As you know, most of the shops are shut because of the COVID-19 restrictions. We cannot physically go into our local retailers and many of us are shopping more on line now than we ever did. The problem is that when you search for something, more often than not, the first page of results brings up retailers with plenty of money to spend on marketing, and frequently these are overseas. Not so for our smaller food & drinks producers.
As Christmas approaches, and Black Friday looms, online shopping will become even busier and I’m asking you, please, to buy from Irish producers and suppliers first. Make a little effort to find your food, drink and gifts locally, and by local I mean on the island of Ireland. It might be a little more expensive, but in the long run, unless we support Irish producers and suppliers now, saving jobs and supporting the local economy, we will pay dearly for it later.
The list that I started back in April with 40 producers has now grown and this morning its at 213!! Every day I’m being contacted by producers asking to be included and I’m only delighted to do so.
Here is the current list (as of this morning, November 3rd) in order from the county with the most (Cork) to that with the fewest (Kildare):
Cork
26
Galway
17
Dublin
15
Meath
15
Mayo
11
Sligo
10
Tipperary
9
Louth
8
Donegal
7
Wicklow
7
Clare
6
Kerry
6
Kilkenny
6
Leitrim
6
Longford
6
Tyrone
5
Antrim
4
Armagh
4
Cavan
4
Laois
4
Offaly
4
Roscommon
4
Waterford
4
Carlow
3
Derry
3
Down
3
Fermanagh
3
Limerick
3
Monaghan
3
Westmeath
3
Wexford
3
Kildare
1
TOTAL
213
I’m absolutely sure that there are many more producers out there that meet the criteria for inclusion in this directory, so please, spread the word, tell them to get in touch, remind them that its a free service, and encourage your family & friends to buy Irish!
Reminder – this list of for Irish food & drinks producers only who have both an e-commerce site and who are delivering.
One question I’m frequently asked is where a food producer, who had outgrown their home kitchen or whose home kitchen isn’t suitable, or who wants to expand, can rent kitchen / production space. I put together a list last year which is still fairly up to date, but I’m wondering if there are any cafes or restaurants or community centres that are closed at the moment who might be willing to rent their kitchens out? If so, please get in touch.
A number of food units around the country can be rented by the hour, week or longer term. Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), Councils, the Rural Development Companies and some community and private enterprises have built proper food units finished to food production standard that you can rent – contact your local council, community office or enterprise company to enquire. Here is a selection on the island of Ireland:
Northern Ireland
The only Food Business Incubation Centre at the time of writing is situated at Loughry Campus in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone. The Centre was opened in 1998 and provides the food supply chain with eight purpose-built food processing factory units finished to the highest standards in two sizes, 175m2 and 225m2 (www.cafre.ac.uk). At the time of writing last year, there were plans afoot to build a second food enterprise centre in Armagh, but I’ll need to follow this up and see where its at.
Republic of Ireland
Connacht
The Food Hub in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim is a shining example. Operational since 2004, the Food Hub provides 26,000 sq. ft. of premium food production space across 14 independent work units and the Community Kitchen is a timeshare production unit where start-up food businesses can make their foods in a fully-equipped kitchen, paying by the hour (currently €15/hour) with no commitment other than to bring your own ingredients (www.thefoodhub.com);
Moy Valley Resources IRD has clients occupying Enterprise Units at a number of locations around Ballina, Co. Mayo, for a mixture of both food and non-food producers (www.moyvalley.ie);
Enterprise Castlerea in Co. Roscommon is currently developing a new facility which will include a kitchen and units to rent, called An Chistin in the Enterprise Hub; (www.castlereaenterprisehub.ie)
Castlehill Foods is a 900 sq. ft. (84m2) kitchen and food production premises available to hire outside Killala, Co. Mayo (contact Clair O’Connor on (087) 652 6065);
There is a new community kitchen available to rent in Balla, Co.Mayo. Contact Seamus Caulfield ballacrdmanager@gmail.com
Munster
The North Tipperary Food Works in Rearcross, Newport, Co. Tipperary was developed by North Tipperary Food Enterprise Centre (Rearcross) Ltd. An old creamery building was converted into a premium food workspace. There is a timeshare kitchen and production units for rental. At the time of writing, the cost of rental of the timeshare kitchen is €15 per hour + VAT for the fully equipped kitchen which includes gas, water and electricity. The Food Production units cost €550 per month + VAT and as a tenant, you kit them out yourself as well as taking over utility bills (www.northtippfoodworks.ie);
