Unique Buttermilk Flavour is Sweet Success
Northern Ireland's award winning Braemar Farm Ice Cream has developed a unique buttermilk flavour that's already proving popular with foodservice operations in the Republic of Ireland. The artisan ice cream business, a Great Taste Award winner, launched the new flavour recently in time for the summer season.
The small company also added a bubblegum flavour to its extensive portfolio of ice creams made from milk from the farm's 120-strong Holstein herd. Bubblegum is a response to market demand driven by children particularly in Northern Ireland.
"We decided to develop the buttermilk ice cream as a unique product that sets us apart in today's intensely competitive markets," says Ruth Pollock, a food
technologist, who founded the business in 2006 with husband Ian, who runs the family farm, located on rich pastures of Coleraine, County Derry and close to the historic Mussenden Temple.
Braemar Farm is among a developing cluster of Northern Ireland artisanal ice cream companies now making substantial ripples in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
Among other successful ice cream makers are other Great Taste winners such as Mullins, the overall Northern Ireland winner in the 2010 awards for its Ballybleat goats' milk ice cream, Glastry Farm, which has also featured in a recent Great British Menu competition, and Hoy's Farm, the creator of an ice cream that can be enjoyed by diabetics.
What began initially at Braemar as a farm diversification project to supplement earnings from the milk business has now turned into a successful operation that has collected prestigious Ice Cream Alliance and Great Taste Awards for the quality and originality of its range of ice creams and fruit sorbets produced in its own processing plant on the farm. Fruits used in the ice creams and sorbets are also sourced from local suppliers
The company now sells around 20 per cent of its products to customers, including hotels and restaurants, in the Republic of Ireland. Sales have grown steadily, averaging around 10 per cent per annum, since the launch of the business five years' ago.
"Business has been developing steadily from existing and new customers that we've added over the past year. As a result of growing sales in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, we are now operating at full capacity.
"Our products are also now attracting significant interest from the foodservice sector in the Republic.
"This interest has led to requests for us to develop exclusive flavours. We work closely with customers in developing bespoke flavours for them. The new buttermilk flavour, for example, was suggested recently by Harry's, a highly regarded restaurant in the Republic, and has proved to be an outstanding success with diners. The buttermilk ice cream has a distinctive and very creamy flavour that we believe is unique," she adds.
While the company is strengthening its foodservice business, the bulk of sales are still achieved through a network of retailers in Northern Ireland and the Republic.
"Retail sales are immensely important to us and will continue to be so because they provide fast consumer feedback which helps us in developing existing and new products. The new bubblegum flavour, for instance, was introduced in response to demand from younger customers," she adds.