SuperValu, the leading Irish grocery retailer, today announced that it expects to sell €8 million in home grown Irish carrots this year. SuperValu’s Irish carrots are 100% Bord Bia Quality assured and grown by fifth-generation family famers, TJ, Tommy and James O’Shea in Piltown, Co. Kilkenny.
O’Shea Farms are experienced crop producers, having grown fresh Irish carrots and potatoes on their 1600 acre farm in Piltown since 1830. The brothers began supplying Irish carrots to a number of SuperValu stores in 1981 and have grown their partnership to cover the entire network of 219 SuperValu stores across Ireland today.
Commenting on the announcement, Martin Kelleher, Managing Director, SuperValu said, “As the number one supporter of the Irish agri-food industry, we source from more Irish suppliers than any other retailer in Ireland. Our long-standing partnership with O’Shea Farms has allowed us to give shoppers the very best in locally sourced fresh Irish produce, and we will continue to leverage this relationship as we drive our strategy of fresh food leadership.”
TJ O’Shea added, “We have been supplying Irish carrots to SuperValu for over 35 years now, and the relationship we have with them has been a contributing factor to growing our business to the point where we employ over 200 people today. We guarantee the best quality by harvesting carrots every morning at 5am and then washing, cooling, packing and dispatching them the very same day as intake. As a result, when you buy our carrots at SuperValu, you can be assured that you are putting the best Irish produce on the dinner table.”
SuperValu serves over 2.6 million customers every week and has 219 stores nationwide. Together with its retail partners, SuperValu employs approximately 14,500 colleagues, making it one of the State’s largest private sector employers. SuperValu sources from over 2,200 Irish suppliers – more than any other grocery retailer in the Irish market – equating to an annual economic contribution of €2.19 billion. SuperValu continues to source locally wherever possible which helps to sustain 30,000 jobs in the Irish economy.
