Dee’s got great taste

WHITEGATE native Deirdre Collins, one of Ireland’s best-known health food entrepreneurs, is celebrating after her brand scooped a prestigious gold star at the Great Taste Awards 2011.
Married and living in Cork, Deirdre, who established Dee’s Eat Well, Be Happy in 2009, received the honour for her new Thai butternut squash, potato and lentil meal.
The new addition to her healthy-eating range is about to be officially launched and will begin appearing on the shelves of supermarkets and food halls over the coming weeks. Sales listings with retailers across the country have already been secured and the latest award comes as the brand continues to strengthen its market presence both in Ireland and Britain.
Within the last six months, UK sales and distribution agreements have been negotiated with The Health Store, Queenswood Foods and Rainbow Wholefoods.
Just this month, it was also announced that a new distribution agreement with Independent Irish Health Foods, based in Ballyvourney in West Cork, will see Dee’s organic wholefood dishes available at even more independent Irish health stores.
In addition, the meat-free range is available in the chilled grocery departments of most of Ireland’s supermarkets, including Dunnes Stores, SuperValu, Centra and Superquinn.
Deirdre acknowledged the Great Taste Award is yet another boost for her fast-growing food business.
“Since 2009, the business has thrived. We’ve experienced outstanding growth both in Ireland and in the UK market. Our sales and marketing campaign definitely received a kick-start when I appeared on the very first season of RTÉ’s Dragons’ Den and struck a deal with Niall O’Farrell.
“However, plenty of hard work has been completed since then. Over the last three years, we’ve placed an enormous emphasis on the areas of sales, marketing and product development. It’s been a hectic few years but it’s certainly paying off.
“I was delighted to announce the recent sales and distribution agreements and now it’s particularly heartening to be able to announce that we’ve been honoured with a gold star at this year’s Great Taste Awards.
“Each year, the UK-based Guild of Fine Food judges thousands of food products, with only superior quality producers from the UK and Ireland being presented with the guild’s seal of approval. Foods are ‘blind-tasted’ so it’s genuinely all about quality and taste.”
As the UCC Food Science graduate prepares to launch her new Thai-style dish, she outlines how export growth and new product development projects will be strategic priorities over the coming months.
“Right now, Dee’s Eat Well, Be Happy is participating in a pilot business development programme that’s being operated by Bórd Bia, in partnership with the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. As part of this project, during the remainder of 2011 and into 2012, we’ll be putting a significant effort into further growing our UK market presence.
“At the same time, we’ll be treating our customers to exciting new products and inspired flavour combinations. I’m thrilled that the business has really taken off and we’re keen to cement our place in the healthy-eating sector of the market in Ireland, the UK and further afield,” Deirdre told The Clare Champion.
The Great Taste Awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, are now in their 18th year and this year, 7,481 products were entered from 1,600 companies for the awards. It took 350 experts 34 days to ‘blind taste’ all entries and decide which entries would achieve the coveted gold star awards.