Major US deal for Grace's Traditional Irish Biscuits

Grace's Irish Biscuits in Northern Ireland has won its biggest export deal for traditional handcrafted biscuits. The award winning company, based at Bangor in County Down, has won a contract to supply its traditional oatmeal and shortbread biscuits to leading US discount retailer Cost Plus World Market in San Francisco for sale through its nationwide chain of 260 stores.

The company is also supplying biscuits to the forthcoming Winter Ball in the Savoy Hotel of the International Fund for Ireland, an event which will feature leading Irish writer Seamus Heaney and Sir Bob Geldof.

The US deal followed an approach to Cost Plus by William Bullock, managing director and founder of Grace's, and a sample order was agreed last year. A new and much larger contract has now been placed by the US discounter.

Commenting on the new order, Mr Bullock says: "This gives us a significant presence with Cost Plus World Market in its stores from California to Virginia and is our biggest business to date in a market that we've targeted for faster growth.

"The contract also represents an important development for us beyond ethnic Irish regions in New York and Boston into mainstream America.

"Exports of our traditional and distinctive shamrock shaped biscuits are growing steadily in the US, Europe and further afield and we are well on the way to becoming a leader in quality Irish oatmeal and shortbread biscuits.

"Our oatmeal variety has won a UK Great Taste Award and has also been acclaimed in the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Awards.

"These awards are an important endorsement of our commitment to deliver truly unique, high quality, Irish products, using the best of locally sourced ingredients and trusted producers," he adds.

Grace's Irish Biscuits also secured export business recently in Germany and the Netherlands.

Formed n San Francisco in 1958, Cost Plus World Market sells a broad range of food, drink and other household products from suppliers worldwide. In 1996, the Company completed an initial public offering and trades on the NASDAQ national market under the symbol CPWM.

Picture by Press Eye Photography: In picture is William Bullock (left), MD of Grace's Irish Biscuits, with Maynard Mawhinney, Invest NI Food Director.