A Northern Irish supplier has won a lucrative new contract following a £5 million expansion at the business.
Willowbrook Farms officially unveiled its Food Innovation Centre in Killinchy this week, creating 25 news jobs in the process.
The centre’s opening came as the firm won a contract with to supply a range of eight new stir-fry products to Budgens, part of the Musgrave Group, in 180 stores throughout Great Britain.
Willowbrook currently supply a full range of prepared Salads, Vegetables and Stir Fry to Musgrave Retail Partners under both SuperValu and Centra as well as the Willowbrook Farm brand to stores throughout Ireland.
The new export deal was announced by John McCann, Managing Director of Willowbrook Foods, and welcomed by Maynard Mawhinney, Invest Northern Ireland Food Director, when he visited the company’s new 55,000sqft factory complex on Tuesday.
Mawhinney said: “The new business with Budgens demonstrates a key feature of the Food Innovation Centre at Willowbrook Foods - a sharp focus on developing innovative products in association with existing and potential customers in both retail and foodservice sectors. This focus is also seen in management changes which strengthen the vitally important connection between sales and marketing and product innovation functions.
McCann said: “Developing this significant new business from Budgens with our latest product range is a tremendous boost for the business. It is also a further justification of our decision to invest in new products for both retail and foodservice sectors particularly in Great Britain, which is already an important market for us.
“We will be supplying a range of stir fry products that have developed in partnership with the buying team at Budgens which will be available under their own brand.”
“This new range introduces additional product lines that we have developed for one of Britain’s leading retail networks and positions us to grow our business with the company particularly in the supply of own label products,” McCann added.
“New products are the lifeblood of the food industry. Retailers are continually searching for new food and drink products which will attract consumers in pursuit of different taste experiences into their stores.”
Willowbrook Foods has been operating for over forty years, and was established by McCann on the family farm overlooking Strangford Lough. The company, which has British Retail Consortium accreditation, currently employs over 200 people at processing plants in Killinchy and Newtownards, and looks forward to employing an additional 25 new employees.
