Two NI award winning cured meats have been chosen by Dunnes Stores

Corndale Free-Range Farm Charcuterie, owned and run by experienced pig farmer Alastair Crown, has had two of its award winning cured meats – chorizo and fennel salami – chosen by Dunnes Stores, which has round 150 outlets across the island, including 15 in Northern Ireland, for its charcuterie counters.

It also boasts a very successful online business for food and other products.

The deal – Corndale’s first with a major food store group that’s long been committed to supporting food and drink from suppliers, mostly artisan enterprises, throughout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland – followed a lead from leading chef Brian McDermott, the chef/owner of the popular Foyle Hotel in Moville, Co Donegal.

Brian, a former food specialist at the Foodovation food development hub at North West Regional College in Londonderry, has helped many smaller food enterprises in Derry and the wider North West to develop and market successfully innovative products.

Alastair explains: “I was approached by Brian and asked if I’d be interested in supplying Dunnes which was then seeking some Irish charcuterie for its impressive network of food stores under its prestigious Simply Better brand.

“We subsequently met the head buyer from Dunnes at our farm and factory facility. This led to an invitation to pitch to the team in Dublin and then business for our Irish chorizo and salami with the the opportunity to supply further meats in early 2023 for the prestigious Simply Better range of premium foods.

“The orders for chorizo and salami represent very substantial business for us particularly as we look forward to expanding our sales in the Republic, our closest market, in the year ahead. It’s a marvellous endorsement of the quality and outstanding taste of the cured meats we produce here on our farm.”

Simply Better is a premium food collection with over 350 products, 270 of which are produced in Ireland. The extensive range is available exclusively in selected Dunnes Stores throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland. Founded by Ben Dunne in 1944, Dunnes Stores remains a family business, employing 15,000 people on the island and with a total turnover in excess of £3 billion a year.

Corndale Farm Charcuterie was established in 2012 by Alistair, with the aim to produce top-quality pork from his herd of rare-breed, free-range pigs. In 2012 he started with four Saddleback pigs and fell in love with keeping pigs and processing their own meat. He developed a passion for chorizo in particular during his time as a technology student in Glasgow.

Seeing a business opportunity from an absence of locally-produced chorizo and other cured meats, Alastair decided to set up a small pig farm and to start curing his own meats. His air-dried and handcrafted meats soon attracted widespread acclaim and led to major awards in food competitions such as the influential UK Great Taste and Blas na hEireann awards. They also gained top places in the industry-leading British Charcuterie Awards.

In 2016, Corndale became Northern Ireland’s first free-range charcuterie producer with its chorizo. Today, it also produces venison salami, fennel salami, nduja and and chilli chorizo, which are also sold from its online shop.

Also in 2016 Corndale was voted ‘Best Irish Charcuterie’ by the influential Irish Food Guide.

In addition, the company offers catering packages and hog roasts for all sorts of events.

The company quickly gained business from good food stores, farm shops and delis across Northern Ireland and from parts of Britain and the Republic.

The business boost for Corndale is part of a series of orders from buyers at Dunnes for Northern Ireland artisan producers for its Simply Better range of outstanding local foods. Earlier in the month, Morelli’s Ice Cream in Coleraine and Carol’s Stock Market in Derry revealed they had won significant business from Dunnes Stores for the range.

The latest orders for Corndale come as Dunnes Stores retained its position as Ireland’s largest grocer, having held a 23.3% market share in the latest 12 weeks, with year-on-year growth of 7.4%, according to the latest retail research.

The grocery market share figures in Ireland showed that Dunnes has also seen the strongest penetration growth due to new shoppers in store amongst all retailers.