm for parents is ‘biodegradable’. Mum of three, nutritionist and model Rosanna Davison is pictured with her son Hugo Davison-Quirke at the launch of the WaterWipes eco jargon dictionary, which provides guidance for parents to make informed choices when choosing baby products in easy-tounderstand language.

SuperValu’s Monday Market Place returns to support Irish businesses

SUPERVALU is bringing back its ‘Monday Market Place’ to support local businesses and encourage shoppers to think before they click and buy Irish. With followers of over 120,000, SuperValu’s Instagram channel is offering 10 businesses per week the chance to be showcased each Monday during March. “Supporting Irish and buying local is in our DNA and over the coming months we will continue to drive the message to shop local,” noted Tara Clifford, Strategy Marketing Manager, SuperValu. Pictured is Mari Donelan from Dan & Monstro, who creates delicious nutritious sauces especially made for kids.