FDBusiness.com

Country Crest and Tesco Ireland have confirmed a further extension of a long-standing 20-year relationship for the supply of potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes to all Tesco stores nationwide and for online shopping in a two and a half-year contract worth €62.5 million.

Country Crest, the north County Dublin fourth-generation agri-business led by Gabriel and Michael Hoey (pictured), will continue to grow and pack all Tesco own brand fresh potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes for Tesco Ireland. The agreement, until September 2022, will see Tesco source over 35,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually from Country Crest. Employing more than 120 people at its production, farming divisions and sourcing directly from a further 50 farming families across Ireland, Country Crest supply: almost 30,000 tonnes of potatoes sourced on a yearly basis including Rooster, Maris Piper, Queens, organic, baby varieties and signature Tesco finest roosters; almost 5,000 tonnes of onions crossing eight varieties including brown, red and shallots; and over 1,000 tonnes of sweet potatoes concentrating on the Covington variety.

Joe Manning, commercial director, Tesco Ireland, comments: “We’re delighted to continue our support for Irish producers with this new contract with Country Crest which will give confidence to potato growers nationwide during what is a challenging time for the agri-sector. We’ve worked with Gabriel and Michael and the team for over twenty years. They are well known for their passion for authenticity, innovation and delivering the best quality produce for our customers.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has been challenging for everyone, the team at Country Crest have worked hard to react to increase in demand for potatoes. The dry weather of late means that planting and sowing has gone well, and new-season crops are on target. This should see us deliver new-season Irish potatoes to stores and online by mid-late May. We look forward to delivering on this with the help of Country Crest,” he concluded.

Country Crest Director, Gabriel Hoey, says: “We are delighted to be able to extend and further strengthen our supply partnership with Tesco Ireland. This offers our business, our work colleagues and our network of professional growers some very welcome security into the future.”

This move is one of a number taken by Tesco Ireland since the Covid-19 crisis began to support its Irish suppliers. Among the measures taken has been to speed up payments to all its small suppliers, so they are paid within five days. It also committed to maintain the same price it is paying for beef up to June 2020, when it will review the situation.

Tesco is one of the biggest purchasers of Irish food and drink in the world and works with 480 Irish food suppliers and by extension 13,000 farming families across the country. The company said it is very conscious of the pressure that the agri-business sector is under due to Covid-19, with non-retail markets disappearing for several sectors.