In recent weeks the business announced that it had acquired the three branches of Knotts Bakery in Newtownards and following on from the success of its online offer, launched during the pandemic, it has just launched its groundbreaking new food hall, Fayre at Corries.

That new launch has come about after Corries acquired Four Seasons Greengrocers and Delicatessen in Cherryvalley, which has provided an extensive range of in-house ready meals and delivery services for fruit and vegetables and other foods, especially cheese and charcuterie, over many years to the people of east Belfast.

Corries Farm Butchers already had a branch in Cherryvalley in the same row of shops as the new premises, as Stock and Compliance Manager Julie Hope explains.

Customer base

“Our shop in Cherryvalley was established in 2008 and it’s a great area, with a lovely customer base, most visiting us every day so the staff would know them quite well – it’s a great community,” she says.

“So Gary McNally, the owner of Four Seasons Deli and Greengrocers, had approached my brother William Corrie in early 2021 about purchasing the property as he was considering early retirement.”

With bigger premises, this triggered the concept of a new style of shop, keeping the fruit and veg/ deli alongside the butcher.

“The purchase of Knotts – meant we had a a baker, which would sit nicely with the rest.”

Julie says her grandfather Willie Corrie had moved from Monaghan to the Ards Peninsula in 1947 and set up Drumhilla Farm – the family farm that is still at the root of the business.

“He was approached by a neighbour on the road and asked if he could butcher one of his cattle.

“And that was the first customer and then it led from there – now we have seven retail shops and an online delivery service.”

Retail launch

In 1977, Willie and his son Will Corrie launched the first retail shop on the farm itself, but it wasn’t until 2000 that the first town shop was opened by Will’s eldest son Gareth in Regent Street in Newtownards.

“Early on was a lot of bulk buys, such as hindquarters or forequarters. But the nature of shopping has changed so much – a lot of people just buy from day to day. So we knew there was a drive at that stage for Gareth to open the town shop, providing the convenience of location.

“We still offer the bulk buy aspect at the farm but it’s not as popular as it used to be.

“From there, Will’s youngest son William Corrie came on board and he opened a shop in Ballyhackamore. After that came Holywood, then Cherryvalley, then Ormeau Road, then Comber Road in Dundonald.”

Artisan foods

During the pandemic, the family began to notice a growing appreciation for artisan local foods which prompted the launch of their online shop, which in turn allowed them to offer a wider range.

“Over lockdown, demand soared for fresh local produce, and Brexit highlighted how much was being imported and how much we have on our doorstep,” Julie says.

“People also realised how much better local produce was. Also supermarket delivery slots filled up so quickly that we were able to step into the gap and deliver.

“We also had the opportunity to access a large range of produce and not be restricted by shop shelves with our online service. It also gave us the opportunity to work much more with our fantastic local producers.

“We were able to be that medium for those suppliers to be able to sell their products through to our audience. It was a great opportunity and we forged relationships with a lot of suppliers and we realised how much extra produce there was out there.

“We started throughout existing app and then in autumn 2021 with the help of Eyekiller we launched our new ecommerce website, offering both home delivery and click and collect at any of our stores. We are constantly looking at the demand, changing how we are serving the community,” she says.

Showcase hall

The next step is now that Corries can showcase those products in their new larger food hall at Fayre at Corries in Cherryvalley..

“Now that we have these shelves we will be able to make it available for walking in and purchasing, not restricting it to online,” Julie says.

“There are lovely cheeses, crackers, charcuterie, apple juice from Armagh and lots more.”

The main department in the new food hall will still be Corries meat, Julie says.

“There’ll be the main counter that you can go and get your roast or your cuts to your liking, because that’s the great thing about your local butcher, you can get it exactly as you want it.

“We will have an extensive prepack range, and then we will also be using the Four Seasons fruit and veg range to be able to offer meal pairings. Through this you can get your roast veg to go and your potato to go with the roast that you’ve got.

Meal pairings

“Or if you’re going for a steak night you can go and get your mushrooms or your crispy onions or your pepper sauce, you can lift from all areas of the shop. That’s what we’re excited about, being able to offer a full meal plan and not having to go down the road for the next bit and so on.

“Then of course, through Knotts we’ll be able to offer the dessert option too, and then there will be a wider range of cakes and traybakes and scones.

