The latest deal expands the range of locally produced Irish ice cream products to 10. In addition to an increase of exports to selected Lidl stores in the Czech Republic alongside its already existing export of long-life milk to Lidl stores in Great Britain.

Since 2000

Lidl and Lakeland Dairies have been working together since 2000 when Lidl first arrived in Ireland. Lakeland Dairies is a farmer-owned dairy processing co-operative, made up of over 3,200 family run farms, with a heritage of excellence spanning over 120 years. With sustainability at the heart of the business, Lakeland farmers are constantly evolving farming and production methods to deliver on a strong history in producing the most sustainable, environmentally friendly dairy milk.

Lakeland Dairies currently have eight processing sites (four in Republic of Ireland and four in Northern Ireland). Supplying annually over 2 billion litres of quality fresh milk and cream used in products throughout Ireland and around the globe. The latest deal will see Lidl’s Ice Cream range sourced from the processing plant in Killeshandra, Co. Cavan, while their Irish Creamery Butter is sourced at the production facility in Co Monaghan and the supply of Flavoured Milk and UHT Milk from their plant in Newtownards Co. Down.

New deal

The new deal will see the addition of an exclusive Christmas Deluxe range of Ice Cream to Lidl stores nationwide, these will include:

• Deluxe Brandy Butter Ice Cream with Brandy Sauce
• Deluxe Irish Coffee Ice Cream with Whiskey Sauce
• Deluxe Creme Liqueur Ice Cream
• Deluxe Millionaire Ice Cream with Salted Caramel Sauce

Commenting on the contract extension and highlighting the new products, Emma Purcell, Buyer, Lidl Ireland said:

“Lakelands Dairy are a valued and trusted supplier of Lidl for many years, supporting our national supply chain with exceptional dairy products. Earlier this year, they won an award for ‘Responsible Sourcing in Raw Materials’ at our Lidl Supplier Recognition Awards for their introduction of Fairtrade cocoa into our product range.  This amplifies their excellent track record on product quality and innovation making Lakeland Dairies a strong choice for us as we continue our drive to provide our customers with quality products and the best value for money. We are extremely proud to sign this latest deal and to launch our brand-new Deluxe Ice Cream range in stores nationwide and further afield through export to the Czech Republic. We are confident this new luxury treat will be a big hit this festive season.”

 Lakeland Dairies’ processing facilities operate to the most stringent international standards of quality and sustainability including those governing Emissions and Integrated Pollution Control. The Co-Op is hugely proactive in managing and reducing packaging waste.

Ongoing partnership

Tommy O’Donoghue, Head of Consumer Foods, Lakeland Dairies said:

“We are delighted to expand our product range with Lidl and secure this latest deal. Through our ongoing partnership, and considerable investment from the team at Lidl, it gives us a huge opportunity to place our products in the homes of their customers across the domestic and international market. At Lakeland Dairies we pride ourselves on using only the finest dairy ingredients, working with over 3,200 Irish dairy farmers and supporting vital jobs in rural communities.”

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The new trial has been introduced to a select number of Centra stores across Ireland, with more locations to be added over the coming months. The partnership gives sustainability and value focused customers the opportunity to purchase ‘Surprise Bags’ of surplus food via the Too Good To Go app at a reduced price. Customers simply reserve their Surprise Bag on the app, collect from their local store at a pre-set time to take home, and in doing so, save food from being wasted.

As part of Centra’s sustainability strategy, Centra are delighted to partner with Too Good To Go who are on a mission to tackle food waste by connecting businesses who have unsold food to customers who can purchase a ‘Surprise Bag’ filled to the value of €12.00 minimum and sold at a discounted price, of €3.99 or €4.99 in select Centra stores. With convenience, sustainability, and value front of mind, the ‘Surprise Bag’ can include a selection of chilled meats, dairy, fruit and vegetables, salads, sandwiches, ready meals, and bakery items.

Speaking about the exciting new initiative Ian Allen, Managing Director, Centra said; “Centra’s collaboration with Too Good To Go is a great solution for the conscious consumer, it’s practical, easy to use and offers great value. This food waste initiative adds to Centra’s existing sustainability efforts on food waste, energy efficiency and packaging. We are proud to be leading the way amongst other convenience retailers in Ireland, eliminating waste where we can, and continuing to deliver our sustainability efforts into the future”. 

Recently Centra announced that 96% of its Own Brand packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable and is on track to reach its target of 100% by 2025. Other sustainability efforts made by Centra include 5.5M plastic bags being replaced with compostable bags. Centra is also investing €20m in energy and carbon reduction in stores on the path to Net Zero by 2040.

