Category Archives: Great brands and producers

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February 2, 2014

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Awards Winners, Events, Great brands and producers

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Meet The Cheese Makers – April 5th @ 6pm

Next up is cheese. Obviously a strange one for me as I haven’t tasted cheese since 1990 but it is the food I miss the most 🙂

Timing
Date: Saturday 5th April 2014
Time: 6pm (sharp’ish) for 2 hours or thereabouts.

Venue: Highbank Orchard – http://www.highbankorchards.com. You will also be able to sample and buy from the wonderful range of Highbank Ciders – Proper, Medieval and Drivers.

Map showing entrance to Highbank – https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zFi7I69FJBfk.kkTe3qWzL_98

Link to buy tickets (only €5 to join us)

Who?

Meet The Cheese Makers Biabeag

From right to left:

Siobhan Ni Ghairbhith – St Tola: Irish Organic Goat Cheese, Co Clare
Siobhan’s approach to cheese is probably best captured in this piece from the McKennas “The cheeses can seem to taste entirely elemental, for Ms ni Ghairbhith uses organic methods, and doesn’t pasteurise her milk.”
Website http://www.st-tola.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sainttola

Tom Burgess – Coolattin Cheddar: Mature Raw Milk Cheddar, Co Wicklow
Tom’s Mature Raw Milk Cheddar is a  a gourmet experience of aroma, texture & full flavour which develops slowly from sweet fruit to a full nutty note.

Website http://www.irishcheese.ie/members/coolattincheddar.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoolattinCheddar

Helen Finnegan – Knockdrinna Cheese: Mature Raw Milk Cheddar, Co Kilkenny
Helen is a local hero and most recently her Knockdrinna Gold semi-hard goats cheese at the 2013 British Cheese Awards where it was named ‘Best Modern British’.

Website http://www.knockdrinna.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/knockdrinna

[Thanks to Aoife, TheDailySpud for permission to use her shot of Helen]

What happens on the night?
We will get to hear from each of our guests who will share their stories and passion for cheese with you, the audience, driving the questions and discussions. While we talk we will get to taste some samples of their award winning cheeses while their makers explain the subtle tastes of each one.

The makers will also have cheeses available to buy downstairs while you are enjoying the Highbank juices and ciders.

Curious about what the evening might be like? We had Meet The Bakers on 25th January

 

 

Its €5 to join us. Click here to book.

If you want to be sent an email when events are scheduled click here http://eepurl.com/JXUBj

Keith

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January 26, 2014

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Events, Great brands and producers

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Meet the Baker – fun and informative. Thank you.

Last night was fun. And really informative for us all. Declan, Joe and Josephine did a wonderful job of sharing the passions that drive them and educating the audience on the importance of real bread. And the taste – with samples constantly being cut and distributed :-).

Thanks to Alec Taylor for shooting this fixed camera video of the event so that a wider group can enjoy this event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIA91eA238c

Thanks to Ken McGuire for shooting some photos and allowing us to use them.

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Some thanks

To Sarah and Eleanor in The Littler Green Grocer, Ken McGuire and finally Padraic and Irene from The Gourmet Store who encouraged and advised me on this first event setup. Josephine’s breads are stocked in The Little Green Grocer and The Gourmet Store and Declan’s breads in The Gourmet Store on Fridays and Saturdays. 

 

Mick Burke who provided the stage which allowed everyone to see what was going on. To my brother David and friend Larry who helped on the night.

To the 60 of you who booked tickets and turned up last night – you made it great for the 3 bakers with your interest and questions 🙂

Finally thank you to Julie & Rod – my good friends and organic producers who made their wonderful premises available to us and did so much to make this event so wonderful.

Keith

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December 1, 2013

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Ethical Food, Events, Great brands and producers

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Meet the Bakers

This is up on a permanent page here.

Realbread Poster V3

First in a new series which I am experimenting with to see if there is interest. Starting with a series of foods which I personally enjoy – so thats bread, coffee, beer and chocolate.

keith

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September 30, 2012

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Ethical Food, Great brands and producers

Divine Chocolate – @divinechocolate

What They Do

Chocolate bars. That’s it for the moment – a focused brand

Where They Do It

Ghana is the home of the Cocoa beans and the UK is the primary consumer market. However they also have a US, Netherlands and Scandanavian presence. Manufacturing is carried out in the EU although I could not see where on their site.

