Sweet success of Howell House praised by council chief
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council’s chairman of development committee, Alderman William Leathem and members of the Business Solutions Team visited Lisburn-based Howell House, the cakes and biscuits division of Irwin’s Bakery in Craigavon, following wins at two industry awards in Britain for product quality and customer service delivery.
The first award was for ‘Ambient Supplier of the Year’ from AF Blakemore, the UK’s largest Spar wholesaler, and the second was a ‘Local Shop Quality Food Award’ for Spar own-label Luxury Lemon Drizzle Cake.
Mr Leathem said: “Congratulations to Howell House on their recent achievements. The brand has become a firm favourite in households and it is great to see the business and employees rewarded for the high standards they have instilled in the business, both in terms of product quality and customer service.
“Awards like this motivate the staff and the business to continue to work hard and strive for more. Howell House is a great example of our thriving local food and drink sector and I have no doubt that there will be further success to come.”
Gary Mason, Irwin’s Bakery, explained: “We worked closed with the team at Blakemore to develop our range of Spar own label cakes, and in February 2018 secured a deal to supply a Lemon Drizzle, Belgian Chocolate and Victoria Sponge to over 900 stores in Britain.
“We are extremely proud of the working relationship we have cultivated with AF Blakemore – supplying quality produce and maintaining a high level of service delivery and support throughout the successful estate wide launch of the new cake products. The Ambient Supplier of the Year and Local Shop Quality Food awards really are testament of this.
“We want to recognise our staff in Howell House and say a big thank you for all of their hard work and dedication in delivering such a high-quality product in large volumes to Spar in Britain. The Local Shop Quality Food awards are renowned for recognising excellent in new product development – the whole team should be very proud of their achievements.”
Howell House was acquired by Irwin’s Bakery in 2006 in order to introduce a specialist hand-made cakes and biscuits manufacturing division to the overall Irwin’s business.