The Limerick Food Centreat Raheen Business Park provides food manufacturing and processing units for commercial letting. Contact Gerry Fitzmaurice,M: +353-86-6380596, T: +353-61-712860, Gerry.Fitzmaurice@shannonproperties.ie(www.shannonproperties.ie);
Nutgrove Enterprise Park, Dublin has two high-spec food production units, each 59.45m2 with own-door ground floor access and parking (www.nutgrove-enterprisepark.ie / info@dlrceb.ie);
SPADE Enterprise Centre is a community-based enterprise centre in the converted St. Paul’s Church at North King Street, Dublin (contact Susan Richardson, Centre Manager, (01) 617 4830 www.spade.ie);
Terenure Enterprise Centre (Dublin) has 3 fully-serviced food units (01) 490 3237 / www.terenure-enterprise.ie;
Hour Kitchen is a well equipped facility in Churchtown, Dublin 14.Tel. +353 1 298 0839; E-mail. info@hourkitchen.ie
In Kilkenny, The School of Food offers a commercial Kitchen for small or growing food businesses, professional Chefs or home Cooks to rent on a daily basis. Costs are €90 + VAT @ 23% per day or €45 + VAT @ 23% per half day and includeWaste, Electricity, Sanitizing Solution for Cleaning, Gas, Cleaning Equipment. Contact them at https://schooloffood.ie/incubation-kitchen
Newmarket Kitchen has opened in Bray. Co.Wicklow and offers shared kitchen space on a membership basis. Full details are available on www.newmarketkitchen.ie
Wicklow Enterprise Centre has two food units, comprising 92sq.m. and 85sq.m. approx, over two floors. Contact 0404-66433 www.wicklowenterprise.ie
Ulster
Údarás na Gaeltachta has three food units in Co. Donegal (www.udaras.ie);
Ballybay Food Park, Co.Monaghan has 3 units and an existing Production/Test/Training Kitchen already in the building. Tel: +353 87 602 5291 www.enterprisingmonaghan.ie
NAME
COUNTY
Shared / Community Kitchen
FOOD PRODUCTION UNITS
Enterprise and Research Incubation Campus Carlow
Carlow
0
2
Limerick Food Centre
Clare
0
3
Ballyhoura Food Centre
Cork
0
1
BIM Seafood Development Kitchen
Cork
1
2
Cork Incubator Kitchens
Cork
1
0
Kickstart Kitchens
Cork
2
0
Base Enterprise Centre
Dublin
2
0
Enterprise Centres Ireland East
Dublin
1
0
Hour Kitchen
Dublin
4
0
Nutgrove Enterprise Park
Dublin
2
0
SPADE Enterprise
Dublin
1
19
Teagasc Food Research Centre
Dublin
0
2
Terenure Enterprise Centre
Dublin
0
2
The Liffey Trust Food Hub
Dublin
0
10
Acorn Kitchens
Kildare
1
0
The School of Food
Kilkenny
1
0
Mountmellick Food Hub
Laois
1
3
The Food Hub
Leitrim
1
18
Limerick Racecourse Kitchen
Limerick
2
0
Ballyhoura Food Centre
Limerick
0
2
North East Regional Food Centre
Louth
1
0
Clar IRD
Mayo
1
0
St. Coleman’s Training Centre
Mayo
1
0
Moy Valley Resources
Mayo
0
tbc
Ballybay Enterprise Park
Monaghan
1
0
Ferbane Food Campus
Offaly
1
3
The North Tipperary Food Works
Tipperary
1
3
Food Business Incubation Centre
Tyrone
1
8
Newmarket Kitchen
Wicklow
1
0
Wicklow Enterprise Centre
Wicklow
0
2
THIRD LEVEL INSTITUTIONS with available kitchen Space
Oh I’ve been very tardy with the blogging this year. But, in my defence, I’ve been very active on Facebook, where I have two pages – oonagheats which mostly features me reviewing restaurants and various foods and MoneyforJambook for new food startups, interesting foods I’ve come across in supermarkets and food producers. I’m on twitter @oonagheats (I love twitter!) and Instagram @oonagheats too though, so if you’re looking for a morsel, then please find me there!
And ofcourse for those of you interested in starting up your own food business but don’t know where to begin, my book Money for Jam is still for sale in bookshops all over the place and from online booksellers – here is the link to the list!
Money for Jam – 2nd edition – The essential guide to starting your own small foot business – Oonagh Monahan – book launch – Oasta Cafe . pic Frances Muldoon.
Today I finished giving the ‘Grow your own Future’ course for Clár I.R.D. in association with the Local Community Development Programme administered by South West Mayo Development Company Ltd. As well as training in Business Planning for Small Rural Enterprises, I gave a one day introductory course on Opportunities in the Small Food Sector- they all said they enjoyed it, hope they meant it!
The thing with setting up any new food business is to make sure you’ve really throught it through – what you’re going to produce, is there a market? can you get shops to sell it for you? who is going to do the deliveries? can you do the work and manage the business all a the same time? how much will everything cost? how much should you charge?….the list of things to think about seems endless…but as with all things, knowledge is power! So, hopefully my veg growers are feeling pretty powerful this evening, at least a bit more than they did a couple of weeks ago before we started!
This was all part of the Growing Locally project based at Mayfield, Claremorris, Co.Mayo. This project was set up supported by The Arthur Guinness Fund & Clár IRD in 2010. Its a community owned horticultural project established as a Social Enterprise and strives to meet social objectives by trading commercially.
For more information about Growing Locally, call 094-9371830