Who Are They

Unusually (and great to see) 45% of the ownership sits with the producer coop in Ghana. The MD of Divine is Sophi Tranchell.

The Ethical Bit?

As you saw above the producer co-op owns 45% of the shares in Divine and is strongly represented on the board. That Fair Trade ethos is the dominant ethical focus of the business and other elements such as organic are touched on but are not a core driver.

My Thoughts

Love this business and enjoy their products. Will this scale much beyond its turnover of £12M? Possibly not – the focused approach sees it do what it does really well and the goals of the business maybe achieved within the current operation.

Their website is full of relevant content and really informative – check out the timeline here for example. So many ethical food businesses forget to be open and complete about their operations – not through maliciousness but by not understanding the importance of communications to a brand.

Links To More

www.divinechocolate.com

twitter.com/divinechocolate

Interview with MD – www.smarta.com/advice/general/sophi-tranchell-divine-chocolate

/ keith

UPDATE 4th November – Sophi Tranchell is one of the key speakers at a Social Enterprise Conference in Bristol on 10th November 2012 – details here.

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September 16, 2012

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Ethical Food, Great brands and producers

Lyfe Kitchen, Brussels Sprouts based Fast Food @LYFEKitchen

What they do

Sustainable, socially responsible fast food.

Where they do it

LA is the location of their first branch. Top marks if you guessed that 🙂

Who are they

The polar opposite of hippies. Mike Roberts and Sidwell are an ex McDonald’s COO and an investment banker who sat down one day and decided to build an ethical fast food business which would scale.

The management team is chokka full of management capability and VP’s. If anyone can scale this crew can.

The ethical bit?

On the suppliers side this is from their website:

  • Look to serve organic foods whenever commercially viable
  • Monitor how quickly product arrives at LYFE Kitchen to guarantee freshness and flavor
  • Maintain that all meats must be antibiotic and hormone free
  • Ensure that all meats and chicken are Global Animal Partnership approved

My thoughts

It is always hard to compare a business like this with Rapunzel for example. The latter is clearly driven by personal ethics whereas Lyfe could be a positioning exercise chasing a market opportunity. However this Wired article does point to ethical leanings during Mike Roberts time in McDonalds so maybe.

One way or another if there have to be fast food chains then this one is nicely positioned to make the supply chain a lot more ethical than the norm.

Links to more

http://www.lyfekitchen.com

https://twitter.com/LYFEKitchen

https://www.facebook.com/LYFEKitchen

http://www.wired.com/business/2012/07/ff_lyfekitchens/all/

/ keith

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September 9, 2012

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Ethical Food, Great brands and producers

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Rapunzel Naturkost

What they do

They manufacture a wide range (over 400) organic, vegetarian and fairtraded food products. They also have a food ingredients division in Germany and offer an own label manufacturing service.

Where they do it

Just over half of their products are manufactured in Germany where they also have the widest distribution. Outside of Germany there are 30 countries worldwide where their products are available.

Who are they

Set up by Joseph Wilhelm and Jennifer Vermeulen in 1974 they now employ over 300 people.

The ethical bit?

Clearly defined ethics are deeply routed in the business. They operate their own organic certification scheme (Hand in Hand) together with producer partners in many countries.

They have a clear and fascinating mission statement and goals covering the environment, staff and independence from banks and other financial institutions.

My thoughts

With a turnover of > €100M this business has successfully scaled while maintaining a rigorous set of criteria which guide its operations. The passion and personal ethics of 2 individuals has lead to a powerhouse of organic food production and I am in awe of that.

This is not a sexy brand and they do not “do” social media that I can see. It is a solid and reputable brand.

I am familiar with a number of their products which make their way onto the Irish market and I am going to look out for more now!

Links to more

http://www.rapunzel.de/uk/index.html

One World Award (Joseph is on the jury)

/ keith

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August 19, 2012

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Ethical Food, Great brands and producers

Alter Eco Foods

What they do

They have created a food brand which starts from the point that food is fundamental to life – and whole, healthy, delicious food can make life better for people all over the world.

Where they do it

They started in France and in 2010 expanded into the US with a separate entity and a funding round there.

Who are they

Tristan Lecomte in France, Mathieu Senard and Edouard Rollet in the United States and Ilse Keijzer in Australia.

The ethical bit?