“We’re going to have an oven in the shop so we’re going to be freshly baking croissants and cookies every day. And for those people just wanting sheer convenience, there will be pies, there’ll be bakes, there’ll be things for you to grab and pop in the oven.

“There’ll be everything from your roast dinners to your lasagne, garlic potatoes and coleslaw – the range is huge. It could be chicken curry and rice, it could be a big portion of stew, chicken and broccoli pasta bake – whatever you fancy, it will hopefully be there for you.”

Kitchen expansion

To accommodate that expansion, Corrie’s will be growing their kitchen production at the farm, but also via Knotts.

“Now with having Knotts, we have the option of production across both sites,” Julie says.

“Then of course, you’ve got the wealth of knowledge from the chefs within Knotts, so all the recipe development across both businesses are very exciting.

“We’re looking to offer that little bit more because we want to be more than just your standard local convenience store, we want to be able to offer something a wee bit more than just your sausages in a prepack and your chicken goujons in a prepack. We’ve a lot of exciting new products coming in over the next while so watch this space.

“This gives us an opportunity now to be able to research what else we can offer the customer, so that convenience doesn’t mean that you’re just going to be getting that bog standard range. We’ll be looking at the presentation of it, and just upping that standard, so that people are still getting that gourmet option but with the convenience of a prepack.

“We value our customer feedback and will be keen to hear from everyone.”

Major renovation

The premises have undergone considerable renovation since they were acquired by Corries, Julie says.

“We’ve added an upstairs for improved storage and an office space, and then that frees up more space down on the ground floor. We’ve pretty much gutted it, we took the roof off, we added another layer,” she says.

“We’re putting in the oven which can bake croissants and the cookies and different things fresh every day, several times a day. It’s basically a blank canvas, and it’s exciting to see the design grow. Even as the purchase of Knotts came in we allocated a bigger area for them, whereas before we were just looking for a baker to come on board for just a small part of it.

“We’ve tried to make each area slightly different with the colours being used and there are lovely tiles in place. So it’s a mix of a modern store but still a lovely aspect of tiles and not just all PVC printed.”

Future potential

Even after the launch, there will still more ways of developing Fayre at Corries, Julie says.

“There’s so much potential – we’ve got our fresh orange juice machine coming in, we’ve got the freshly baked bread, so those things could lead to other things. We’re trying to look at our sustainability aspect, so we’re looking at those dispensers for your granola, your seeds and those things in and around your fresh produce.

“We’re looking at reducing our packaging, and we’d love just to be that lighter carbon footprint within the store.

“We’ll have maybe sampling, maybe demos, maybe a night where people could come in, maybe looking at Christmas. There’s so much you could possibly do but at the moment we’ll get up and running first. We’’ll be quite keen to get the feedback from the customers to see what they are looking for within the community, so watch this space.

“At the minute it’s such a different business – going from a butchery to a bakery and cafe and whatnot – that we’re really taking our time to get our heads around that business first and then look at it. But obviously there’s such potential when you’ve got a restaurant, catering staff and a bakery – there’s lots of exciting plans!”

To read the full feature, visit the June/July edition of Neighbourhood Retailer.

The post Fayre thee well: Inside the new Fayre at Corries food hall in Belfast’s Cherryvalley. first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Matt Montgomery (32) admits there was a time when he was saying ‘Never again’ when it came to retail – but this May he cracked open the Prosecco to celebrate his first year at The Secret Market in Holywood.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride getting there, with a few false starts along the way, he admits – but now he’s selling fresh produce to the likes of celebrity Yotam Ottolenghi and supplying Hollywood blockbusters with fruit and veg for their banquet scenes.

Born in Belfast, Matt moved to California at the age of one, then to Chicago at 10 and back to Belfast at 16, where he worked in nightclubs for a couple of years after leaving school.

There was no background of retail in his family, but Matt caught the greengrocer bug after covering shifts for a friend who worked in a shop in Holywood.

Catching the bug

“The guy that owned the shop said if you want any more work, let me know, and within a few weeks I was basically there full time and I stopped working in nightlife. I then had the opportunity to buy the shop a year and a half later which I took,” he says.

