Holmes Bakery In Portadown Listed By Isle Of Man’s Shoprite Supermarkets
Holmes Bakery, which is based in Portadown, has won business with Shoprite, the Isle of Man’s retail leader, for a range of home baked products.
Holmes is supplying 10 lines to Shoprite, which has nine supermarkets specialising in food throughout the island since 1972.
It’s a family business which has won UK Great Taste and Blas na hEireann, the Irish National Food and Drink awards for its handcrafted products such as butter shortbread and flakemeal biscuits.
Among the 10 lines supplied to Shoprite are almond slices, caramel fingers and salted caramel pecan, all of which are hand baked at the Northern Ireland company’s modern bakery.
Gillian Castles, sales manager for Holmes Bakery, commenting on the latest business won outside Northern Ireland, says: “The business, our first with Shoprite, is the result of a direct approach to see if they’d be interested in listing our products.
“There was a positive response to us for samples which we were delighted to supply for taste testing. They were impressed by the quality and above all the home baked tastes from the products.
“I was delighted when an order for 10 lines subsequently followed. They’ve been in the stores for a number of weeks and are selling well. With repeat orders following soon after on a regular base.
“We look forward to developing a close relationship with this important and progressive retailer and we have been in discussions for additional seasonal listings for the stores.” adds Mrs Castles.
Holmes has been baking a comprehensive range of biscuits, traditional Northern Irish traybakes and seasonal products since 1937.
The company, which has been assisted by Invest NI to develop the business and grow sales outside Northern Ireland, already supplies leading retailers including Spar, Asda, Ocado, Applegreen, various independent retailers and delis in Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland over many years.
