Supervalu announces new local partnership
LEADING foodmarket convenience brand, SuperValu, has launched a new partnership with a top Northern Ireland chef as part of a major investment into its local offering.
The announcement of Noel McMeel as SuperValu’s new Ambassador Chef was made at a special event at Tedfords Kitchen in Belfast to celebrate Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink earlier this month.
Throughout 2016 McMeel, who is currently Executive Head Chef at the prestigious five star Lough Erne Resort in Enniskillen, will share his passion for local produce with SuperValu customers, promoting its extensive range of fresh, local and quality ingredients and encouraging consumers to shop local.
As part of the partnership, a series of ‘Meet the Makers’ in-store events, hosted by the new SuperValu new Ambassador Chef, kicked off on Saturday 16th April at McCool’s SuperValu, Ballymoney. Showcasing over 60 local producers including Broighter Gold, Chocolate Manor, Donnybrewer Butter, Ruby Blue Vodka and Mash Direct, Chef McMeel was on hand to offer culinary inspiration with cooking demonstrations throughout the day.
The Meet the Makers in-store series will roll out across all 35 local SuperValu stores in Northern Ireland this year as part of the retail brand’s ‘We Believe in Local’ campaign.
SuperValu is also rolling out a major upgrade of its 35 stores across Northern Ireland over the next 12 months, which will see a significant increase in its fresh offering in store and a wider range of quality produce to appeal to all customers.
SuperValu stores, which are owned by independent retailers, currently sell in excess of £105 million of local products annually. Some 60% of everything sold in SuperValu stores is produced or sourced in Northern Ireland and more than 75% of all fresh ranges are sourced locally. One hundred per cent of SuperValu’s beef, pork, lamb, milk, cream and eggs are sourced in Northern Ireland, which equates to £50m of locally produced fresh foods annually.
Michael McCormack, Managing Director of Musgrave NI, which operates the SuperValu brand announced the partnership:
“SuperValu has always been at the heart of the local community, supporting real food and real people. We are currently implementing a major upgrade programme which will be rolled out across all of our 35 stores to offer customers the best in fresh, quality local convenience food.
“As part of this investment, we are delighted to partner Noel as he is a passionate ambassador for local produce and wholeheartedly embodies our ethos at SuperValu of using simple, local ingredients to produce the best of fresh, quality food.”
Chef McMeel said: “I’m very excited to team up with SuperValu and its independent retailers as they represent the heart of the community in Northern Ireland, with their support of local produce, jobs and suppliers.
“SuperValu, like me, is all about keeping it real – real food for real people, so I am delighted to be able to bring my recipes, top tips and cooking twists to homes throughout Northern Ireland.”
SuperValu is part of Musgrave Northern Ireland (MNI), which comprises the retail and wholesale segments of Musgrave Group in Northern Ireland and supports 360 independent retailers through the SuperValu, Centra, Mace and Day-Today brands and 2,800 wholesale customers through the Marketplace brand across the province.
