BWG Foods UC

Limerick school wins EUROSPAR’s Classroom Kouture competition The talented 4th class students from St Anne's Primary School, Rathkeale, Co. Limerick were crowned ultimate winners of the EUROSPAR sponsored ‘Classroom Kouture’ competition with their design entitled, ‘Lunch in Bloom’. Earlier this year, EUROSPAR Supermarkets and Junk Kouture, called on budding fashionistas, creative kids, and climate activists in primary schools across Ireland to think of an inspiring story, collect waste materials, and create one Junk Kouture design. The results are nothing short of spectacular and from the many entrants from around Ireland it was the children of St Anne's Primary School who were victorious. Their vibrant, short-front, long-train dress is inspired by school lunches and features flowers crafted from face masks, Carambola lunch bags, and fabric. Local Limerick EUROSPAR Rathkeale retailer, Derek Downes, presented the €1,000 prize fund to St Anne’s Primary school, much to their delight. Commenting, Claire O’Brien, EUROSPAR Marketing Manager said, “This wonderful competition was a EUROSPAR exclusive where each supermarket invited their local primary schools to take part. This was the only initiative bringing Junk Kouture to primary schools across Ireland and we were absolutely thrilled with the response. We received entries from all over Ireland and the entry from St Anne’s Primary School in Rathkeale absolutely blew us all away.” The top 5 designs will be on display at the upcoming Junk Kouture Dublin City Final.

BWG’s Value Centre supporting World Food Safety Week This year’s annual World Food Safety Day and World Food Safety Week focused on the theme of Food safety - prepare for the unexpected. The campaign explored issues around unexpected food safety incidents that can occur even when we have all played our part to keep food safe. As Ireland’s largest Wholesale Cash & Carry network with 22 branches nationwide BWG Foods takes its responsibility to promote food safety very seriously. In all, BWG Foods Wholesale Division owns and operates 22 cash and carry locations across Ireland trading under the Value Centre, 4 Aces and Better Deal brands. It also comprises BWG Foodservice, along with Corrib Foods and William’s Gate, which together service over 20,000 wholesale customers across the retail, hotel, restaurant, pubs, and catering sectors, as well as a number of Gala stores. In all facets of our business Food Safety is of paramount importance, which is why during World Food Safety Week we placed a focus on everyone working within our Cash & Carry network to learn more about food safety and how to keep food safe from cross contamination in every step of the journey from farm to fork. Throughout World Food Safety Week (June 3- 7), BWG complemented the underlying message with an internal narrative to all Value Centre employees that Food Safety Starts With You and the importance of guarding against cross contamination at every step. The full week’s activities included daily messages to remind everyone of the different stages and the precautions to take during each step and concluded with a quiz designed as a recap on the week’s learnings. The purpose of Food Safety Week is raise awareness of food-borne illnesses and encourage people to adopt food standards to avoid these diseases, messages BWG Foods Wholesale wholesomely endorses and encourages. Afterall, Food Safety starts with YOU.

Londis Castlebridge reveals new look Located on the outskirts of Wexford town, Londis Castlebridge is proud to unveil a new look to this quintessential community convenience store, which has recently undergone a transformation and refurbishment.  This thriving Londis store is managed and run by Deirdre Carty and to celebrate the recent renewal, Londis Castlebridge hosted an official store opening on Friday 31st May last to reveal how the new-look store has almost doubled in size and now boasts an impressive footprint of 8,761 feet and provides employment to 34 people, both full and part time, locally.  This Londis store has been furnished to the highest spec with tremendous sustainability measures such as the roof, which is now full of solar panels to generate power and help offset the store’s carbon footprint. The upgraded store also boasts a whole section of Irish only products and has an extensive grocery offering to satisfy all shoppers’ needs, which includes a full off-licence, Smooch Ice Cream offering and delicious pizzas (to-go or cooked onsite) as well as freshly baked breads and pastries. Londis Castlebridge is fully embedded in the local community and we wish congratulations to Deirdre Cathy and her team on this exciting new chapter.