Speaking about the partnership, Sophie Trueman, Managing Director UK & Ireland of Too Good To Go said; “We’re thrilled to be officially trialling our partnership with Centra and to have their quality groceries now available to be saved via our platform in a number of trial stores. Too Good To Go is all about reducing food waste and in doing so, enabling people to access quality food in a more affordable way, and in a way that does right by our planet too”.

To avail of this new offering, consumers can simply download the free Too Good To Go app and search for their nearby Centra store with unsold food, purchase a ‘Surprise Bag’, collect it at their reserved time and take it home to enjoy.

Centra stores currently partaking in this new initiative include;

• Centra Parnell Street, Dublin
• Herlihy’s Centra Bishopstown, Cork
• Downey’s Centra, Portlaoise
• Herlihy’s Centra Grand Parade, Cork
• Herlihy’s Centra Fermoy, Co. Cork

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Sherex Supreme

 Over recent years, high demand, limited availability and extreme price increases for LBG have led to a search for solutions to deliver and match LBG’s functionality at a reduced cost.

Sherex Supreme does just that: Kerry’s validation trials on premium, budget and standard hard-pack ice creams show that Sherex delivers the texture, mouthfeel and other taste attributes consumers expect from traditional ice cream, all at up to a 50% lower cost and with no change to the label or manufacturing process.

Ice cream is an enormous and growing global market that Euromonitor estimates holds a $21 billion retail value globally and $4 billion in Western Europe.

Demand for LBG has grown rapidly in recent years due to its exceptional functionality and suitability for many rapidly growing plant-based product applications, but supply has not kept up given the 10-year growth period required for the carob tree to bear the LBG-producing pods. This imbalance has led LBG prices to ratchet up by 800% over the last five years—and a staggering sixfold increase just since 2020.  

Commenting on the launch, Tricia Hayes, Global Senior Director, Emulsifiers, Texture Systems and Gum Acacia, Kerry, said: “LBG is a highly valued ingredient in ice cream manufacture that offers extensive functionality but over the last few years has also seen increasing demand and cost increases.

“Kerry’s Sherex Supreme is a texture system that delivers the creamy mouthfeel, good aeration, desired viscosity and controlled meltdown that consumers expect from ice cream while offering up to 50% cost savings versus standard texture systems. Most importantly, Sherex Supreme maintains the indulgent rich ice cream taste so prized by consumers.”

In each recipe tested, Kerry’s validation trials on Sherex Supreme—examining such attributes as viscosity, particle size, mix stability, overrun, meltdown behavior and sensory appeal—found that it achieved or exceeded the desired results in three categories: premium, budget and standard hard-pack.

In a blind tasting conducted to assess sensory qualities (texture, mouthfeel, aftertaste, smoothness, sweetness, etc.), 9 out of 10 panelists could find no difference when compared with the control product. In addition, Sherex Supreme is comprised of ingredients (LBG, guar gum and mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids) already listed on ice cream labels, meaning that no changes are required to the label.

Hayes added: “Sherex Supreme decreases both dependence and pressure on LBG raw material supplies, mitigates price inflation for ice cream products, and helps protect market share for manufacturers—all with no changes to the label or manufacturing process.

“We’re proud to release this innovation to address a pressing economic issue for ice cream makers, delivering a highly positive benefit: a 50% savings that can help ice cream manufacturers combat growing cost pressures. Kerry’s research and development team continues to work intensively on a wide range of similarly exciting innovations for use in many different foods and beverage applications.”

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The companies have announced a strategic partnership, with McCain Foods investing $55 million USD in Strong Roots to take a minority stake in the business.

Strong Roots and McCain Foods will work together to leverage both companies’ complementary strengths to continue Strong Roots’ rapid growth and further its mission to “fix the freezer aisle” and provide plant-based, environmentally responsible, positive food choices for everyone. Strong Roots will continue to operate in an independent capacity.

Strong Roots will use McCain Foods’ global presence to expand its own footprint in existing markets, including the UK, Ireland and United States, and to enter new markets working with new retailers. The partnership will also allow Strong Roots to expand into the foodservice market through McCain Foods’ out-of-home network.

Partnering with Strong Roots, McCain Foods will gain an expanded product portfolio that reaches out to the rising number of consumers looking for healthy, natural and simple meals that are tasty and include real fruits and vegetables.

Planet friendly

The partnership also bolsters McCain Foods’ commitment to planet-friendly foods. Strong Roots is focused on creating products that are sustainably farmed, shipped and sold, and was the first Irish plant-based food business to be awarded a B Corp Certificate in 2020.

