Louis in taste collision between Irish pork and South African spices

They are also behind what Louis describes as “a unique taste collision in food cultures between Northern Ireland and South Africa”.

They are partners in Belfast-based Hellbent, a small food enterprise which has taken classic local ingredients such as beef and pork and infused them with spicy South African flavours.

Both combine their professional rugby roles with running Hellbent, the venture they established in March 2018. Louis (33) continues to play for Ulster, while Schalk (30), who came here to join Ulster, has recently signed for Lurgan Rugby Club as a player and the coach.

The rugby entrepreneurs, who set up the small business as a career option for when the final whistle blows on their rugby careers, are experiencing increasing success in sales here and further afield of their original meat products

“The success we are enjoying with Hellbent has exceeded our initial business projections when we launched the company,” Louis admits. “It was quite a step into the dark for both of us. We really didn’t expect to be supplying major retailers such as Aldi Ireland, Tesco and Henderson’s EUROSTAR in just two years.

“It’s tremendously encouraging and indicates that consumers here are developing a taste for our blend of Irish and South African flavours. We are finding people here are immensely supportive and very encouraging. They share a passion for good, tasty food, especially premium meats, with South Africans,” he says.

“Northern Ireland food, especially the beef, pork and poultry, is superb. I believe that people here don’t really appreciate just how good the food really is. There’s so much locally produced food and drink that’s readily available,” he adds.

They’ve used Northern Ireland beef to create the original sausages, Boerewors, as well as the burgers and meatballs recently added by EUROSPAR to its chill cabinets. They are also available in many smaller retailers.

The Boerewors, a coiled beef sausage which recently won a UK Great Taste star, and the other products were developed with support from Jason Hamilton, managing director of Carnbrooke Meats in Lisburn. Boerewors - the name means ‘farmer’s sausage’ - are traditionally made from 90 percent ground beef with spices such as coriander, black pepper and nutmeg.

Aldi Ireland is also now selling the spicy sausages in its network of 142 supermarkets across the Irish Republic.

“We were thrilled when Aldi and Henderson Group both decided to include our products. Selling into the Republic to Aldi gave us our first export sales and has been a marvellous boost,” adds Louis.

Another substantial development came last week when Tesco added two novel Hellbent products to many of its supermarkets here. The new products are: Cherry Balsamic Pork Belly and Apricot and Mustard Pork Belly. Both are based on Oepsie, a traditional South African snack, which they’ve shaped into stand-alone pork dishes.

Louis, who has marketing expertise, explains: “We developed the meals with autumn and winter in mind. The new products, which can be cooked in the oven or grilled, can be enjoyed with sticky rice, in a bun or in a sandwich. They are very versatile and delicious dishes with great flavours,”

They teamed up with Connolly’s Meats in Monaghan to produce and package the meats. Louis continues: “The product development started before COVID-19 and the

pandemic presented a lot of challenges.

“It meant that we could not be in the factory and had to pause development during the hard lockdown. We had to be really conscious in developing the product safely while trying to stick to our original timeline,” he adds.

“We started our journey of delicious culture collisions by shaping Irish beef into boerewors. Now we’re taking Irish pork belly and giving it some serious South African welly with our balsamic and cherry ‘Oopsie’ inspired sauce and our honey and apricot glaze,” he says.

Hellbent, the name Louis and Schalk, who has vast experience on the family farm at Tzaneen, have chosen for the business reflects the gritty determination they’ve been showing on rugby pitches around the UK, Ireland and further afield to achieve success. “We are determined to ensure the success of the business in the UK and Ireland and believe we can achieve this through a sharp focus on quality first with no compromise,” Louis, who grew up in the suburbs of Johannesburg,” he says.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you