Food Academy gives small food producers a big chance

What began as a collaboration between SuperValu, Bord Bia, 31 Local Enterprise Offices and hundreds of small food producers, has seen the first ‘class’ of food producers graduate from the Food Academy Start programme.

Local producers from Waterford City and County; Gino’s Ice-cream, Ponticelli Coffee, The Early Bird Egg Company, Edelicious and Sea of Vitality took part in the tailored retail programme and this week saw their products displayed on the shelves of Caulfield’s SuperValu in Waterford.

Thomas Caulfield of Caulfield’s SuperValu Group, welcomed the new producers to the aisles of the Morgan Street store, commenting that “There is a rich tapestry of tastes and flavours on offer from the five companies, from coffee roasted exclusively in Waterford and bread made from seaweed to fresh flavoursome ice-cream, home-made sauces and accompaniments and organic, farm-fresh, free-range eggs.”

He added, “We are delighted to offer these new businesses the opportunity to showcase their products in our store and to introduce these new, exciting, indigenous ranges to our customers.  The producers in question are in start-up or early start phases and the products they are bringing to market are the embodiment of all that is good about Irish foodstuffs and we are proud to support them on this journey. ”

In September 2013, ‘Food Academy Start’ was launched in order to help develop Ireland’s artisan food industry, to deliver a consistent level of food marketing knowledge created for new and early-stage food business owners and to provide small food business with a solid foundation to progress to shelves of retailers.  The five Waterford producers participated in a series of workshops and one-to-one mentoring followed by a process of focus group testing and brand development. 

Ciaran Cullen of Local Enterprise Office Waterford which implemented and funded the programme was pleased to be involved with the initiative.  “SuperValu and Bord Bia developed a challenging yet rewarding programme for the participants.  The five Waterford businesses have unique food products which they worked hard on developing and deserve to reach a wide customer base on the shelves of SuperValu, as their product will be available in local SuperValu stores for a period of twelve weeks.”

“The food culture in Waterford has shifted perceptively in the last few years.  While consumers look for value, they still want, where and when possible, to support local producers because of their assured quality and traceability.  Here in Waterford we are lucky to have a dedicated group of food producers who are making great strides in putting Waterford on the Irish food map.”

The five local food producers will be trialed throughout the rest of the Waterford SuperValu stores and will be on the shelves of Garvey’s SuperValu Dungarvan, Quish’s SuperValu Tramore and Kelliher’s SuperValu Cappoquin from September 2^nd.

If you have a business idea, find out about what assistance is available to you from your Local Enterprise Office at 32, The Mall in Waterford City or the Civic Offices in Dungarvan. Alternatively you can email info@leo.waterfordcouncil.ie .  

Dunmore East set to celebrate 20 years of bluegrass

Bluegrass makes a welcome return to Dunmore East, Co. Waterford as the Guinness International Bluegrass Festival celebrates 20 years of great bluegrass, blues, country and honky-tonk music.

This year the 20^th Guinness International Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival will take place on August 21^st, 22^nd, 23^rd and 24^th 2014 and American quartet, Boxcar Preachers, is set to headline Ireland's longest running free bluegrass festival.

The Boxcar Preachers from Austin, Texas first played at the Bluegrass Festival back in 2006 and festival founder Mick Daly is delighted that the old time outlaw country band is back for the 20^th festival.

“The Boxcar Preachers created a great buzz in Dunmore East back in 2006 so we felt it would be apt to have them back as the Bluegrass Festival celebrates 20 great years.”

Bruce Gardner, co-founder of the band and Craig High got together almost thirteen years ago when they realised they came from similar musical stock.  The music they play is perhaps more reminiscent of the era of Bonnie and Clyde or John Dillinger, but their outlaw connection goes back to the romantic days of the Wild West when train robberies began to spread like an epidemic. 

According to Mick, “Since the Bluegrass Festival started back in 1994 the committee has been dedicated to growing the event and making it a fantastic weekend for music lovers, tourists, locals and families.”

“This year we plan to have more high calibre local and international bluegrass, country and blues acts playing free throughout the village over the three day festival.  The pubs and hotels in Dunmore will have a full live music schedule from afternoon to nightfall, with all gigs absolutely free.”

The festival will also feature plenty of family focused fun with food stalls, children’s entertainment in the Park and lots of activity throughout the village.

Mr. Daly was also pleased to confirm that some great UK and Irish acts will be performing over the Festival, with the return of Southern Welfare, the Mons Wheeler Band and Land’s End.

Land’s End is an edgy Bluegrass combo that debuted in Dunmore East in 2012 and returned in 2013. The band, made up of members from Cork, Galway, Dublin, Munich, Liverpool and Canada, performs music strongly embedded in the bluegrass tradition, but each member brings a distinctive sound of their own musical tradition to the musical arrangements of the band.”

“It’s a great line up befitting of our twentieth year of bringing great bluegrass music to Dunmore East.  Visitors can expect to hear a wide mix of bluegrass, country, blues, rhythm, swing and honky-tonk over the three day festival.”

The 20^th Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival kicks off on Thursday, August 21st at Azzurro Restaurant and heralds the start of three days of bands, playing almost 50 gigs in the villages’ pubs, restaurants and hotels.

For more information about all free events at the 20^th Guinness International Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival in Co. Waterford visit www.discoverdunmore.com.

This year’s line – up for the 20^th Guinness International Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival includes:

Boxcar Preachers

Down and Out Bluegrass Band

Land’s End

The Mons Wheeler Band

Southern Welfare

Black Bottle String Band

Newfoundland

Greasy Coat String Band

Dublin City Rounders

Barefoot Jenny

Waterford Local Enterprise Office Top Ten Tips with Louise Grubb of Q1 Scientific

Louise Grubb, Q1 Scientific and Ciaran Cullen, Local Enterprise Office Waterford