“So I had my first shop at Hills of Holywood on 5th May 2012 and I closed it in about 2016.

It was in Holywood but unfortunately at that time in 2016 there were roadworks and a regeneration project and it took about a year and a half to finish those. I unfortunately only lasted about eight months through it because footfall was depleted and people weren’t actually able to walk down the street because there were no footpaths.”

Matt admits he didn’t give up on the greengrocer dream too readily.

“I had one other shop which was actually The Secret Market as well but it was in the back of a deli and that was where the name came from. Oliver’s Deli on the Belmont Road was just opening and I just went to Peter who owns the shop with the idea.

“That unfortunately only lasted about six months – I went into that selling very obscure fruit, so a lot of dragonfruit and purple cauliflowers and just really exotic stuff. But it wasn’t what the market was looking for on the Belmont Road!”

Lockdown opportunity

After a stint selling cars, Matt went travelling in 2019, arriving home just as the world was starting to unravel with the Covid pandemic.

With the arrival of lockdown, he spotted an opportunity to supply takeaway businesses that were in need of fresh produce supplies.

“With a lot of companies furloughing their staff, any restaurants that wanted to stay open for takeaway couldn’t easily get produce. I did know how to get produce so I just bought a van and started doing deliveries to a couple of restaurants that were doing takeaway,” he says.

“Then we created a website and we were doing home delivery. So we had different fruit packages, vegetable packages, mixed packages and basically from the end of March until probably the end of that summer we were doing up to maybe 40 home deliveries a day – which was good for my sanity because I couldn’t have sat in the house that whole time.

“We just had a small social media platform from The Secret Market so I thought I’ll just use that and go on with it.”

Wholesale supply

While he was doing his deliveries, he was able to grow the amount of wholesale supply, he says.

“The wholesale side is something that we still do to this day and I’ve about 12 bars, golf clubs and restaurants that I supply,” he says.

Matt admits at one stage he swore he would never run another shop. But as the Covid restrictions were lifted, the home delivery side of the business started to wane and he started to reconsider.

“If you’re not doing a sizable amount, say 30 deliveries a day, it may not be cost effective for you to buy the stock.

“I thought if I’m going to continue in this line of work, what do I know how to do? I know how to open a shop so we’ll give it a try.

“One of the main drivers for that was that they had announced there would be no business rates for the calendar year 2021. So if there was ever a chance I was going to be trying to do this again, this was the time to pick, as having a year with no rates is a massive benefit.”

New premises

For his new shop, Matt chose a former hairdressers in Holywood’s High Street, next to Homebrew cafe.

“In the last three months the shop has really come into its own and we have very regular and very loyal customers. I could not be more thankful with how it is. Saturday was our first birthday, so at this stage I really could not ask for more and I really have been thankful at the response.”

Matt says that while they do stock some unusual fruits that you wouldn’t find elsewhere, they focus on the bread and butter items, staying local and within season where possible.

“So we have everything from carrots and potatoes and parsnips to standard root veg to things like samphire which is sea herbs,” he says. “We have some lovely fennel, ready to eat avocados and all the local salad which has just started. I’ve a really good organic farmer, a guy called Dave who runs a company called Picked Organic and he brings us in beautiful organic radishes, Tokyo turnips, lots of different stuff – it’s nice to create a relationship with these farmers and know that they can just bring in whatever they have because their product is so good and it just sells so well.

“We have a little box of stuff in the back that’s on the way out and we’ll offer it to customers – we hate waste essentially. In the shop itself we’re probably just over 80% non-plastic, we use paper bags in here but for some items it’s impossible to sell them not packaged.

Everything loose

“Everything that can be offered loose is offered loose – we either bunch it up or all the boxes are laid out and the customer can buy it loose. It’s very much appreciated by some of my older clientele who maybe live by themselves and don’t want to go into Tesco and buy a bag of carrots that has 20 carrots in it – that’s no good for them.

“The fact that they can come in and get two onions, one carrot and four potatoes for example is very much appreciated for them.”

One of the good things about the business is customers will often share their recipe recommendations for the produce, he says.

“The lovely thing about this shop is that we have a great community feel about us, with such regular customers that you gain a relationship with them.

“I do probably learn more from my customers than from anybody else – I’m very fortunate that we have Michelin star chefs coming in here!

