Northern Irish bakery in ?1m Tesco deal
Irwin's Bakery in Northern Ireland has secured a £1 million contract with Tesco to supply its unique 'Joeys' cakes to 700 stores across the UK.
Around one million Snowy Joeys - and Jammy Joeys, coconut covered individual jam cakes - will be supplied to the UK supermarket as part of Irwin's biggest ever deal. Irwin's is a family owned and run bakery and is Northern Ireland's largest.
The bakery, which employs 400 people in Portadown, now produces 60 million Joeys annually.
John Hopkins, Irwin's Bakery sales director, says the deal showed the popularity of its products."As Northern Ireland's leading bakery, we are always delighted to share the news of a much-loved local product's popularity in other markets.
"It is fantastic to secure this contract with Tesco as it not only strengthens our existing relationship but showcases the quality and taste of our products."
Mr Hopkins adds that the added revenue would be invested back into the bakery.
"We have invested in our production facilities, which has allowed us to increase capacity and win business on this scale."
With the deal the bakery has been able to invest in an extension in premises, equipment and the modification of equipment.
The company will also invest in its "production line to enable growth in capacity specifically to enable growth in Joeys", Mr Hopkins adds.
Irwin's already supplies all five of the major national supermarkets - Tesco, Morrison's, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, and Asda.
Tesco is the first retailer to stock Irwin's branded Jammy Joeys.
Irwin's, which was founded in 1912, currently supplies around 200,000 packets of goods to Tesco per week. This includes brands such as Rankin Selection, Irwin's and Howell's Handmade as well as Tesco private label.
Caoimhe Mannion, Tesco Northern Ireland's marketing manager, says the expansion of Irwin's products in the supermarket built on a long working relationship between the two firms.