‘Innovate or Evaporate’ was the stark message from Tim Casey (pictured above), Country Manager at Innocent Drinks, when speaking at the 4th National Food & Drink Business Conference and Exhibition held recently in Dublin. “If you stand still, you go backwards,” he said before outlining how Innocent Drinks, which was founded by three friends eighteen […]
Enterprise
US-based L Catterton, the largest consumer-focused private equity firm in the world, is purchasing a minority stake of 27.9% in Innis & Gunn, one of the UK’s most successful international craft brewers, for £15 million. Founded in Scotland in 2003, Innis & Gunn has grown to be the No.2 craft brewer in the UK off-trade, […]
The Irish Spirits Association has hosted the inaugural meeting of Ireland’s gin producers, to represent this re-emerging Irish food and drink sector. Recent figures suggest that gin has grown by 31.6% year-on-year, in on-trade value to reach €74 million. Mirroring this, preliminary figures from the CSO suggest that 2017 may see a significant and unprecedented increase […]
Frutarom Industries, one of the world’s 10 largest companies in the field of flavours and natural specialty fine ingredients, continues its momentum of acquisitions and the implementation of its rapid and profitable growth strategy by agreeing to purchase of 100% of the shares of the UK company Flavours and Essences (UK) Ltd (F&E) for approximately […]
A new £10.7 million urban whisky distillery and bottling complex is to be built on the banks of the River Clyde in the heart of Glasgow in Scotland. The ambitious and innovative project is being masterminded by one of the country’s fastest growing Scotch whisky firms, Douglas Laing & Co.
The development at Pacific Quay will […]
Müller UK & Ireland, Britain’s largest producer of branded and private label fresh milk, butter, yogurt, desserts and dairy ingredients products, has unveiled a series of measures to help supplying farmers build vibrant dairy businesses for the future.
Müller has already confirmed an unprecedented £100 million of investment in its UK network of dairies so that […]
Teagasc (the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority) has published its annual farm enterprise level analysis based on its National Farm Survey (NFS) for 2016. In contrast to measures of overall farm performance, the enterprise level analysis shows the contribution of each type of farm activity to the farm’s overall profitability. These farm enterprise results […]
Quintessential Brands has announced a major investment in the Dublin Liberties Distillery Company including new banking facilities. It has agreed an €18.3 million investment by Stock Spirits Group in return for a 25% equity interest in Quintessential Brands Irish Whiskey Ltd (QBIW). QBIW owns The Dublin Liberties and The Dubliner Irish Whiskey brands and last year announced the construction […]
A new bottling line is set to boost production of Harrogate Spring Water, the UK’s fastest-growing independent bottled water brand. Harrogate Water Brands has made the £6.5 million investment in the new plant with support from Enterprise Ventures SME Loans. The company has increased sales by more than 60 per cent in the past two years […]
PepsiCo has announced the eight emerging nutrition, health and wellness brands that will join its first collaborative incubator programme in Europe. Designed to support nutrition food and beverage entrepreneurs, the PepsiCo Nutrition Greenhouse programme offers each of the eight participating companies a €25,000 grant and six months partnering with PepsiCo experts to accelerate the growth of their business.
The […]
Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland’s Seafood Development Agency and Fáilte Ireland have announced that the ‘Taste the Atlantic- a Seafood Journey’ trail, which was piloted in parts of the West of Ireland over the last two years, will now expand to run along the entire Wild Atlantic Way route. The immersive visitor experience will offer a platform […]
The food and beverage sector is dealing with constantly changing requirements imposed by clients and suppliers such as exchanging messages via EDI or tighter margins due to price changes. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is essential for companies operating in the food and beverage industry.
Microsoft Dynamics
ProStrategy provide companywide ERP solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. […]
University College Dublin (UCD) has announced O’Kale Krisps (www.okalekrisps.com) as the overall winner of the 2017 UCD Startup Stars Programme. This year’s programme, the University’s start-up support initiative for student entrepreneurs, has just ended at NovaUCD.
