Lidl Announces €40m Deal With O’Brien Fine Foods

Lidl Ireland has announced a two-year supply deal with Kildare-based cooked meats producer, O’Brien Fine Foods (OBFF) worth €40 million.

The discounter has also made a further €50,000 investment in the O'Brady Ham owner which will see their Irish beef produce exported to more than 3,000 Lidl stores in Germany as part of their 2020 Christmas offering.

The €40 million deal will see OBFF supply Lidl’s 201 stores across the Island of Ireland as well as Lidl’s 797 stores across Great Britain.

It comes as Lidl and the family run business mark ten 'successful years' of supply partnership in Ireland, the retailer said.

“Lidl Ireland has been a long-standing partner of ours," said John O’Brien, managing director, OBFF.

"Over the years, they have helped us to grow our business substantially and more recently, to forge a path into the UK market and fourteen other European countries."

Under the new agreement, aside from Ireland and the UK, OBFF products in a total of 7,438 Lidl stores across a number of markets which includes Austria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Finland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, and Spain.

'A selected range of products will be available twice yearly in these countries, on a promotional basis,' the company said.

“This commitment by Lidl will allow us to invest in and expand our operations to enable to us to increase our output of high quality ham, beef and poultry products and continue providing consumers with the 100% Irish, Bord Bia-approved cooked meat products that they know and love," he added.

New Products

As part of today’s announcement, Lidl will launch four new products as part of its own-brand cooked meat range which will be available in Lidl’s supermarkets across the island of Ireland.

The new products, developed in partnership with OBFF, are: Glazed & Grilled Chipotle Shaved Ham Slices; Glazed & Grilled Cajun Shaved Ham Slices; Glazed & Grilled BBQ Grilled Shaved Ham Slices and also Glazed & Grilled BBQ Grilled Ham Slices.

“Lidl are proud to support Irish suppliers such as O’Brien Fine Foods. Not only do these partnerships support local communities across Ireland, but they also lead to greater innovation," said Brendan Conway, buying executive for Lidl Ireland.

"An example of such innovation can be seen in the sizeable investment that Lidl have made in O’Brien Fine Foods, which has enabled the company to develop more sustainable packaging, resulting in reduced environmental impact of the range.”

OBFF is one of Lidl’s over 250-strong network of Irish suppliers, in which Lidl source €1 billion worth of produce from each year.