Spar launches £25m agri-food sector boost

Paddy Doody, sales & marketing director and Neal Kelly, fresh foods director at the Henderson Group

Northern Irish food suppliers will receive a £25m boost each year following the launch of a new food range by Spar.

Henderson Wholesale, which owns the both the Spar and Eurospar franchises in Northern Ireland, unveiled its Enjoy Local range at its ‘SparBQ’ event on Tuesday evening in Belfast, which will soon be found in over 400 local stores.

The range includes 126 fresh and chilled products including dairy, baked goods, fruit, vegetables, freshly baked savoury pies, and a 100 per cent Northern Irish barbeque range featuring burgers, chicken wings, and sausages.

Every product in the range has a stamp letting the shopper know where their product was sourced or produced.

The event was attended by leading wholesalers, and members of the local media, including Pamela Ballantine and Pete Snodden, while celebrity chef Paula McIntyre prepared a veritable banquet using the Enjoy Local range exclusively.

Suppliers include Dungannon firm Dunbia, which sources beef from Northern Ireland farms, Rockvale Poultry, based in Richhill, and pork processor Fred C Robinson in Ballyclare, while Clandeboye Estate Yogurt and Genesis Bakery are among six companies supplying to Henderson Wholesale’s own brand for the first time, representing contracts worth a combined £3.5m.

Paddy Doody, sales and marketing director at Henderson Wholesale said: “Eating local food is better for you, for the environment, for taste and offers better value. Sourcing locally also means that we continue to support our local suppliers and that’s great news for our economy.

“Henderson Wholesale has invested a significant amount to date in the launch of the new own brand enjoy local range, and in 2015 we will invest £3.7m in the implementation of our marketing strategy.

“This underlines everything we are about – a local business working with local suppliers to provide for our local stores and shoppers.”