We were very busy June bugs! Travelling the length and breadth of Munster, as per usual, we attended some of the Irish food scene’s greatest tasty successes. Beginning with our annual summer attendance at the Manor West food fair in association with TasteKerry. Following the launch of the new TasteKerry book, it was fantastic to see many new faces with their delicious offerings joining us for this spectacular event. Keeping it local is always very important to us here at Harty’s. With great national and local exposure of the new book launch and website, ranging from the Kerryman and Kerry’s Eye to superb write up’s by Lucinda O Sullivan in the Sunday Independent and Maria Moynihan in the Irish Country Living section of the Farmer’s Journal. The purpose of TasteKerry is to encourage inter-trade and the promotion of food tourism across the country, through their unique method of pairing food producers with the hospitality sector, we believe mass success is on the horizon for all involved.
Next up we had the two-day West Cork Food and Drink fair in Bantry, playing host to some of the best quality food and drink products Ireland has to offer, along with cookery demonstrations from renowned chefs such as Ivan Whelan, Ballymaloe and Sinead Desmond, Manning’s Emporium. We set up shop for the two days at Manning’s Emporium ourselves, one of our very first and loyal customers to stocking our award-winning savoury jellies. It was a truly spectacular food festival and we hope to be invited back again next year!
We do seem to spend quite a lot of our time in Cork, so this June was no different! With the Cork Summer Show and the Cork Kerry Food Forum finishing off the month for us. The Cork Summer show took place on the 18th & 19th June on the Curraheen Showgrounds, encompassing a creative mix of food, music and agriculture, with plenty to keep everyone entertained. We thoroughly enjoyed the two-day event and loved taking this opportunity to experience all the show had to offer and not just the delicious food and drink products tempting us!
2016 marked our third year attending the Cork Kerry food forum, an event we have witnessed growing from strength to strength each year, and not just in numbers! However, this year was our first year attending as Food Academy members in association with Supervalu, Bord Bia and Kerry LEO network. We love meeting other food and drink producers at events like this, especially new companies starting up and wowing us with food trends we sometimes have yet to hear of! It’s safe to say the future of food and drink in Ireland is looking very creative and positive.
We are delighted to have participated in the Kerry Food Academy this year, the support we have received from Supervalu and the Kerry LEO’s directly has been tremendous and contributed greatly in Harty’s path for further success in the near future. Food Academy works with and nurtures small businesses through their journey from start-up to getting their products on Supervalu shelves. Not only do Bord Bia, Supervalu and the local enterprise office’s support you with advice, shelf space opportunities and consultation, they have also developed a strong and growing food and drink network in Ireland for small and local producers. Having this network to bounce ideas off of others and learn and develop from each other’s trials and triumphs has been a great help to Harty’s and we are honoured to be part of this growing Irish food and drink network. We can positively say we have had a phenomenal experience right from the beginning of our journey in March, and we now look forward to the next phase of the programme and all it has to offer Harty’s.
Be sure to stay tuned in September for the big launch of Harty’s new food products!