Mash Direct in New Waitrose Deal on their 14th birthday
Comber farm, Mash Direct, have landed a new deal to supply one of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains, Waitrose, with their convenient vegetable side dishes.
The listing will see Mash Direct’s Carrot and Parsnip Mash go into over 330 stores across England and Wales starting today (on the 11th April 2018) on the 14th anniversary of the family farm’s diversification.
Quality and provenance are key attributes of the Waitrose ethos, which is why Mash Direct have proven so popular after receiving its 19th Great Taste Award last year.
Director, Jack Hamilton said: “This is such a great opportunity for us to showcase the heritage varieties of vegetables on our family farm, grown specifically for their superior flavour. We already have a strong working relationship with Waitrose and supply then in Scotland, the Channel Islands and the UAE and we are looking forward to building our reputation in these new stores.”
“In Northern Ireland, we thrive in doing the simple things well but we can be quite humble when it comes to getting out there and telling people about it. I believe that there is a great future ahead for the local agri-food industry if we can seize the opportunities, home and abroad as well as being able to get out there and market them. “
From humble beginnings on a small family farm in County Down, Mash Direct now supply over 5,000 stores around the world and in addition to the new Waitrose business, started exporting to the US last month.
The new listing will increase the presence of Mash Direct in the south east of England, the heartland of Waitrose. This is a key growth area for Mash Direct as Londoners in particular are increasingly looking for high quality vegetables at affordable prices but don’t have the time to prepare them themselves.
