Musgrave MarketPlace and Bord Bia have teamed up for the third year of FoodService Academy. Thirteen food and drink companies have been selected for the 2018 programme.
Farmhouse cheeses, food-to-go snacks, craft drinks and activated nut butters are just some of the innovative products selected to join this year’s FoodService Academy. Run by Bord Bia and Musgrave MarketPlace, the programme aims to help participants grow sales within the foodservice or out-of- home market. The initiative also offers the opportunity to achieve growth within Musgrave MarketPlace’s foodservice business, supplying over 6,000 customers each week, ranging from hotels and restaurants to pubs and nursing homes.
Programme Overview
Coordinated by Bord Bia and now in its third year, FoodService Academy takes place over four months and comprises both workshops and mentoring. Representatives from Musgrave MarketPlace participate in the workshops, sharing invaluable practical insights and experience to help the companies better understand areas such as supplier set-up, food safety requirements and the distribution model, as well as sales and marketing support.
Launching this year’s programme, Maureen Gahan, Bord Bia’s Foodservice Specialist, said, “Foodservice in Ireland offers major opportunities for suppliers providing innovative products and solutions to meet changing consumer needs. We’re delighted to roll out the third year of our FoodService Academy initiative, supporting our belief that food businesses should increasingly look to the foodservice sector as a viable route to market. Now worth €7.8 billion and forecast to grow to over €9 billion by 2020, this route to market is delivering real growth and value for Irish food and drink companies.”
Sheena Forde, Trading Director, Musgrave Wholesale Partners, added, “Following on from the success of our FoodService Academy in 2016 and 2017, and that of the SuperValu Food Academy, we are now looking forward to the third year of our programme to support Irish foodservice producers through Musgrave MarketPlace.
“A number of the participating companies are Food Academy graduates, so we are proud to be in a position to help grow their businesses by introducing their products to our foodservice customer base. As the largest and fastest-growing wholesaler in Ireland, we are ideally placed to understand the needs of the foodservice market, and, as an Irish family business, we are delighted to work with small Irish companies, many of which are family owned, to give them a head start in the market.
“The FoodService Academy programme offers a combination of commercial and marketing expertise and will provide invaluable customer insight for the companies involved. We would like to acknowledge the excellent support of Bord Bia throughout the development of this programme. Their shared passion for supporting Irish food business has been evident throughout.’’
Participants for the 2018 programme were confirmed following an independent product sampling session that took place earlier this year, at Musgrave MarketPlace’s upgraded 75,000-square- foot Ballymun Food Emporium. Companies had the opportunity to submit their product samples to Musgrave MarketPlace Trading Managers and Category Managers, and representatives from both the Daybreak and Foodservice Sales teams.
© 2018 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
