25 July 2018
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Pat O’Connell of the famed K O’Connell Fish Merchants has extended a warm welcome to multi-award-winning James Whelan Butchers prepares to open its first butcher shop in Cork next month.
Both food retailers, along with other leading Irish food brands ABC Bread Company, Sheridan Cheesemonger and Baxter & Green Delicatessen will be opening outlets in the new state of the art food hall in Dunnes Stores Bishopstown Court in a matter of weeks. This food hall is a new concept for Dunnes Stores, the first outside of Dublin and will offer food lovers in Cork a food retail experience on par with best in the world.
“This is an exciting opportunity for myself and the team.” said Pat O’Connell. “For years we have been working alongside some of Cork’s best food producers in the English Market and it’s great through this development to see even more great food producers coming to Cork, the food capital of Ireland. I am delighted to be welcoming James Whelan Butchers and the other world class food producers to Cork, to wave an even bigger flag for the food proposition in the region.”
James Whelan Butchers first opened in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, in 1960, by husband and wife team, James and Joan Whelan and are fifth generations butchers and farmers. The current CEO Pat Whelan, James and Joan’s son, has been at the helm since 1999 and has developed the brand nationally and internationally, creating award winning artisan products, which appear on the shelves of some of the leading international retailers, including Avoca, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Whole Foods.
“We began our collaboration with Dunnes Stores in 2016, and we haven’t looked back,” said Pat Whelan. “In simple terms, it empowered us to bring our artisan products to a wider audience than we could have ever managed alone. All of the food producers and retailers who will be located in the new Food Hall in Dunnes Stores Bishopstown Court share the same passion for creating great food, produced sustainably, full of flavour and goodness. I know it is going to be a pleasure working alongside Pat O’Connell and his team and look forward to bringing our own unique shopping experience to the people of Cork very soon.”
James Whelan Butchers, are currently recruiting in Cork They already have six butcher shops across Ireland, including Avoca in Rathcoole and Avoca in Kilmacanogue; their home butcher shop in the Oakville Shopping Centre, Clonmel and butcher shops in Dunnes Stores – in Cornelscourt, The Swan Centre, Rathmines, Pavilions Shopping Centre, Swords
and opening in the next month, Blanchardstown Shopping Centre. For more information on this exciting edition to food shopping in Cork visit www.jameswhelanbutchers.com
