Latest news

Northern Irish meat supplier Linden Foods has posted a 10 per cent increase in turnover to more than ?150m. The Dungannon-based business has put the growth down to a "mixture of volume and price increases during the year".

Four products from three Northern Irish food producers have been listed in the Top 50 British Foods just announced by the Great Taste Awards organised by the UK Guild of Fine Food.

Botanic Inns, the leading Northern Irish operator of hotels, restaurants and bars, is partnering with Fivemiletown Creamery to offer customers the new range of artisan ice cream, as part of a commitment to source more food and drink from local suppliers.

Golden Popcorn, the Northern Irish snack foods business, is growing sales of cinema style popcorn in Britain and Republic of Ireland as part of a new growth strategy.

The company, the leading Irish manufacturer of cinema-style popcorn, has signed deals that will expand business with retailers in the Republic of Ireland and England.

Pure Roast Coffee, the Northern Irish coffee business, has achieved a key quality accreditation that resulted last month in &pound1.2 million of new business outside Northern Ireland for coffee pods and beans.

Based in Lisburn, County Antrim, the company, a specialist in coffee for foodservice organisations, achieved British Retail Consortium Grade A accreditation and will enable it to grow business especially with major retailers in Britain, the Republic of Ireland and further afield.

Abernethy Butter, the Northern Irish processor of hand churned butter, gained a quality award at the recent Royal Highland Show at the first attempt.

The artisan butter and fudge business, based on the Abernethy family farm at Dromara in County Down, entered the prestigious agricultural show as part of a drive to raise its profile and thereby win its first sales in Britain.

Soaring sales of speciality cheese, especially the unique Boilie Irish goat’s cheese pearls produced a trading record for Northern Ireland’s Fivemiletown Creamery in 2011, the best-ever sales in its 114 year history.

Suki Tea, the Northern Irish boutique tea house, has introduced the UK’s first triple certified tea. The company, based in Belfast, has launched a Bannockburn Darjeeling tea that’s fully certified by the Rainforest Alliance, the Fair Trade organisation and by the Soil Association as organic.

Supreme Great Taste champion McCartney’s, the award winning Northern Irish butchery business, has added Partridges, the high-end gourmet food stores in London to the developing customer portfolio for its corned beef.

Managing director of Dunbia, the Northern Irish meat business, Jim Dobson has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to the industry.
Dobson, who owns and runs 10 operating meat plants with brother Jack, has been named in the Meat Trades Daily ‘Hall of Fame’. Dunbia, headquartered in Dungannon, County Tyrone, is the largest lamb processor in Europe and runs beef and pork plants in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.