With visitor figures up 22% on the previous show in 2022, exhibitors reporting that substantial business was done and overwhelmingly positive feedback from visitors and exhibitors alike, IFEX 2024 really did serve up a show that will benefit all those involved in the sector in the months and years ahead.

As an industry that has faced numerous challenges in recent years including the COVID-19 pandemic, staff shortages and increasing costs, the return of IFEX was welcomed from across the industry. Strong visitor numbers across the three days indicates that in an increasingly digitalised world, opportunities to meet face-to-face are still appealing.

The event had significant sponsorship from the Department of the Economy, (DfE), the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), Stephens Catering Equipment and Flogas as well as association support form Hospitality Ulster, Retail NI, Hotels Federation NI, FSBNI, the Guild of Fine Food, Restaurants Association of Ireland, Chef Network and NI Takeaway Association.

‘NEW IDEAS FOR THE INDUSTRY’

Toby Wand, Managing Director of 365 Events, organisers of IFEX, said: “With stellar industry support and a sold-out show, we had high hopes for the event, however IFEX 2024 has vastly exceeded all expectations welcoming a huge number of visitors over the three days – more than we have ever experienced before in previous years.

“Our industry has faced several years of uncertainty and unprecedented challenges of late and IFEX has provided a much-needed opportunity for sector representatives to meet face-to-face and plan for the future. With approximately 200 exhibitors and a wide range of features – including a number of new attractions – IFEX 2024 has delivered a show packed full of innovation and new ideas for the industry.

“On behalf of everyone at IFEX, we are incredibly thankful to the committed exhibitors and visitors who attended the show, demonstrating their support for the industry.”

Expanding its floorplan by an additional 40% this year, exhibitor stands were both impressive and engaging with IFEX stalwarts Sysco and Henderson Foodservice showcasing produce from many of their suppliers. In addition, other major stands included impressive areas from Hugh Jordan and Stephens Catering Equipment.

NEW FEATURES

Exhibitors’ efforts to showcase their business in the best possible manner added to the vibrancy of the event and for visitors, they got to sample the food and drink on offer, including the award-winning products that were on display at the Great Taste Market and the IFEX bar.

There was a range of new features at this year’s event including the Masters Arena, which shone a spotlight on coffee, bakery and butchery across the three days, the Spotlight Stage where industry experts shared their views on an array of topics and the IFEX Coffee Festival which hosted the SCA Ireland Cup Tasters Championship and many other competitions.

Emphasising the importance of the sector to the wider Northern Ireland business economy, IFEX 2024 was also visited by Minister for the Economy, Conor Murphy, First Minister, Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly, who toured the show and spoke with a number of exhibitors.

First-time exhibitor at IFEX, Adrian McLaughlin, Director of Outwalker Whiskey, said: “IFEX 2024 was a fantastic show for our business. We have made a lot of good contacts and have further raised the profile of Outwalker Whiskey which will hopefully help to propel it to the next level.

“We were delighted with the number of people who stopped by the IFEX Bar to taste and find out more about our premium product – it was a great success.

“Outwalker by its nature is adventurous, bold, free-spirited and somewhat unconventional and we’re confident that it will be a favourite Irish whiskey for many years to come.”

AWARDING INNOVATION

Also, during the exhibition, rising stars in the industry were identified, new champions in their field were awarded and renowned industry experts were recognised for their contribution to the sector. IFEX 2024 was Northern Ireland’s showcase for local excellence and across the three days, top awards were presented to those who excelled in their fields.

Taking home one of the biggest awards was Ben Armstrong, a chef at Old Barn Catering in Markethill who was crowned Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) Northern Ireland Chef of the Year.

Also presented with certificates were the winners of the IFEX Innovation Awards. Designed to highlight and recognise outstanding products that have been created since the last event, industry winners included:

• Best Food and Drink product – Outwalker Whiskey
• Best Equipment, Design, Technology product – Ecobia for their Biodigester range

With almost 200 exhibitors showcasing innovative products and services, visitors had a wealth of new products to see, taste and learn about. With everything from Irish Black Butter to revolutionary cleaning equipment and state-of-the-art hospitality robots, IFEX 2024 delivered a plethora of products all under one roof.