“It’s such a mix of people who walk through this door, which is what I actually love about my job – you really don’t know who’s going to walk in in Holywood. I have good customers and they have good connections and they send them this way.”

Celebrity customers

Matt has even had a brush with a number of big names, both on the celebrity chef scene and the Hollywood scene, as he explains.

“We’ve had Yotam Ottolenghi in here – he has a house in Donaghadee so last year I had the pleasure of dealing with him quite a few times when he was down in the shop.

“I’ve had Game of Thrones actors in here, and two really big American directors producing the Dungeons and Dragons movie – John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Those guys did the Spiderman movie – they’re huge, huge names!

“Through that I’ve been able to get a lot of work supplying… obviously Belfast is just on fire with movie production and filming at the Titanic Studios and I’ve been able to get into a couple of production houses who then use me for any sort of fruit and veg scene.

“So I’m really keenly awaiting Dungeons and Dragons being released because we got to supply a lot of big carrots with the bunches of leaves on them, cabbages, just for all these banquet scenes.”

Anniversary party

Earlier this month saw The Secret Market celebrate its first anniversary with a bit of a party for customers.

“We had all-you-can-drink Prosecco all day, we had strawberries. We started from about 8am in the morning so it was a very long day for myself, having to work through that as well,” Matt laughs.

“I think the first 12 months in any business is probably the hardest and it was a pretty difficult period for any business, so it was really nice to get through that.

“I absolutely couldn’t have done it without the support of my parents. My father’s been a great help in here – he retired at the start of the pandemic and it’s been so nice to spend time with him in here. My mother would do anything I asked her to and my little brother helps out on a Saturday and is great with customers.

“For the next year my sights are just on keeping the head down. I said I was going to put in 100 hours a week until the first year is over but I don’t think there’s any chance of that slowing down! At the minute it’s just myself in here with my father helping me out in the mornings

“I have no plans to change the unit, or expand the size. I love my shop because it’s quite small and quaint and it’s exactly what I need it to be.

“I would like to expand the wholesale side of my business which I made a point of not doing in the first 12 months of the shop because I didn’t want to take on more than I was able to.

“But going forward it’s probably something that I will look to expand, once I get a bigger van. I was in a really bad car crash in September and then another van went on fire about two months ago when I was driving on the motorway so I want to get a more reliable and bigger van and start taking on a little more business when we’re happy we can deal with it.

“But I want to reiterate how thankful I am to all my customers – I really couldn’t be here without them and I hope they all appreciate the quality of the goods that they’re getting!”

To read the full feature, visit Neighbourhood Retailer HERE.

The post Trade Secret: Inside Holywood greengrocer The Secret Market first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

The range of products the Armagh based company has brought to Asda shelves includes Diced Carrot and Turnip, Carrot Batons, Sliced Carrots, Carrot, Cauliflower & Broccoli and Sliced Leeks, all of which feature updated Gilfresh branding and improved packaging.

First established by the Gilpin Family in 1965, Gilfresh Produce grows, packs, processes, and distributes a wide range of core and prepared vegetables from the company’s Loughgall headquarters. The prepped veg lines are in addition to the current range of Gilfresh branded prepped veg and the wide range of core veg which the company already supplies to the retailer.

Caroline Dalzell, Head of Sales and Marketing for Gilfresh Produce said, “As suppliers of Asda’s own label products since 2005, all of us here at Gilfresh Produce are delighted to secure listings for our range of Gilfresh branded products. We are really excited to work alongside Asda to showcase our produce and we hope shoppers across NI will see our prepped veg on shelf and support local!”

Cathy Elliott, Asda’s Buying Manager for NI Local added, “Asda is committed to helping showcase local producers and supporting their growth, something which is reflected in bringing Gilfresh Produce to shoppers with increased local brand visibility on shelf. We know our customers will appreciate seeing the much-loved Gilfresh brand on shelves for their staple prepared vegetables.

“Not only does Gilfresh supply fresh, high-quality vegetables but they are also truly committed to minimising the travel miles of their produce and working to incorporate green energy to reduce their carbon footprint, making their products a sustainable purchase too!”

The post Gilfresh Produce ‘plants’ five local products in Asda first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.