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Aldi donates an extra 25,000 of nonsurplus food to FoodCloud; Tetra Pak launches tethered caps to reduce littering; Consumers buying Irish during pandemic
Aldi donates an extra €25,000 of non-surplus food to FoodCloud
ALDI is donating an additional €25,000 in retail value of non-surplus food to FoodCloud as the charity announces it is experiencing ongoing record demand for its services due to Covid-19. As part of its programme of increased support to FoodCloud, Aldi is also:
• Increasing its daily store donations of surplus food to community groups with a charitable purpose, in addition to registered charities, for the first time. • Increasing the frequency of retail surplus food donations to seven days a week, to include Saturdays and Sundays. • Introducing a new volunteering programme for staff. Aldi’s store Charity Champions will be allocated paid hours to support
FoodCloud’s dedicated teams in distributing food from their Hubs. • Donating unsold poultry, beef, duck and lamb at Easter, following its successful donation of similar foods over Christmas.
“We are proud to continue to support FoodCloud with additional donations,” noted John Curtin, Aldi Group Buying Director. “We are also extending our reach to help more charities and people in need across local communities. Covid-19 has put increasing pressure on us all and we are looking forward to lending an extra hand through our new staff volunteering programme.” Meanwhile, Aldi has announced two new stores for the future, in Cootehill, Co. Cavan, and Blackrock, Co. Cork. Aldi has submitted a planning application for the new 1,315 square metres Cootehill store to Cavan County Council. The store, which will create up to 25 new permanent jobs, will be centrally located on Station Road close to Market Street. The 1,337 square metre store in Blackrock will be Aldi’s second store in Blackrock when it opens in 2024, with an existing store also on Skehard Road, and will create up to 30 new jobs. Both stores will be constructed in Aldi’s award-winning Project Fresh design, powered by 100% green electricity.
Pictured are (l-r): Aldi Buying and CSR Director, Laura Harper, and FoodCloud Co-Founder and Partnerships Director, Aoibheann O’Brien, at Aldi’s Newlands Cross store, Clondalkin, Co. Dublin.
Tetra Pak launches tethered caps to reduce littering Consumers buying Irish during pandemic.
TETRA Pak is ready to deploy its portfolio of tethered cap solutions, which will help to minimise litter, as the cap will stay attached to the package. The company also plans to produce its tethered caps as a plant-based option, therefore increasing the renewable content of the package. In tandem, Tetra Pak is accelerating the expansion of its paper straws offering to ensure further renewable and low carbon materials across its range of packaging solutions. “These are key milestones in our journey towards the world’s most sustainable food package: a carton that is fully made from renewable or recycled materials, is fully recyclable and carbon-neutral,” says Lars Holmquist, Executive Vice President Packaging Solutions and Commercial Operations, Tetra Pak. These steps are also central to ensuring that Tetra Pak’s customers in Europe will be ready to comply with the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive, an integral part of the wider approach announced in the Plastics Strategy and an important element of the EU Circular Economy Action Plan. With this in mind, Tetra Pak has accelerated innovation in the caps area, as Lars notes: “The significant challenge of deploying tethered caps is the scale of the change that this brings across the value chain. If we look at Europe alone, more than 1,000 packaging lines supplied by us will be potentially transformed, translating into over 20 billion packages which are expected to be converted. All of that in three years, while minimising impact on our customers’ operations, optimising the consumer experience and contributing to both minimising litter and creating a carton package with increased plant-based and recycled content.” THERE is clear evidence that consumers are increasingly buying Irish throughout the global health pandemic brought about by Covid-19, delegates at a key food and drinks industry symposium hosted by Love Irish Food heard recently. According to research from Kantar presented during the Love Irish Food conference, 44 of the top 100 selling take home grocery brands in Ireland during 2020 were Irish produced. Over the past year during the pandemic, this cohort of 44 brands has grown by 18% to a total of €1.07 billion in combined sales. These Irish brands currently capture 48% of the money spent among the top 100 selling take home grocery brands in Ireland. “The contribution of Irish manufactured food and drink brands to the local and national economies in Ireland is both vital and immense,” said Kieran Rumley, Executive Director at Love Irish Food. “Love Irish Food aims to educate Irish consumers so that they recognise Irish brands. Buying more Irish made products helps Irish businesses survive and protects Irish jobs, which is critical in the current climate in the context of the global health pandemic and will be crucial in driving economic recovery.” Love Irish Food believe that Brexit brings the potential for import substitution –producing locally what we previously imported. “The decisions taken by Irish consumers can play a key role in this regard,” Kieran Rumley argued.
