ASDA has reinforced its commitment to Northern Ireland’s agri-food sector with the announcement of a £500,000 contract with Armagh-based vegetable supplier, Gilfresh.
The firm currently supplies a wide range of fresh whole vegetables to Asda’s local stores, including carrots, cabbages and leeks.
The new contract will see an additional nine lines of prepared vegetables, from carrot batons to diced vegetable medley, available in all 16 Asda stores throughout Northern Ireland from July this year. From the new range, Asda expects to sell 12 tonnes of carrot batons per year alone.
Last year, Gilfresh participated in the firm’s Supplier Development Academy’ (SDA), the first retail-led initiative of its type, jointly funded by Asda and Invest NI with the aim of achieving growth and maximising business potential. As one of eleven local companies which took part, Gilfresh has used this experience to help grow its business and further strengthen its relationship with Asda.
William Gilpin, Owner and General Manager of Gilfresh said: “We enjoy a great relationship with Asda and the Supplier Development Academy has been an excellent tool to help us grow our business.
“We are continuously looking for ways to improve our offering and deliver the best and most convenient products for our customers. This improved offering to customers has also been made possible by our new high care food preparation facility, part-funded by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development which has helped us to meet our customer demand.”
Local Asda buyer David Quigg said: “We are totally committed to supporting the NI food sector.
“We continue to work closely with local companies such as Gilfresh to support Northern Ireland businesses with initiatives such as our Supplier Development Academy and regular meet the buyer events. We are always eager to expand our local vegetable sourcing and are delighted that such a significant contract will benefit the local economy and result in the shortest possible journey from field to fork for our customers’ food.”
