CELEBRITY CHEF AND FOOD FIRM DEVELOP GOURMET BURGERS

Irish food company Tenderlean has teamed up with celebrity chef Jenny Bristow to create a range of gourmet burgers. Tenderlean and Jenny Bristow have given the traditional burger, a popular meal choice especially among young people, a new lease of life as a premium product using the very best locally-sourced ingredients. The burgers, which will appear under the established Jenny Bristow brand, are hand formed from Farm Quality Assured Beef and Ulster Pork and free from additives and preservatives. Tenderlean Managing Director Mark McCaffrey said: ???The launch of the new burgers is a further example of the company's strategic business approach which is focused on adding significant value to its established and successful meat processing operations to create a portfolio of convenience and wholesome foods for United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland markets. ???This strategy has also resulted in the company becoming the largest manufacturer of fresh, chilled pizzas in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. ???The launch of the new Jenny Bristow gourmet burger range is a further development of its drive to establish a diversified range of attractive and contemporary food brands in line with initiatives by my department and Invest Northern Ireland to assist the growth of the local food industry especially in export markets.??? ???We saw a gap in the market for a range of gourmet burgers and asked Jenny Bristow to create original recipes for the products that would appear under her successful brand. ???Feedback from sampling sessions has been excellent. The range includes traditional beef, pork and lamb and also a new Chorizo-flavoured burger. As a result, we are confident that the new products will become just as popular with consumers as our ???La Pizza' branded pizzas and other convenience foods that we manufacture in Derrylin in County Fermanagh. ???The new burgers and our partnership with Jenny Bristow strengthen our reputation as a producer of a broad range of convenience meals, a fast growing and very dynamic sector in both the UK and Ireland.??? Tenderlean is a family-owned and managed business which operates from a modern processing plant and has a longstanding reputation for excellence in processing beef and lamb products for leading food retailers. Tenderlean employs over 100 people at its EU approved processing plant which operates to the highest BRC and Bord Bia hygiene standards.