Tasty chicken from Mournes business TS Foods for families in the Republic

TS Foods, a family-owned and run enterprise, is supplying Tesco Ireland stores in the Republic with a range of chicken mini fillets in breaded, Southern Fried, battered and hot and spicy formats.

The products will be available initially in 28 of more than 160 Tesco stores in Dublin and other parts of the country.

The contract is significant new business from Tesco Ireland to TS Foods, a local company known known for a range of foods including a variety of premium stuffings especially for the Christmas season.

It has been crafting a range of traditional and flavoured stuffings for more than 40 years and has won a string of taste awards for the products.

Managing director Joanne Molloy explains the thinking behind the new deal that “aims to enhance Tesco Ireland’s frozen poultry category whilst also offering consumers a high quality, flexible meal and snack option”.

“The award-winning range is prepared using 100 percent whole breast meat, and covered in our signature crispy coatings,” she adds.

“We are delighted to be working with Tesco Ireland on developing its poultry range for customers in the Republic.”

The family-run business, one of the most successful and best known in Northern Ireland, employs over 100 people in the Castlewellan area and is a major producer of foods including chicken products to Tesco and other supermarkets here.

The business was established in 1978 and operates from a modern production unit in a designated ‘Area of Outstanding Beauty’ in the Mournes in county Down and has become Castlewellan’s biggest employer.

The company initially began as a popular fish and chip shop, The Dolphin, in the town that was established by Joanne’s. Her parents subsequently spotted a gap in the market for value added coated products within the local food service sector.​