As the premier trade event for the food, retail, drink and hospitality industry, IFEX returns to the Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast in March 2026. Register your interest with the team at 365 Events via the website: www.ifexexhibition.co.uk or contact Lyndsey Harker, Head of Sales by emailing: lyndsey@365-events.co.uk

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With its unique name, Lazy Claire Patisserie has been a talking point from the off, a play on words that continues to be a conversation-starter almost six years after opening. Specialising in authentic French pastries, Daniel knew he wanted to stand out.

“I had originally thought of another French sounding name but wasn’t sold on it. I wanted something fun and I knew we would be making eclairs as part of our main offering,” said Daniel.

“So, one night at dinner my partner and I were talking about a name and I can’t remember who mentioned “les eclairs” but when you say it out loud, the French pronunciation is nearly the same as ‘Lazy Claire’. That’s when the name was born and I knew we were onto something that would serve us well.”

Daniel began his pastry career at the former restaurant, No.27 Talbot Street. After it closed, he moved to Paris in September 2012, where he worked at the world-renowned tearoom and patisserie, Angelina. Having battled to get his visa to work, he worked at Angelina until September 2013, when he returned to Belfast and began planning on opening the most authentic patisserie in Northern Ireland.

“My experience in Paris was absolutely essential for our business model. Angelina at the time had at least six locations in and around Paris, so they sent items out to each shop in the morning.

“We were working on a very large scale and that was easy to scale down. But now that we are in our production kitchen, I have been able to expand back up with many of the same methods we used there.

“The production kitchen was always in my business plan from the very start. As I mentioned, Angelina had a massive production kitchen in the outskirts of Paris and I wanted something similar, although smaller! We were very limited in the quantities we could produce in our Castlereagh location and the timing finally worked in our favour to secure the location on the Beersbridge Road.

“Partnering with HSBC for a significant business loan, I fitted out the former butchers’ unit with all the equipment that we would need to increase both our current offering but also introducing some new items. This space allows for all the chefs to work at the same time without being on top of each other.”

Describing the early days after opening as exciting, Daniel added it was also tricky to determine how many pastries to make due to high demand.

“As with any new business we had to adapt constantly and figure out what worked well and what we needed to do better. Knowing that we were bringing authentic pastries to Belfast had been a goal of mine for a long time and the public responded overwhelmingly to what we were doing.

“Our business has expanded steadily over the past six years. Initially it was tricky getting in front of the public, mainly due to our location. But word of mouth spread and we gained a very loyal following and once the pandemic began, we had enough loyalty to keep us going.

“We pivoted from being a sit-in café to offering only takeaways, which helped with recognition since there was a queue out the door! After things settled down again, we continued to increase the quantities we were producing to keep up with demand. It was on the back of this demand that I determined that it was the right time to expand into our production kitchen.”

While corporate orders and catering are available, Daniel said they have no plans to add a wholesale arm to the business.

“We have been asked to supply wholesale from the very start, but I have always wanted to keep our offering in-house,” he explained. “This exclusivity allows us to deliver a very high-quality product since the pastries are made fresh on the day.

“Quality has always been at the forefront of our craft and that’s very hard to control once you pass that on to someone else. Will they store it correctly? Will they attempt to sell day-old pastries? The quality and freshness that we bring would be difficult to ensure when someone else stocks your product.”

With so much demand for the sweet baked goods, innovation is key to help keep people coming back for more.

“The most popular products in the bakery can change from week to week. Our customers are not afraid of trying something new and it can be really hard to pin down what our bestsellers are, especially when we nearly sell out every day!

“My personal favourite is either the Paris Brest, made with our homemade praline paste, or our newest Opéra cake with chocolate and coffee flavours.

