Top awards for Northern Irish Genesis Bakery
Genesis Crafty, the Northern Irish craft bakery, has been named the Overall Local Supplier of the Year Henderson Wholesale, the region’s leading wholesale food business
Based in Magherafelt, County Derry, Genesis also won the Tomorrow Matters award which recognises sustainable practices.
Genesis Crafty is run by the six baking McErlaine brothers and supples a range of cakes, pancakes, scones and a variety of local breads to Henderson Wholesale, and over 400 Spar, Eurospar and Vivo branded stores in Northern Ireland. 
Other winners at the awards included Armagh’s Daily Bake for the Own Brand Supplier of the Year Award, Around Noon, Newry, County Down who took home the Best Direct to Store Supplier award, and Moy Park, who won the Brand Innovation award.
Highly Commended awards were taken home by K&G McAtamney, Ballymena, County Antrim for Own Brand Supplier of the Year, Irwin’s Bakery in Portadown, County Armagh in the Tomorrow Matters and Best Direct to Store Supplier categories, Hovis, Belfast for Brand Innovation and Milgro, Coleraine, County Derry for Local Supplier of the Year.
Neal Kelly, fresh foods director at Henderson Wholesale, said; “This is the fifth year of the Local Supplier Awards, and the most successful to date. We received a record amount of over 40 entries from 29 of the local producers, farmers and growers who supply to the company and our stores in Northern Ireland.
“We have seen some truly innovative and sustainable practices from our suppliers in the past year, which helps us to continually grow our fresh food offering in store for daily shoppers. The enjoy local range is expanding and reached sales of over £25.5 million last year, and we wouldn’t be able to stock such a high-quality range without these suppliers.
The judges scrutinised the entries across five categories which reflect the workings of Henderson Wholesale’s fresh ambition to always be passionate about local food, local people and local companies.
Henderson Group is a local family business achieving 91st place on the latest 2016 Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 100 league table of the U.K’s private companies.
Henderson Wholesale has been distributing food and grocery-related products to the convenience retail sector for 120 years and is the largest operator of its kind in the country, supplying 422 stores. The group is committed to sourcing local fresh foods from farmers, growers and suppliers, with over 75 per cent of fresh products sourced on the island of Ireland. Operating out of its head office in Mallusk, the Group employs 3,099 employees across Northern Ireland.
Results of the Henderson Wholesale Local Supplier Awards 2017
Own Brand Supplier of the Year
Winner: Daily Bake
Highly Commended: K&G McAtamney Butchers
Tomorrow Matters Award
Winner: Genesis Crafty
Highly Commended: Irwin’s Bakery
Best Direct to Store Supplier
Winner: Around Noon
Highly Commended: Irwin’s Bakery
Brand Innovation
Winner: Moy Park
Highly Commended: Hovis
Local Supplier of the Year
Winner: Genesis Crafty
Highly Commended: Milgro
