Top Northern Ireland deli expands into England
The Meat Merchant, the successful Northern Ireland deli/farm shop business, is opening its first outlet in England in October, in Newcastle Upon Tyne, one of three new delis being planned by the company.
The Meat Merchant, a strategic marketing initiative by Hannan Meats, its parent company, which has developed a range of award winning meat products, also aims to include other artisan foods from Northern Ireland, many for the first time, to Britain. The deli will seek to develop business from both retail and foodservice customers.
Based at Moira in County Down, Hannan Meats is among the most successful suppliers of premium meat and other quality food products to top restaurants and hotels in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, gained a record 25 gold stars for 14 products in the most recent UK Great Taste Awards, organised by the Somerset-based Guild of Fine Food.
The company also gained a premier award for its unique Moyallon branded smoked, sweet cure bacon.
In addition, En Place Foods (UK), an associate company of Hannan Meats, gained a further six gold stars for its oils and infusions in the awards.
The company's first deli in England will be located at St George's Terrace in Newcastle Upon Tyne's Jesmond district. Heading up the expansion in England will be John Connel, a former UK Chef of the Year, who has held senior posts in The Savoy Hotel, London, as well as prestigious restaurants such as St Quentin, L'Odeon and Quaglinos.
In Newcastle, he has developed respected restaurants at 21 Queen Street, Seaham Hall and the Vermont Hotel.
Peter Hannan, managing director of Hannan Meats, commenting on the expansion plans for The Meat Merchant, said: "We've been encouraged to offer our beef and other meat products in particular by a delegation of chefs covering 62 restaurants in the North East of England who visited us recently in Northern Ireland and had the opportunity to sample the quality of meat that we produce from Northern Ireland suppliers.
"Northern Ireland has some superb beef, pork, lamb, poultry and game products, as well as a host of highly innovative and award winning artisan foods such as bread from Yellow Door Bakery, speciality cheese from Fivemiletown Creamery, and Red Dog seasoning salts and relishes. Our own En Place Foods is also at the forefront of the molecular gastronomy revolution.
"The new shop will introduce the North East of England to superb products such as Glenarm Shorthorn and Northern Ireland certified Hereford beef, Moyallon pork and bacon and Rockvale Poultry.
"As a business we have set our sights only on excellence in provenance, quality and consistency, which begin with breed, feed and excellent animal husbandry. This approach is carried forward into all the products that we stock in The Meat Merchant."
Hannan Meats, which has also won a strong of awards for innovation, including the top award for fillet steak in the Northern Ireland Steak Tasting Championship, opened the first Meat Merchant deli outlet, adjacent to its processing plant in Moira, early last year. The aim was to offer the quality of products it supplies for foodservice to local shoppers. It proved to be an outstanding success.