“Coming up with new products or ideas can be tricky if I am pretty busy with the day-to-day production. However, I have found it much easier now that I have the space to work on my own in the new kitchen. But that challenge also comes with providing something innovative and that we haven’t done before.

“I try my best not to bring back past pastries, but if I can reinvent a favourite in a different way, this gives customers the flavours that they love. With so many holidays throughout the year, we always have to be on our toes coming up with something new, so I look at pastry magazines as well as Instagram for inspiration.”

With a team of four chefs including Daniel, there are also five front of house staff, all ensuring the smooth running of Lazy Claire Patisserie, with training offered at the start for their baristas to ensure they are all up to speed on customer service and coffee skills.

Their coffee supplier, Bailies also offers a training programme for baristas and that helps ensure that each one is performing to a great standard, Daniel added.

“For our chefs, training is pretty much on a daily basis. There is so much to teach and instruct on, so it’s very rare that they aren’t learning a new skill at least once a week.”

Indeed, with the opening of the production kitchen, Daniel has plans for another exciting development, offering customers the opportunity to expand their own skills by completing a pastry course.

“Our customers have been demanding pastry courses for as long as we’ve been open and I am very keen to offer this to the public. With TV shows like GBBO and Bake Off – The Professionals, the public are intrigued by and keen to know how pastry and baking works.

“I have also had some interest from fellow chefs who would like to learn more advanced techniques, so I would like to explore offering masterclasses as well.”

Inevitably, rising business and energy costs have had their impact, with Daniel saying that inflation and rising utility costs have definitely impacted them, and as their staff are also facing those costs, wages have had to be increased too.

“All of those costs have to be covered and we have to pass those along to the customer, unfortunately. But I have tried to keep those increases to a minimum so that we can still offer excellent pastries at value for money.

“It’s a fine balancing act of finding the same product that could be cheaper with a different supplier. While I absolutely would never use inferior products, I did find that one supplier offered a high-quality, own-brand chocolate at a good reduction in price.

“I am constantly looking at raw material costs and try to avoid expensive items if possible. And if we can make something cheaper than buying it in, then we absolutely will. For instance, we make our own marshmallows, hot chocolate and chai and this can help offset the higher costs of other items like vanilla and butter.”

Daniel added that for him, the biggest challenge is ensuring continued growth and maintaining their commitment to excellence throughout that.

“Many businesses can expand and scale up, but frequently it comes at an expense to quality and corners begin to get cut. Our dedication to high-quality pastries has never changed, but figuring out how to make more in the same space of time and with the same team can be very tricky to manage.

“Technology can assist in only so many ways before you lose the craft that a trained pastry chef will bring. We don’t rely too much on technology and still craft our pastries by hand.

“We do have updated machines to help with increasing quantities, but there is still an element of knowledge and expertise that needs to go into every step. Technology can help eliminate some steps, but it would take a massive production line to come close to the steps needed with most of our pastries.”

And it is these finely-honed skills that has led to some significant award nominations for Daniel, including Top 10 Pastry Chef and Best Chef nominations.

“I have been very honoured to have been nominated for a number of awards. Having my hard work and dedication to the craft acknowledged by respected partners is very rewarding.

“Although I have yet to actually win one of the categories, the growth our business has enjoyed has proven to me that it has been successful and that is the recognition that matters most.”

TO READ THE FULL LAZY CLAIRE PATISSERIE FEATURE IN THE 2024 NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER YEARBOOK AND MARKETING GUIDE, CLICK HERE

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Located in the heart of the busy Boucher Road retail area, positioned to the front of the National Football Stadium and Olympia Leisure Centre, the new store will provide local residents and businesses in the south Belfast area, as well as visitors to the bustling retail destination, with access to Lidl’s established ‘Big on Quality, Lidl on Price’ brand proposition for the first time.

Lidl Northern Ireland’s newest state-of-the-art ‘concept’ store will add an extra 40 permanent jobs to its regional 1,300-strong workforce. Up to 120 temporary jobs will also be supported during the development phase with contractors Ganson UK breaking ground to develop the 2,288 sqm retail unit.

