8 November 2019
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Aldi would like to congratulate its Cork based suppliers for their wins at this year’s Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards. Hodgins won the top award in the Traditional Sausages Category, while Carberry and Baileyvale won top accolades in the Irish Hard Cheese and Continental Soft Cheese categories respectively.
The winning products chosen by the panel of leading food experts and critics were Hodgins’ Aldi Specially Selected Handtied Sausages, Carberry’s Aldi Specially Selected Vintage Cheddar and Baileyvale’s Aldi Specially Selected Irish Buffalo Salad Cubes.
Aldi’s leading private-label range has won hundreds of awards in 2019, encouraging more Irish shoppers to try its stores and contributing to its buoyant sales. Aldi is Ireland’s fastest-growing supermarket, with sales surging ahead by 10.9%¹ equating to 11,000 additional shoppers.
Welcoming the award wins, Aldi Ireland’s Group Buying Director, John Curtin said: “These awards are a real endorsement of the quality and value of our range. Many of our winning products are sourced from market leading Irish suppliers, including ABP Cahir, Waterford’s Blackwater Distillery and Macroom Buffalo Mozzarella. We work with over 200 Irish producers and are very proud that so many of our products and local producers have been recognised.”
The Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards celebrate and reward the finest food and drink products on Irish shelves, while The Irish Good Choice Quality Food Awards highlight food products that are specifically designed and marketed as Free From, for an alternative diet, or are healthier options to mainstream products.
¹ Source Kantar Worldpanel, 12-week period ending October 6th.
About Aldi
Aldi has been Ireland’s fastest growing supermarket for most of the last ten years, achieving a 12.6% market share (Kantar Worldpanel data).
Employing almost 3,750 people, the company operates a network of 139 stores across the country, with stores in each county in the Republic of Ireland.
Aldi is investing €160m to expand and upgrade its Irish store network. It has committed €100m to constructing and opening 20 new stores, while Project Fresh sees a further €60m investment to revamp the layout and design of all 139 Aldi stores nationwide.
Aldi is attracting thousands of new customers in Ireland every year with its range of award-winning products and exclusive brands.
Aldi was the number one Irish retailer at the 2019 Great Taste Awards, with four of its own-brand products winning the most coveted three gold stars award – more than any other supermarket in Ireland. Aldi also won 19 Blás na hEireann Awards and 40 Irish Quality Food Awards in 2018.
Aldi was ranked as the most reputable supermarket in Ireland by Irish consumers for the third year in a row by the prestigious RepTrak survey.
The company’s current initiatives include:
- Aldi has been Ireland’s highest paying supermarket for over a decade. Aldi became the first supermarket to pay staff the Living Wage Technical Group’s €11.90 rate, coming into effect from the 1st February 2019.
- Aldi has made a capital investment of more than €1.2 billion in Ireland since entering the market in 1999.
- Each year Aldi contributes to the generation of over €1 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Irish economy.
- Aldi Ireland is stocked by over 200 Irish suppliers.
- Aldi has agreed a three-year, €900,000 extension to its partnership with leading youth organisation Foróige. Aldi funds a number of exciting activities, including the Aldi Foróige Youth Citizenship Awards and the Aldi Foróige Junior Baking Competition.
- Aldi partners with FoodCloud to donate food from all 139 stores to charity partners nationwide, helping to alleviate food poverty and food waste. To date, Aldi has donated 1.5 million meals to charities, equating to a saving of more than €2 million for the charity partners involved.
- Aldi is the official supermarket partner of the IRFU and the sponsor of Aldi Play Rugby, a programme that encourages school children to lead healthy, active lifestyles. Aldi Play Rugby was named the Best Grass Roots Sponsorship at the 2018 Irish Sponsorship Awards.
- Aldi is the official sponsor of the Aldi Community Games, ensuring young people have the opportunity to participate in the Games.
- Aldi is a verified member of Bord Bia’s national sustainability programme Origin Green.
- Aldi has invested more than €300,000 in its Grow with Aldi supplier development programme since 2018, providing Irish food and drink companies with the opportunity to gain a listing at Aldi’s 139 stores.
- Aldi recently increased its support for small Irish suppliers by reducing its payment terms to 14 days for suppliers that transact up to €300,000 annually with Aldi.
- Aldi’s Project Fresh store design was recognised at the Checkout National Retail Supplier Awards winning the Best New Store Build award for Aldi’s Ennistymon store and at the Checkout ‘Best in Fresh’ Awards 2019 for Aldi’s The Glen Waterford store.
- Aldi Ireland was crowned Ireland’s Best Family-Friendly Supermarket for the second year in a row at the National Parenting Product Awards 2019.
- A wide-ranging packaging and plastics reduction plan is being implemented across Aldi’s Irish operations. Aldi has pledged that 100% of its own-label packaging will be recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2022 and committed to a 50% reduction in all product packaging by 2025 (relative to 2015 levels), working towards the goal that half of all Aldi product packaging will be made from recycled material by 2025.
- Aldi was the first retailer in Ireland to pledge to buy 100% of its bananas from sustainable sources.
- Aldi’s entire own-label household and beauty range has been accredited as cruelty free certified by leading animal protection organisation, Cruelty Free International.
- Aldi has banned all microbeads and microplastics from products since 2015.
- Aldi was the first retailer in Ireland to restrict the sale of energy drinks to under 16s.
- Aldi achieved the ISO 50001 internationally recognised energy management certification in November 2015. This certification covers all stores, Regional Distribution Centres and offices in both the UK and Ireland. This accreditation highlights Aldi’s commitment to effectively manage its energy consumption and reduce its impact on the environment.