Industry News
Breakfast sales soar at Centra during pandemic year
CENTRA has recorded a significant increase in demand for breakfast foods during the pandemic, with its Inspired By product range generating almost €1.9m in sales through Irish producers last year, up from €1.5m the previous year. The group also recorded a 1,000% increase in non-alcoholic spirits and liqueurs, while newspaper and magazine sales were up 3% and 7.5% respectively, and gardening and horticulture saw a massive 7,000% increase in seed sales. “At Centra, we are very pleased by the sales performance of Inspired By breakfast product range which, importantly, is all sourced from Irish producers,” said Ian Allen, Managing Director of Centra. “The contribution to the company of the convenience retail sector is critical, particularly in the current climate, and we are delighted to be supporting home-grown Irish producers from the four corners of the country through our Inspired By product range. Clearly, there has been a trend throughout the pandemic towards certain food products, with customers keen to experience a treat at home for a much-needed morale boost. We’re delighted that they are choosing to shop with us at Centra, and more important, are choosing to buy local and Irish in doing so.”
Danone to donate Actimel bottles to FoodCloud
DANONE has teamed up with FoodCloud to donate Actimel to local communities in need as part of a wider initiative to donate 1m bottles across the UK and Ireland. Actimel brings its decades of experience in immune support and live cultures to launch the new campaign to ‘Give Our Communities Your Best Shot’. “We are delighted to partner with FoodCloud to donate Actimel, our mighty shots! As a BCorp, we believe we all have a role to play in supporting each other,” said Cormac Byrne, Head of Sales, Danone. “We’ve seen inspiring examples of communities coming together over the last year, and we want to encourage this community spirit to continue. Every time you buy and scan a pack of Actimel, we will donate one to charity, simply log on to Actimel.ie.” Cormac is pictured with Iseult Ward, Co-Founder and CEO, FoodCloud.
Dunnes raise over €240k for Irish Heart Foundation
DUNNES Stores’ customers all over Ireland raised over €340,000 to support the work of the Irish Heart Foundation over Valentine’s weekend, with customers across Ireland invited to add an extra €2 to their shopping bills – donations which go straight to the Irish Heart Foundation. The campaign was supported by TV presenter and fashion designer Brendan Courtney (pictured), whose father died four years ago, following a stroke. “Stroke prevention and support are key parts of the Irish Heart Foundation’s strategy and this money will make an enormous, collective contribution to that vital work,” Brendan said.
NESTLÉ Ireland has been awarded the prestigious Investors in Diversity Gold Accreditation from the Irish Centre for Diversity, in recognition of its commitment to embed diversity and inclusion within the culture and processes across the organisation and its external impacts. “The team at Nestlé Ireland is honoured to have achieved the Gold Accreditation, which is a testament to our commitment to ‘walk the talk’ when it comes to diversity and inclusion,” said Kieran Conroy, Country Manager at Nestlé Ireland (pictured). “Diversity and inclusion is an integral part of Nestlé’s global culture, and one of the ways we bring our company’s purpose and values to life in Ireland. We embed diversity and inclusion across everything we do in the business, where we focus on three core areas: culture, innovation and society.”
SuperValu & AsIAm launch autism acceptance campaign
TO mark Autism Awareness Month in April, SuperValu & AsIAm have teamed up to launch ‘Say Yes to Autism Acceptance’, a campaign aiming to encourage people to say ‘Yes’ for a change: Yes to employment, Yes to education and Yes to community inclusion. The campaign includes a ‘Say Yes to Autism Acceptance’ guide with 10 ways to say yes to Autism Acceptance, available in SuperValu stores throughout the month. “We are proud to be working with SuperValu to ask people around Ireland to say yes to their 78,000 friends, family members and colleagues who are autistic and yes to their 300,000 mums, dads, husbands, wives and siblings,” said Adam Harris, CEO of AsIAm (pictured). “We can all achieve this by committing to small changes to make our communities more inclusive, by sharing our commitment online with #AutismMonthSayYes and critically, you can donate to AsIAm, Ireland’s National Autism Charity, to help us support the autism community through Covid-19 and beyond.”