O’Kale Krisps, an early-stage food venture, has developed low-calorie, highly nutritious and air-dried kale crisps to give consumers a unique […]
Nestlé is expanding its support for innovative start-ups in the USA. Nestlé USA will enter into a new partnership with Rabobank and RocketSpace for the Terra Food + Agtech Accelerator programme.
Nestlé will work with Terra and other corporate collaborators to select and coach some of the most innovative and disruptive start-ups in the food and […]
The Thrive Project, a partnership between Coca-Cola and Enterprise Ireland has been officially launched with seven entrepreneurial founders being flown to Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta for an intense three-day boot camp. The boot camp is part of a six month programme developed to inspire and support ambition amongst some of Ireland’s fastest growing food and […]
Leading Northern Ireland wine merchant, JN Wine, is celebrating 40 years in business supplying selected wines to Northern Ireland’s best restaurants with a £300,000 investment in the company.
Widely recognised as one of the most experienced wine merchants on the island of Ireland, the Crossgar-based company has recently developed and implemented a bespoke online ordering and […]
The food and beverage sector is dealing with constantly changing requirements imposed by clients and suppliers such as exchanging messages via EDI or tighter margins due to price changes. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is essential for companies operating in the food and beverage industry.
Microsoft Dynamics
ProStrategy provide companywide ERP solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. […]
Bord Bia and 21 Irish food companies are exploring new opportunities with Continental European food retailers as they look beyond their existing UK customer base to grow their businesses. Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy (pictured above) explains: “Private Label food and drink now forms a significant part of retail sales in Europe, and our recent consumer […]
As part of the two-day Enterprise Ireland/IDA Trade & Investment Mission in Ireland event, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD visited Flow Technology at their facility in Charleville, County Cork on 17 May. The company, set up 40 years ago by the current owner’s father, Denis Murphy, is now one of […]
After almost two years in the making, Deliveroo Extreme Delivery, the innovative new concept taking the food delivery industry to all new heights – quite literally – has been launched in Australia. The Deliveroo Extreme Delivery concept engages skydivers rather than bike riders, allowing deliveries to be dropped to a much broader location base. For the […]
Bodegas Torres continues to be the most admired European wine brand according to the ranking of the 50 most admired brands in the world, produced by British magazine Drinks International. In this year’s poll of more than 200 masters of wine, sommeliers, journalists and wine experts, Torres continues to lead the European ranking, whilst moving […]
PM Group has officially opened their new, expanded Boston office, marking further growth in their presence in the USA. PM Group is an international project delivery company, with offices operating across Europe, the USA and Asia. The Group has a 44 year track record in project management, process design, facility design and construction management for […]
A dedicated team of Bord Bia food, drink and horticulture specialists will embark on a ‘Brexit Roadshow’ over the coming weeks visiting more than 150 Irish exporters nationwide. Following Theresa May’s announcement to trigger Article 50 on March 29th, this timely initiative will see fourteen Bord Bia sector managers travel across the country to conduct […]
There has been a Coppersmiths based in Rothes, Moray, Scotland since the mid-1850s servicing the fledgling Scotch Whisky Industry in Speyside.
In the 1890s Alexander Forsyth started his apprenticeship as a coppersmith with the then owner Robert Willison who had his main operation in Alloa in the Central Belt of Scotland. When Willison came to the […]
Lighthouse Systems, the UK-based Manufacturing Execution System (MES) vendor, is a Finalist at the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards, 2017, in the category ‘International Business of the Year’.
In the last 5 years, Lighthouse Systems has substantially grown through the continued collaboration with existing customers on one hand, and the on-boarding of new customers and larger MES/MOM […]
Arla Foods UK, Britain’s leading farmer-owned dairy company, has announced that its British owners will receive £31 million as their 2016 year-end bonus. Arla is owned by 12,000 dairy farmers across Europe, 2,500 of whom are British and make up almost a quarter of all British dairy farmers.
