GROCERY & RETAIL NEWS Winners of Grow with ALDI 2022 unveiled

AND then there were five! ALDI is proud to announce that five Irish artisan food producers have been awarded contracts with the retailer as part of this year’s Grow with ALDI programme.

The winners span the length, and breadth of the country, and include a wide array of products, from healthy snacks to delicious condiments. Ambitious, creative, and tenacious, the producers behind these tasty products each possess a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit that makes them the perfect fit for ALDI.

The Grow with ALDI 2022 winners are:

Cully’s Bakery from Co. Cavan – The Iced Cherry Log created by Brían Cully is based off a traditional recipe passed down for generations and retails at €2.99.

The Sibly Food Co. from Co. Cork – Handmade Energy Balls from entrepreneur Matthew Collins are not to be missed and are available in two flavours retailing at €4.49.

Hanley’s Puddings from Co. Cork – This innovative Pudding Roulade is a combination of white and black pudding is available at the price of €2.19.

Vale & Acre from Co. Tipperary – Delicious back at home Sausage Rolls made using fresh Irish whole pork retail at €2.99.

Builín Blasta Co. Galway – Condiment lovers will revel over the Smoked Onion Mayo from popular Gaeltacht café for just €3.79.

The Grow with ALDI supplier mentorship scheme, in conjunction with Bord Bia backs Irish ventures and drives innovation. The programme highlights ALDI’s commitment to supporting Irish producers and sourcing quality Irish food products and making them available for consumers nationwide at great value price points.

This year, Grow with ALDI entrants were asked to submit brave and bold proposals that would set them apart from the pack. Successful finalists underwent a rigorous and competitive judging process and with almost 200 independent suppliers applying to participate in the programme, the competition was fierce.

In May, ALDI backed the ventures of 24 finalists putting their products on sale for a two-week period and today announced the five winners at The National and World Ploughing Championships 2022.

Each of the five winners will enjoy new contracts with the retailer. Two entrepreneurs, namely Brían Cully of Cully’s Bakery, Co. Cavan and Matthew Collins founder of The Sibly Food, Co. Cork, have been awarded core contracts. This means that their products will become part of ALDI’s awardwinning core range.

Three further seasonal contracts have been awarded to winners Fiona O’Dwyer of Vale & Acre Co. Tipperary, Anthony Considine of Hanley’s Puddings Co. Cork and Heather Connolly of Builín Blasta Café Co. Galway. Each of the five winning products are available in 152 ALDI stores nationwide now.

Local community retail brand XL celebrates 25th birthday

ONE of Ireland’s fastest growing retail brands, XL, celebrated its 25th birthday at its annual Retailing Standards awards night at the Hodson Bay Hotel in Co Westmeath recently. Hosted by BWG Foods, owners and operators of the XL Retail brand in Ireland, the prestigious awards ceremony recognised XL stores that demonstrated outstanding industry excellence following a comprehensive programme of inspections and audits carried out by Ireland’s leading Retail Audit company, SMA Retail Specialists. In total, 18 Retailing Standard awards were presented to XL retailers, including the coveted Store of the Year Award, which was won by Enda Scully’s, XL Daingean, Co. Offaly.

The celebrations on the night also paid tribute to how XL retailers have been providing an invaluable service to their communities and customers for a quarter of a century and how the brand continues to grow and evolve.

Commenting on the celebrations, Paul Bealin, Cash & Carry Sales Director, BWG Foods said, “XL retailers have been proudly serving their communities and customers for 25 years and it was wonderful to be in a position to celebrate that achievement together for the first time since the advent of the Covid-19 Pandemic. I want to congratulate all XL retailers on their achievements, with a special word for Enda and all in Scully’s XL Daingean on their continuing to set the benchmark for the XL brand and marketplace overall. Here’s to another 25 years of outstanding retail service.”