FDBusiness.com

Bord Bia has launched an Irish beef promotion with the Maredo steakhouse chain, a market leader in Germany. The Maredo publicity declares Irish beef to be “wholesome, juicy and Irish” and the month-long promotion offers Irish beef exclusively in all 48 Maredo restaurants, as well as a Facebook competition to win a trip to Dublin for St Patrick’s Day 2017. The launch took place recently at the Maredo Restaurant in Frankfurt and was hosted by restaurant manager, Manmohan Bedi and Bord Bia, in the company of the Ambassador of Ireland to Germany, Michael Collins.

Six-fold Growth in Seven Years

Irish beef continues to perform well in the German market, growing six fold in seven years from €17 million in 2009 to an expected €136 million by the end of this year, with total exports now at approximately 20,000 tonnes. The continuous growth of the sector follows a major promotional campaign, developed and managed by Bord Bia, the aim of which has been to position Irish beef as a premium quality, natural, grass-fed, and sustainably produced product. A new five year campaign will be launched in early 2017 with a renewed focus on sustainability, introducing Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme at consumer level.

Beefing up Promotions

Bord Bia also organised Irish beef in-store promotions recently in German hypermarket, Real, which is Ireland`s biggest customer for Irish beef and accounts for about one quarter of beef exports to Germany. In addition, German hypermarket, Kaufland, will be targeted by Bord Bia with in-store promotions and the Irish beef Food Truck, ‘irishbeef.de on Tour’ will hit the road between now and the end of the year covering trade fairs as well as food and arts festivals.