Once a year, Arla distributes its profits equally […]
A leading UK manufacturer of tray sealing and pot filling machinery, Packaging Automation (PA) has been ranked number 47 in The Sunday Times Lloyds SME Export Track 100 league table. The league table ranks Britain’s small and medium-sized (SME) companies with the fastest-growing international sales. PA which appears for the first time achieved an impressive […]
Lovemore Free From Foods has scooped the top gong at the South Wales Chamber of Commerce Welsh Business Awards and was named ‘Winner of Winners’. After securing the ‘Success Through Overseas Trade’ title for the second consecutive year, the dedicated gluten and wheat free company beat off strong competition to win the overall award for […]
The board of directors of The Coca-Cola Company has approved the company’s 55th consecutive annual dividend increase, raising the quarterly dividend 6 percent from 35 cents to 37 cents per common share. This is equivalent to an annual dividend of $1.48 per share, up from $1.40 per share in 2016. The first quarterly dividend is […]
Seeking food and drink’s entrepreneurial stars of tomorrow, The Seed Fund has announced that its annual competition is open for entries from Wednesday 1 February. A philanthropic organisation, which nurtures small and start up food and drink businesses, The Seed Fund is in its fourth year of activity.
Extending its reach across the UK in 2017, […]
Clive Black, one of the UK’s top Consumer Analysts, has joined the Advisory Board of Coriolis, a global provider of expertise and experience in the delivery of business transformation to the FMCG sector. Coriolis, which operates globally from offices in Nottingham, UK and Sydney, Australia, has sought to reinforce its understanding of the rapidly moving […]
Walsh Mushrooms Group has acquired the business and assets of Golden Mushrooms, one of Ireland’s top mushroom growers. Walsh Mushrooms Group is the second largest mushroom supplier to the UK marketplace, with operations in Ireland and the UK in compost manufacture, mushroom growing, marketing and distribution. The move, which comes amid on-going volatility in the […]
An economic study has found that the combination of a hard Brexit and the Public Health Alcohol Bill (PHAB) will create the perfect storm for the drinks sector, which is the powerhouse of the Irish Agri-Food and Drinks industry. The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI), which represents brewers, distillers, brand owners and distributors is […]
The monthly value of EU agri-food exports in November 2016 reached a new record level of €11.7 billion, which is €813 million higher than in November 2015. Considering a slight decrease in agri-food imports from third countries, the EU now has a trade surplus in agri-food products at €19 billion over 12 months.
Major gains in […]
Piccolo, the Med-inspired organic baby food brand that has successfully challenged its category with fresh flavours and artisan design, has been selected for the new crowd-funding initiative from AllBright – a unique funding platform committed to investing in and supporting female founders.
As a brand that already has two influential female investors, Jan Woods, former head […]
Aon plc, a risk and insurance adviser to clients across the food and drink sector, has launched Brexit Navigator, a bespoke and proprietary three step solution designed to help organisations quantify the impact of Brexit risk exposures, and redesign risk management and risk financing structures. Brexit Navigator is supported by an interactive tool that presents […]
McDonald’s Corporation is selling a controlling interest in its businesses in mainland China and Hong Kong to CITIC, CITIC Capital Holdings and The Carlyle Group for up to $2.08 billion (HK$16.14 billion) in cash and new shares. After completion of the transaction, CITIC and CITIC Capital will have a controlling stake of 52%, while Carlyle […]
Dedicated gluten and wheat free manufacturer, Welsh Hills Bakery, is preparing for orders to soar following Spanish airline, Vueling’s, announcement that it will increase its capacity on all of its services from Cardiff Airport by 16%. The Aberdare-based bakery, creator of the successful Lovemore Free From Foods, has a substantial contract to supply Vueling passengers […]
Origin Enterprises, the Irish agri-services group, and University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland’s largest university, have announced the establishment of a dedicated digital, precision agriculture and crop science collaborative research partnership, supported through the Science Foundation Ireland (‘SFI’) Strategic Partnership Programme. This is a €17.6 million five-year research programme.