BWG Foods wins NACS European Convenience Retail Sustainability Award BWG Foods is very proud to have been recently presented with the NACS European Convenience Retail Sustainability Award at the prestigious NACS Convenience Retail Awards Europe. The NACS European Convenience Retail Awards recognise and promote convenience retailing excellence in Europe and provides retailers with the opportunity to showcase their innovation and creativity to the global retailing community. The Award entry was led by BWG Foods’ Retail Development Team in conjunction with Anglo Refrigeration and Wirth Research, and this award category recognises a retail company that has pursued a significant and compelling sustainability initiative that creates positive social, environmental, and/or economic outcomes that produce lasting value for customers, employees and our industry. Commenting, Declan Ralph, BWG Foods Retail Director said, “We know that customers and consumers increasingly value environmental sustainability in retail settings and BWG Foods recognise that committing to a sustainable business demonstrates that awareness of environmental concerns. We are thrilled to recognised on the European stage with this award as we continue with our proactive efforts to reduce carbon footprint across all facets of our business.” BWG were selected for demonstrating our “sustainability strategy, innovation, and impact”.

BWG wins national Operational Excellence award BWG Foods, one of Ireland’s leading retail and wholesale companies, was honoured at the annual Operational Excellence Awards when their National Distribution Centre (NDC) won the Operational Excellence in Warehousing Award at the prestigious ceremony. Through the NDC, located in Kilcarbery, Co. Dublin, BWG provides employment to more than 300 people and handles in excess of 50 million cases every year. BWG’s team at the NDC service its customer base with a wide range of Ambient, Fresh, Chill and Alcohol products in the most efficient manner possible and facilitate on average 600 deliveries a day, handling approximately one million cases per week. BWG Foods’ UC award-winning logistics division is amongst the largest in the country, supplying over 1,000 stores nationwide which together serve over one million people per day and the BWG NDC is recognised as a leader and innovator in supply chain. Commenting on the award honour, BWG’s Logistics Director, Joanne Mellon, said, “Operating a logistics and distribution operation of the scale of the NDC requires a truly exceptional team who are 100 percent committed to the job. I am exceptionally proud of the unwavering passion and determination the team at the NDC show every single day and this award is just recognition of their continuing excellence."  

The true strength of BWG Foods is our People. It is their commitment to excellence that crates and cultivates a positive working environment. This is particularly evident in our Value Centre Dundalk Cash and Carry branch where our manager Fintan Smyth and the wider team were separately honoured at the 2024 ShelfLife Grocery Management Awards. Fintan Smyth, who has been manager of Value Centre Dundalk since 2004, was named Cash and Carry Manager of the Year for the third time, his first award coming in 2007, while the whole Value Centre Dundalk team was named Retail Team of the Year at the prestigious ceremony, which was held at Dublin’s Royal Marine Hotel. These industry awards recognises both individual management excellence in the sector and outstanding teamwork and Value Centre Dundalk embody these characteristics. https://www.bwg.ie

Elaine Clohosey, BWG Foods Technical Manager, has been appointed by the North South Ministerial Council to safefood’s Advisory Board, which is representative 12-member group that provides strategic advice to the Chief Executive and senior management team. Elaine has worked for BWG Foods, one of Ireland’s leading food retail and wholesale companies, since 2004 and as Technical Manager on the Food Solutions’ team, she advises on food safety matters to more than 1,000 independent retailers across BWG’s nationwide network of SPAR, EUROSPAR, MACE and LONDIS retailers. Elaine helped devise and develop BWG’s new Audit and Standards Programme for these community stores and supermarkets, which is designed to ensure the stores meet their legal requirements and also serves as a crucial component of maintaining the high standards associated with these brands. “I am very proud to be appointed to the safefood Advisory Board and to join a team who have a passion about promoting food safety and providing nutritional advice across the island of Ireland. Through my active and enthusiastic contributions, I hope to support safefood’s work positively and constructively during my time on the Board,” said Elaine on her appointment. As a member of the Expert Group on small food businesses in the catering/food service and food manufacturing sectors (2023 -2025), Elaine has partaken in the review of several NSAI Irish Standards for Retail/Wholesaling and Manufacturing programmes and is an active and passionate member of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Retail Forum. Prior to joining BWG Foods, Elaine worked in various roles across the fresh food and retail industries and her passion for fresh quality produce and high standards of safety began at a young age when helping on the family’s dairy farm. An Honours graduate of UCC, Elaine’s qualifications include Dip. Dairy Science. BSc. Food Business and MSc. Food Retailing. Elaine, who has extensive experience in the areas of supplier control, retail, and food service, further augmented her education in recent years when adding another MSc Food Safety Management from DIT Cathal Brugha St. (now Technological University Dublin).  