Industry News
Tesco Ireland reflects on a landmark year
AS the country marked the one-year milestone since the first Covid-19 national restrictions were introduced, Tesco Ireland reflected on an extraordinary year where: social distancing and queue management technology were introduced at all 151 stores nationwide; 391 individual hand sanitiser units were installed, with over 130,000 litres of hand sanitiser used to date; over 22,000 square metres of plexiglass screens were installed; over 750,000 face coverings have been provided to colleagues; Scan as you Shop technology was installed in 76 stores to support customers with an even more efficient shop, while enabling customers to manage their budget as they go. As well as this, Tesco doubled its grocery home shopping service and expanded Click and Collect by adding 11 new locations, introduced dedicated shopping times for certain priority groups, shortened payment terms for over 200 suppliers and donated over €1m to community groups nationwide through the Tesco Community Fund. “I want to acknowledge and thank our 13,000 colleagues across Ireland for their dedication, hard work and support of each other, whilst helping our customers and communities with great pride, showcasing first-hand that every little help makes a big difference,” said Kari Daniels, CEO, Tesco Ireland.
WHILE we recently celebrated our second Easter under Covid-19 restrictions, Cadbury wanted to connect people across the country through the power of generosity, with the launch of their ‘Show You Care, Hide It’ initiative in aid of Barnardos. On Easter Saturday, Cadbury encouraged as many people as possible to hide a Cadbury Easter Egg for a loved one, in the safety of their own home, take a snap of their best hiding place and upload it to social media, tagging @CadburyIreland and using #ShowYouCareHideIt. Anyone who took part was also encouraged to text HIDEIT to 50300 to donate €4 to Barnardos, with Cadbury matching every donation made on Easter Saturday. Cadbury also created the ultimate ‘Show You Care, Hide It’ packs, which were given away on Cadbury social channels in the run up to Good Friday, and included delicious Cadbury Easter Eggs, hiding tips and signage, along with lots of party goodies for the perfect hide at home.
Sports stars sign up for Fyffes fitness programme
IRISH world boxing champion Kellie Harrington and track and field Olympian, David Gillick, have signed up as members of the Fyffes Fit Squad team. In their new roles, both will conduct a 12-week online fitness programme to encourage children to adopt a healthy and active lifestyle, something Fyffes believe is more important now than ever before. The Fit Squad series of 20-minute videos are being screened online via the www.fyffesfitsquad.ie website. “The involvement of Kellie and David is an endorsement of the standard and quality of fitness exercises included in the multi award-winning Fit Squad programme,” noted Emma HuntDuffy, Fyffes Marketing Manager, pictured with David Gillick and Kellie Harrington.
TAYTO Snacks has been officially recognised as one of the Best Large Workplaces in Ireland 2021. This award comes in addition to the certification of Tayto Snacks as a Great Place to Work in 2020. “To be recognised as one of the Best Workplaces in Ireland is fantastic,” noted John O’Connor, Managing Director at Tayto Snacks (pictured with Mr Tayto). “To receive such recognition during these challenging times is a credit to the brilliant team that we have working in Tayto Snacks. It is through open communication, honest feedback, and the engagement of our entire team that we have earned this great achievement. I am so proud to be on this journey with our colleagues, to make Tayto Snacks an even greater place to work.”
Ornua appoints John McRedmond as Chief Risk & Compliance Officer
ORNUA Co-Operative, owner of Ireland’s iconic Kerrygold brand and the leading exporter of premium Irish dairy products worldwide with revenues of €2.3 billion, is pleased to announce the appointment of its General Counsel, John McRedmond, to the role of Chief Risk & Compliance Officer. In his new role, John will join Ornua’s Executive leadership team and will be responsible for identifying, analysing and mitigating risk, including commercial risk management, operational risk, legal, insurance, corporate procurement, and compliance. This role will be pivotal in supporting Ornua to deliver on its new five-year strategic plan, Ornua 2025, which seeks to drive valuable and profitable growth in 110 markets worldwide, while protecting the long-term sustainability of the Ornua business.
An appeal to the Grocery Retail sector
The Irish Grocers Benevolent Fund is our industry charity, providing invaluable support to colleagues from our sector who find themselves in need of financial assistance at challenging times in their lives.
Unfortunately, one of the consequences of the current crisis is the cancellation of many fundraising initiatives that involve large gatherings of people. For the IGBF, the cancellation of many of our major events is having a significant impact on our ability to raise funds.