Samuel Dennigan, Strong Roots Founder and CEO, said:“As food producers, our role is to be better, food can be better, and our duty is to lead the betterment of ingredients, sourcing, packaging, process and taste, at the same time as working with our partners to achieve this.

“Working in partnership with McCain Foods means that we are able to grow our brand and the values it stands for, while providing us at Strong Roots with the resources and capabilities we need to see change through globally and impactfully.”

Max Koeune, President & CEO of McCain Foods, said: “Since the McCain family founded McCain Foods in 1957, our entrepreneurial roots and passionate focus on creating the best tasting food has led to us being at the centre of mealtimes for generations.

“That’s why we’re so excited to be partnering with Strong Roots, a company that not only aligns with our innovative approach to creating food, but also helps us grow our portfolio of healthier food that meets changing consumer demands in a sustainable way. We’re looking forward to working with Samuel and the Strong Roots team to help bring a healthy range into more homes across the world.”

Sustainable

Howard Snape, Regional President of McCain GB & Ireland, said: “As a family-run business, we take a long-term approach to everything we do, whether that’s focusing on making our products in a sustainable way to support the planet, or ensuring our food continues to meet constantly changing consumer needs.

“Strong Roots is a company that not only focuses strongly on sustainability but is also doing incredible work to grow the range of healthy frozen foods available when consumers are looking for it most.”

The strategic partnership follows several years of rapid growth for Strong Roots since it was set up in 2015. The food producer’s range of cauliflower hash browns, mixed root vegetable fries, bites and burgers have become a firm favourite for consumers in Ireland, the UK and the US looking for plant-based options.

For McCain Foods has made a series of investments in recent years to meet changing consumer tastes globally, including The Simple Root, a plant-based food producer offering dairy alternative products, SIMULATE, a plant-based chicken nugget alternative, and GoodLeaf Farms, an indoor vertical farming company that grows sustainable leafy greens.

Goode Partners LLC, a New York-based consumer private equity fund, which led the Series A investment in Strong Roots, is exiting the Board of Strong Roots and selling its shareholding, marking a successful exit for the investors.

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Centra has revealed a significant increase in demand for Moo’d Ice Cream products, with the brand generating €1.6m as of week 16 in 2021.

Retail sales for products in Centra’s Ice Cream offering have rebounded significantly in 2021 after COVID-19 lockdowns forced the closure of Moo’d counters for a number of weeks during 2020 with sales now up 120% year-to-date in 2021.

Figures for 2020 show the humble ice cream cone remained Ireland’s favourite form of ice cream with the range accounting for 47% of Moo’d take-home ice cream offering, amounting to €2.8m in sales. This was closely followed by sales of Moo’d Whilrlies which accounted for 34% of overall sales last year. Separately, sweet treats like milkshakes, gelato and slushies brought it €1.9m in sales in 2020.

In the Moo’d

“Centra has been a massive part of our business. When we started out with Moo’d, we had three members of staff and we now have ten full time members,” said Lisa Clarke, Business Development Manager of Moo’d Ice Cream Treats commentated, “Our factory is based in rural Ireland where there were limited job opportunities and prospects. Partnering with Musgrave has enabled us to grow our business and employ local people supporting over 10 families in the local area. Centra has played a massive role in growing our business and without them, we would not have been able to do this. We are delighted to be in partnership with Centra across all of Ireland and be able to deliver fantastic products to customers and make their day.”

Treat yourself

Gerry Sheridan, Owner of Ice Cream Treats added: “While Covid had a huge impact on the Moo’d counters, Ice Cream Treats were able to continue operating as a business due to the demand for Moo’d take home tubs range. As our factory is small and we have limited staff on the production line, we were able to operate safely with social distancing. We used the time to develop new Moo’d flavours, creations and engage with our Centra retailers.”

Ice Cream Treats is a member of the Bord Bia Origin Green programme and are working towards reducing their emissions and waste in manufacturing. The company have reduced their energy consumptions by 70% over the last 4 years and are proud to say their Moo’d whirlie cups, gelato cups, milkshake cups, straws and spoons are all compostable.

Ice cream trends

The latest sales data from Centra also shows that caramel is Ireland’s favourite ice cream topping with most consumers including it in the custom swirl cups closely followed by the Bueno Whirl.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to +22% increase in total ice cream sales in 2020 with demand for multipacks growing by 50% as people look to treat themselves at home during lockdowns.

Centra has also reported a 50% increase in sales of premium ice cream products with people indulging themselves as the pandemic continues with chocolate-based products growing in popularity.

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