They work directly with the producers who grow and process their products. Fairtrade, carbon neutral and organic. Check out this product information page which gives a great view of how they communicate comprehensive information on each product.

http://www.alterecofoods.com/products/chocolate/dark-coconut-toffee

Couple of great images from their site give an overview of their ethos

My thoughts

It is so difficult to do what they have done and are doing – running a business is a compromised activity at the best of times without the apparent constraints imposed by deliberately not following the standard commercial arrangements.

Having been a consumer of organic and fairly traded products for over 25 years it is a joy to see high quality products which hold their own in terms of taste and presentation – a million miles away from the badly presented and barely edible products of years ago 🙂

I have never seen these products on my travels but will keep my eyes open for them from now on.

Links to more

http://www.alterecofoods.com

https://twitter.com/alterecosf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alter_Eco

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/mathieu-senard-and-edouard-rollet

/ Keith

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August 18, 2012

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Great brands and producers, Marketing

Time flies…and Biabeag is going to change a little

Been a long while since I last posted here and in the meantime have been working in my other life on some interesting online projects.

Picking up this blog and starting again – with a twist. The same core emphasis on food the way it should be – describing it as artisan, local, slow, organic, ethical seasonal or small (beag). But now moving beyond the producers whose passion and energy drives all of this and into the world of the larger businesses which support that passion.

They could be online retailers, real world brands, distributors or ones which blend the older business models and bridge the gap between consumers and producers. In all cases it won’t just be about food – they will all have at their core good food produced properly.

Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto

As part of this revitalised focus I am really looking forward to being part of the Irish Slow Food contingent in Turin, Oct 2012 – the Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto event. Check out this video.

Keith

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December 16, 2011

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Great brands and producers, Packaging

World Exclusive “Drivers Cider”

The first time in public & from the award winning artisan organic Kilkenny based Highbank Orchards comes this new product.

Drivers Cider – an alcohol free cider drink. Check out the front label – a lovely zero alcohol visual in the style of a speedometer. For more check out their site: www.driverscider.com

This bottle is in the fridge to chill it, tasting later 😉

Thanks to Julie & Rod for sending the sample in to me.

Keith

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October 31, 2011

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Events, Great brands and producers

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Savour Kilkenny Food Market – some of the people behind the food

That was a great weekend and after the Foodcamp on Friday I relaxed a little and just enjoyed walking around and chatting to the artisan food producers around the market on the Parade.

This is a view of the market from one of the surrounding buildings. Against the backdrop of the Rose Garden and the Castle over 70 passionate food producers gathered to share and sell their wares. For a change this post focused on those people and not brands or packaging.

First up in this post – Mag Kirwan and Marian Flannery. Mag is a food producer, member of the Savour Kilkenny Committee and co-organiser of the Foodcamp with me. Marian is the person primarily responsible as festival organiser for the delivery of the event. Both did amazing work.

Moving on 4 sets of couples who work together in their businesses – and really lovely people to chat to as well. Julie and Rod Calderpott have an organic farm for many years and Julie came up with Orchard Syrup last year. Another apple based product about to launch too – but Mum’s The Word.

Audrey and Norbert make chutneys in Dunhill, Waterford and as with the 2 above I have never seen them without a smile on their faces.

A steady stream of people queued to taste the 2 beers on tap from Grainne and Tim Walsh from the Metalman Brewery in Waterford. Very tasty pale ale.

Michael and Paul are another organic business and brand and so well respected in the food sector for their range.

And Now. The Award Winning Helen Finnegan – voted Supreme Cheese Maker……stop – check out this post for more. It was lovely to hear John McKenna on Friday evening talking about how he had come across Helen 8 years ago when she was studying cheesemaking and just how special it was to move in that short space of time to winning that title against tough competition with over 600 unique cheeses to battle against.

One of the nice things about starting this blog (nearly a year ago now) is constantly coming across really strong brands which I had never been aware of. Gee’s Jams is one of those, started by Helen Gee 12 years ago.

A mere 6 years old is Tess’s Homestyle Baking, a Kilkenny based business and this is Paul Doyle who is one of the co-founders.

Cakes, cupcakes and various other delights are the speciality of Mary McEvoy. She was a little shy around the camera!

A completely new brand to me at the market was Prue & Simon’s and this shot is of Prue Rudd with a customer.

That’s it – the best part of artisan food festivals for me. Chatting to and hearing the stories of the producers. I missed loads of them in that round up!

Keith