Northern Irish Superchip Sauces to set up franchise operation in Britain
Superchip Sauces, the Northern Irish specialist in quality sauces for foodservice, is setting up franchise operations in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland as part of a new growth strategy.
The first franchisee to market its range of sauces in the Republic by van sales has recently been identified in Donegal after the establishing of a successful pilot in Northern Ireland.
The company is now actively assessing similar operations throughout Britain and other parts of the Republic. It also has plans to develop franchises in other parts of Europe for its portfolio of quality sauces for the catering sector. In addition, the company intends to move into retail outlets in these markets.
Established in March 2011, Superchip is the marketing arm of BJ's Sauces, which has been manufacturing a wide range of quality sauces for catering operations in Northern Ireland since December 1998. Both companies are based at Lisburn, near Belfast.
Superchip is supplying franchisees with a range of 10 sauces, breadings and four mayos in 4.5 litre tubs from its manufacturing plant. The sauces include chicken gravy, curry, Chinese-style brown gravy and a spicy chicken coating.
All the sauces are produced from quality ingredients and use recipes created in the development kitchen at BJ's Sauces.
Brian Agnew, managing director of BJ's Sauces and Superchip, outlining the company's business growth strategy, says: "Superchip Sauces is based on the experience that we've gained with BJ's Sauces in providing sauces and coatings to foodservice operations in Northern Ireland over the past 20 years. We are currently in the process of creating five of our products in a 325g retail pack suitable for home use.
"We have a strong business base in Northern Ireland and a reputation for consistently high quality products that combine outstanding taste with value for money. Northern Ireland, of course, is a small market, and we recognised, some time ago, that we'd have to look at neighbouring markets for sustainable growth.
"We carried out extensive research and decided that the franchise model using van sales would be the most effective route to growth in Britain and the Republic particularly in terms of the cafes, restaurants and canteens which are our target market.
"We then undertook essential desk research to flesh out the franchise project and attended several exhibitions to help us in developing a model that suited our requirements and to utilise our manufacturing operation in Lisburn. The next step was to set up a pilot using a franchisee in Northern Ireland and this proved exceptionally successful.
"As a result of this work, we've now established franchisees in Northern Ireland and will shortly have a franchisee in Donegal. We've also pinpointed 38 territories in Britain for potential franchisees and are now actively developing a network."