Asda NI has reinforced its continuing commitment to Northern Ireland’s agri-food sector with the announcement of a substantial £500,000 contract with Gilfresh.Gilfresh, currently supply a wide range of fresh whole vegetables to Asda’s NI stores, including carrots, cabbages and leeks. The new contract will see an additional 9 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 expect to sell a substantial 12 tonnes of carrot batons per year which is the equivalent to the weight of four large elephants!
Last year, Gilfresh participated in Asda NI’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 from Gilfresh Produce 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.”
David Quigg, local buyer for Asda NI, commented, “At Asda, 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.”
The new prepared range from Gilfresh will be available in all 16 Asda stores throughout Northern Ireland from 21st July.