As a result, we have no current source of income to support the existing beneficiaries of the fund while we continue to receive additional requests for assistance at this difficult time. Therefore we find ourselves in a very challenging position.
As President of Appeals for the fund this year, I am appealing to you to make as generous a donation as you can at this time. Many of you have been strong supporters of the IGBF in the past and I am appealing to you to provide support once again. I assure you that your donation has never been more necessary or would be more appreciated.
I would be happy to receive your donation by cheque addressed to me at Musgrave House, Ballycurreen, Airport Road, Cork T12 TN99.
Thank you in advance for your generosity and for your continued support for the IGBF.
Yours sincerely
Sharon Buckley Group Commercial Director, Musgrave & President of Appeals, Irish Grocers Benevolent Fund.
Pat The Baker lands major sponsorship with Virgin Media
PAT The Baker has taken over sponsorship of the top performing Graham Norton Show on Virgin Media and Virgin Media Player. Pat The Baker, Ireland’s award-winning bakery, chose to partner with the Graham Norton Show as the show continues to grow, becoming a must watch on Saturday nights. “We’re delighted to have the opportunity to be associated with Graham Norton. His show has been a great escape, particularly in the year just gone. The sponsorship format is ideal for us to profile some of the award-winning breads from our bakery,” said Declan Fitzgerald, Managing Director, Pat The Baker. Frank Neary, MD of Mindmap, the agency behind the creative work, added: “This is just the start of a drive to make Pat The Baker more famous than ever.” Pictured are (l-r): Sorcha Brady, Partnerships Manager, Virgin Media, with Declan Fitzgerald and Frank Neary.
Lindt Ireland donates €40k worth of Gold Bunny Hunt Packs to Temple Street
SARAH Burmanje, Brand Manager, Lindt Ireland, and John Doyle, Head of Portering Services and Ambassador, Temple Street Children’s Hospital, are pictured outside the children’s hospital, as the team at Lindt Ireland dedicated their Easter to raising funds for the Children’s Health Foundation, despite the challenges presented by Covid 19. Lindt Ireland donated €40k worth of limited-edition Lindt Gold Bunny Hunt Packs to the Children’s Health Foundation, with 100% of proceeds from each sale going directly to the charity. A number of Hunt Packs were gifted to frontline workers in Dublin’s children’s hospitals, as well as to children and families in the hospitals. This year, the initiative by Lindt Ireland has raised over €20,000 to date.
Industry News
Fyffes searches for best banana dessert
CELEBRITY cook-it-yourself advocate, Donal Skehan, whose television cookery programmes have inspired a generation of young mealmakers, is going bananas again! His challenge this year, which is backed by banana importer Fyffes, is to find Ireland’s best banana dessert creation that has a banana as a key ingredient, as part of celebrations to mark National Banana Day on April 21. “Aside from raising awareness of what a fun and versatile fruit the banana is, we want to capture as many creative ideas, ingredients and recipes as possible, then share them far and wide,” noted Emma HuntDuffy, Fyffes Marketing Manager, pictured with Donal. For more information see www.facebook.com/FyffesIreland.
Nestlé launches bio-based lids and scoops
NESTLÉ has announced that it will introduce bio-based lids and scoops made from sugar cane and its by-product for a range of its nutrition products for babies and children. The main advantage of these bio-based plastics is that they are made from a renewable plant material that can be continually replenished and that absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In Ireland and the UK, SMA Nutrition and Nestlé Health Science are rolling out the new bio-based packaging materials for scoops and lids on tins. The lids and scoops are made from 66% and 95% sugar cane respectively. They are certified as plant-based plastic packaging and are widely recyclable. They are not compostable or biodegradable. They have the same properties and functionalities as conventional plastic ones, without compromising the high level of hygiene and freshness required.
€500k EuroMillions Plus prize won in Mullingar
ONE lucky EuroMillions player in Mullingar scooped the €500,000 EuroMillions Plus top prize on March 30, having bought their winning Quick Pick ticket at the Centra store at the Robinstown Texaco garage in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. Store Manager, Warrick McDonald, was delighted to hear the news: “Our store is located at the centre of a close-knit community so it’s great to hear that it could be a local winner who has come into half a million euro.” Warrick is pictured with Assistant Manager Noel Jessop at the Centra shop at Texaco Robinstown in Mullingar.
