Bord Bia’s new FoodService Academy launches today, with the first ten Irish food and drink companies lined up to benefit from assistance from the agency and from Musgrave Marketplace, which supported the successful ‘Food Academy’ programme run by SuperValu.

The FoodService Academy will help small Irish food and drink companies develop their business in the food service market (the ‘out of home’ food market). Blanco Nino, Europe’s first producer of authentic corn tortillas and Nobó, the dairy free ice-cream company, have already been recruited to the programme, and other companies that will benefit from the programme include Tipperary Kitchen, a family-run artisan bakery, and Secret Recipe, the only producer of halal and gluten free meals to the food service industry in Ireland and the UK, plus other bakery, seafood, pork and beverage producers.

Maureen Gahan of Bord Bia said: “Bord Bia is delighted to work with Musgrave Marketplace for the first time on the inaugural FoodService Academy, looking to grow the sales of small businesses in the market. The foodservice market is delivering real growth and value for Irish food and drink companies, as is evidenced in our recent industry report. The ‘out of home’ market is now worth €6.37bn and this is forecasted to grow to almost €6.9bn by 2018, so this is an area we are encouraging companies to develop.”

Consumer Insight

Musgrave’s Sheena Forde added: “Following on from the success of our Food Academy programme with Bord Bia and Local Enterprise Offices, we are now bringing a similar programme to Irish food service producers through Marketplace. A number of the participating companies are Food Academy graduates, so we are proud to be in a position to introduce their products to our food service customer base.

“The FoodService Academy programme offers a combination of commercial and marketing expertise and will provide invaluable consumer insight for the companies involved.”

In Association with

The programme, coordinated by Bord Bia, will take place over four months and comprise of workshops and mentoring, with the first workshop taking place today. Representatives from Musgrave Marketplace will participate in the workshops, sharing practical insights and experience to help the companies understand areas such as supplier set-up, food safety requirements and distribution model, as well as sales and marketing support.

The ten companies chosen to participate are:

• Atlantis Seafood, a family seafood business based in Wexford
• Blanco Nino, Europe’s only producer of authentic corn tortillas and un-fried tortilla chips made in Tipperary
• Coffee House Lane, a Waterford family run coffee roaster
• Lily’s Tea House, blenders of a range of premium, loose leaf teas as well as matcha tea and premium tea pyramids who also based in Waterford
• Nobó, the dairy free ice-cream producer, which is made without any refined sugar, gums or stabilisers
• Maria Lucia Bakes, a Dublin producer of gourmet gluten, wheat and dairy free granola cereals
• Kildare’s Outdoor Oinks, a range of Bord Bia approved pork and bacon products
• Secret Recipe in Cork is the only producer of halal and gluten free meal solutions to the foodservice industry in Ireland and the UK
• Tipperary Kitchen, a family run artisan bakery producing a range of handcrafted meringues, dessert sauces and chocolate biscuit cake
• Wildberry Bakery, an artisan gluten free bakery in Cork.

Photo: L-R Brian Nolan, Nobo, Maureen Gahan, Bord Bia, Sheena Forde, Musgrave Marketplace and Ann Marie Walsh, Tipperary Kitchen