Positioned on derelict land at Windsor Way to the left of Olympia Leisure Centre, the refurbished site will also include an adjacent 148-space customer car park, complete with EV charging stations, redeveloping land in front of Olympia’s football pitches.

Planning permission for the new store – its 10th within the Greater Belfast area – was approved by Belfast City Council last year and will bring its total Northern Ireland store count to 43 by the end of 2024, now that construction work is also under way on the new £6.5 million store that will anchor Carryduff Shopping Centre.

Around 35 permanent jobs will be created in Carryduff when the store is completed later this year – on top of 120 construction jobs over the next six months.

The announcement marks a new drive for Lidl Northern Ireland in delivering on its ambitious plans to open 50 stores across the region by the end of the decade, whilst also investing in upgrading its existing store network.

Earlier this month, Lidl Northern Ireland announced it has submitted planning applications to position new stores at Rushmere Shopping Centre in Craigavon and adjacent to Bloomfield Shopping Centre in Bangor. Both will replace longstanding nearby outlets with all-new, brighter, larger and modern retail outlets.

Lidl Northern Ireland Managing Director Ivan Ryan said: “We’re delighted to kick off 2024 with a number of key expansion projects and are quickly advancing our plans for our first store in south Belfast.

“This new store on Boucher Road will bring major investment to the locality and will create new jobs and bring real choice, quality and the best value to residents and visitors to this part of the city.”

Built to exacting standards, the new Lidl Northern Ireland store at Boucher Road will reflect the retailer’s established ‘concept’ design, which prioritises sustainability and energy efficiency. A modern fit-out will provide high-quality shopping experience, with wide aisles, an in-store bakery, longer till points, enhanced restrooms and employee facilities.

Lidl Northern Ireland said that its new Carryduff store would boast similar features that include a 1,420 sq. metre sales floor and parking for more than 200 vehicles.

Established in 1999 when it opened its first store in Cookstown, Lidl Northern Ireland marks 25 years in the region this year. It now holds a 9.1% market share in Northern Ireland, and has seen the strongest growth amongst all retailers, up 21.3% year-on-year, according to retail information analysts Kantar.

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Imaginative and creative, and all crafted from a variety of edible ingredients, the Edible Art Gallery will be a must-see experience on your visit list for IFEX Belfast.

Or better yet, why not showcase your decorative talents and enter one of the several competition categories?

Categories include Decorated Celebration Cake, Open Food Sculpture, Bridal Bouquet, Floral Sugar Craft and Afternoon Tea.

The deadline for entries is Friday 23^rd February – to enter visit: https://www.ifexexhibition.co.uk/salon-culinaire/edible-art

Taking place in the Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast from 5^th to 7^th March, IFEX 2024 will shine a spotlight on the latest industry technologies, innovative ideas and new product launches alongside promoting some of the finest culinary talent that Northern Ireland has to offer.

A trade only event, IFEX 2024 opens daily at 10am and runs until 6pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, and to 4pm on Thursday. If you’d like to attend, simply register for your free ticket at www.ifexexhibition.co.uk/

The post Craft it in cake at IFEX 2024 first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

At approximately 8.35pm police received a report that a man, armed with a knife, had entered the premises and threatened staff.

Inspector Matson said: “The man took money from the tills before making off in the direction of Ballysillan Road. No-one was injured however, staff have been left badly shaken by the ordeal.

“The suspect was described as approximately 5 foot 10 inches and wearing a mask, dark jumper and blue jeans.

“I would appeal to anyone who may have witnessed the incident or have any dash-cam or CCTV footage that could assist with our enquiries to contact detectives on 101 quoting reference 2367 of 22/01/24.

“Alternatively, a report can be made using the online reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport. Information can also be provided to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.”

The post Off licence staff left shaken after armed robbery ordeal in north Belfast first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.