The collaboration encompasses a strong multi and inter-disciplinary […]
Pots & Co, producers of Michelin-quality handmade puddings, has been named as one of ten ‘Ones to Watch’ in the 20th anniversary edition of The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100, cementing its place as a key player in the UK grocery retail dessert category. The prestigious Fast Track Ones to Watch celebrates companies that are tipped […]
The importance of red meat production to both the national economy of Scotland and the country’s rural areas, is very clearly highlighted in an independent new report commissioned by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS). The report, ‘An Assessment of the Economic Contribution of Scotland’s Red Meat Supply Chain’, reveals that the red meat supply chain in […]
Gourmondo, the online distributor of delicatessen, wines, and speciality foods from around the world, is expanding its business by a further three European countries, bringing its total to five. Available in Germany since 2002 and the Netherlands since 2011, in summer 2016 the online delicatessen began offering delivery to Austria, the UK, and Ireland.
“Gourmondo offers top-quality […]
The monthly value of EU agri-food exports in September 2016 reached a record value of almost €11.5 billion exceeding the export values in September of previous years by about €500 million. Highest increases in monthly export values (September 2016 compared to September 2015) were recorded for the USA and Japan. Agri-food exports to other Asian […]
By John Whelan
By the time Trump is sworn in as President in January, the global food industry including those with a presence in Ireland will already have taken protective action to Trump proof their business. But will it be enough and as Trump describes himself as ‘totally flexible on very , very many issues’ the […]
The majority of UK catering companies are in surprisingly good shape to cope with any Brexit fallout, a new report from market analysts Plimsoll Publishing argues. Having carried out a financial health check on the UK’s 1477 top catering firms, the new report has found that 486 firms are performing well in current market conditions […]
A group of leading businesses and organisations in Scotland’s aquaculture industry have come together for the first time to create an ambitious new growth strategy for the sector. The 2030 Aquaculture Strategy identifies key actions required to double the economic contribution of the industry from £1.8 billion in 2016, to £3.6 billion by 2030. It […]
The Irish Whiskey Association has launched a landmark new mentoring programme, which will bring established global players in the Irish whiskey industry together with new entrants to the market. The aim of this unique new mentoring programme is to ensure that new entrants to the category have access to the information and support they need to […]
By Allan Bruun, Industry Manager, Dairy, Market Unit Food, Alfa Laval
Are you looking for a self-priming pump that improves energy efficiency and reduces noise levels, as well as meeting the latest hygienic design standards? Using airscrew technology, the Alfa Laval LKH Prime sets a new standard in self-priming pump technology.
Based on the Alfa Laval LKH […]
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has given its first ever accreditation for real ale to a canned beer – from Moor Beer Company in Bristol. The UK campaigning organisation carried out tests on the ‘micro-canned’ beer from Moor Beer at its recent Great British Beer Festival and concluded that the beer qualified as real […]
By Ian Hunter, Senior Equity Analyst at Investec
Across our three main businesses in Investec Ireland (Corporate Treasury, Corporate Finance and Wealth & Investment), we have been working with clients to address the many challenges and opportunities thrown up by both BREXIT and deflation in food retail. Volatile currency markets pose real challenges in terms of […]
The Irish Government has launched a new €500,000 Enterprise Ireland Competitive Start Fund to support start-up activity in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. The Enterprise Ireland Fund, which provides €50,000 in equity funding for each successful applicant will open for submissions on Wednesday 21st September and will close at 3 pm Wednesday 5th October 2016.
Now […]
The Irish Government has launched a new Enterprise Ireland Competitive Feasibility Fund for agri-businesses. The Fund, which can provide up to €25,000 per initiative, is aimed at stimulating innovative start-ups and creating jobs and growth in the Irish agri-business sector.
The Fund, which is now open for applications from entrepreneurs and early stage start-up companies, will […]
Agriculture is currently the fourth largest sector of the Polish economy, and its share in the GDP of the country is much higher than the European average. The value of national production places Poland in 7th place in the European Union.
Poland has gained a significant position as a producer and exporter of agri-food products in […]
A survey by the Local Enterprise Offices in Ireland shows that 281 small food and drink producers, members of the Food Academy Programme who employ 1,131 people, have made the break-through into the retail market. Those same businesses expect to create a further 373 jobs over the next 12 months, bringing the total number of […]
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