Health and Safety is the utmost priority for BWG Foods’ National Distribution Centre (NDC), located in Kilcarbery, Co. Dublin. The standards that such a facility and operation demands are enormous, and it is a responsibility that the team at the NDC takes very seriously. Through this centre, BWG provides employment to more than 300 people and handle in excess of 50 million cases every year. We service our customer base with a wide range of Ambient, Fresh, Chill and Alcohol products from the NDC in the most efficient manner possible and facilitate on average 600 deliveries a day, handling on average one million cases per week. BWG Foods’ UC award-winning logistics division is amongst the largest in the country, supplying over 1,000 stores nationwide which together serve over one million people per day. We are extremely proud of our Service Levels and the fact that the BWG NDC is recognised as a leader and innovator in supply chain. That is why it is so gratifying and rewarding that BWG was recently presented with the Health & Safety Excellence Award – Warehousing at the Health & Safety Excellence Awards 2024. Launched in 2020, the Health & Safety Excellence Awards recognise and reward the most outstanding health & Safety achievements in Ireland and the teams that drive them. The team at the BWG Foods NDC Centre – and indeed throughout the company – are hugely proud of this hugely significant accolade, which exemplifies the outstanding standards maintained at the facility.

A New Era in Hot Food Service: Innovation at the core of collaboration between BWG Foods and Rational BWG Foods is constantly challenging itself and the retail sector to explore new concepts, enhanced technology and innovative, as well as sustainable, solutions for its retailers, delivering more high-quality products and service for customers. One area where it has clearly been at the forefront in the industry is its inherent innovation when providing pioneering quality fresh food offerings across its country-wide network of brands and stores. Its latest innovative initiative now sees Ireland as the first country to implement what is a new international standard for hot food preparation and service. For the past number of years, BWG Foods has worked in close partnership with professional cooking appliance specialist Rational, who are global leaders in developing cooking systems and technology for professional kitchens and food-to-go delis. The partnership has led to the latest innovation in cooking equipment now being trialled in Ireland before anywhere else in the EMEA market. The iHexagon cooking system, which was launched by Rational in Germany earlier this year, optimises steam, convection, and microwave heat to perfection, delivering high quality food up to 30% quicker than any competitor oven - with significant savings on energy and costs for the retailer. BWG Foods is proud to have established the first use of this new system within the EMEA market with the appliance being installed in Seamus Kelly’s Londis, Milltown Co. Kerry on a trial basis. In collaboration with the team from Corcoran’s Food Equipment, it has been privately tested over recent months, before being set up for its first customer-facing application before anywhere else in the world. Whether it's roasting, baking, or grilling, the iHexagon cooking system represents a revolution in modern retail kitchen and deli technology. It will pioneer a new era in how food is prepared and served in retail settings making it the ideal choice when it comes to convenience, quality and sustainability.

SPAR Partners with Sprint Stars Rhasidat Adeleke and Israel Olatunde to Launch European Athletics Championship Campaign   SPAR, Ireland’s leading convenience retailer and Principal Sponsor of the European Athletics Championship, has partnered with Irish record-breaking athletes Rhasidat Adeleke and Israel Olatunde to launch a competition for one lucky shopper plus a friend to win a VIP fan experience at the 2024 European Championships in Rome. Israel, Ireland’s fastest ever man, kicked off the competition by video calling Rhasidat, who has been living in Texas since 2021, to find out what Irish comforts she can’t live without. SPAR is calling on the Irish public to show why we are known as the best fans in the world by sending messages of support for Rhasidat and Israel. The most unique, passionate and energetic message will win a 3-day trip for two to hand deliver a personal care SPAR package of Irish comforts to the sprint stars in Rome, including flights, accommodation and VIP passes to the European Championships. SPAR has sponsored the European Athletics Championships since 1996, supported over 80 competitions over those 28 years and promoted healthy living through sport and a balanced diet. Speaking about the competition launch, Rhasidat Adeleke said: “I’ve set myself ambitious targets for this season and cannot wait to go toe-to-toe with the fastest athletes in Europe. It means the world to me that I can compete alongside a close friend like Israel and represent my family, friends, community and the people of Ireland. Support really can make the difference between winning and losing and knowing that I’ve got the backing of SPAR and the nation means so much.” Colin Donnelly, SPAR Sales Director, commented on the announcement: “As an organisation with 28 years of supporting European and Irish athletics, we know that even the best individual performances are built on support and teamwork. Along with my 14,000 SPAR colleagues, I’m proud to lend SPAR’s support to two of the best athletes to come out of Ireland and look forward to hearing the public’s messages of support.”   To find out more about SPAR’s Rome Comforts competition visit any SPAR store nationwide or log onto www.spar.ie or SPAR’s social media channels. ·       @SPARIreland on Facebook ·       @SPAR_Ireland on Instagram   Terms and conditions apply. For full competition details please visit www.spar.ie