“We’ll take everything please.”
In an absolutely genius move, Irish businessman Eamon Eastwood has secured a major contract for his Taste Ireland business, signing a deal with Autralian retail giant Coles to stock Irish products in 600 stores.
Coles supermarkets, incredibly popular with the hordes of Irish living Down Under, will now have a new dedicated Irish section selling a taste of home including Tayto crisps, Barry’s Tea, Club Orange and other favourites.
Reports that these ‘dedicated Irish sections’ will also have ‘dedicated riot police’ to control the inevitable crisp-crazed crowds are, at this point, unconfirmed.
According to The Irish Times, Mr Eastwood commented, “what started as a niche boutique style operation in 2004 has now flourished into a scalable and thriving enterprise. On the supply side we have worked hand in hand with the Irish manufactures who now see a potentially new market opening for them whilst on the demand side there is 600,000 Irish passport holders in Australia.”
In October 2011, Taste Ireland also agreed a lucrative contract to supply Woolworths, which controls around 30 per cent of Australia’s supermarket business, and this latest deal with Coles will bring the number of Australian stores now stocking the company’s iconic Irish food brands to 1,000, with Woolworths and Coles accounting for over 70% of the Australian retail market.
In response to the news, one of JOE’s backpacking buddies in Oz merely had this to say:
So, if you had any hope of your loved ones returning home any time soon due to their constant pining for Irish-produced products, then think again… Now the flamin’ galahs have got sun, sand and snack bars to keep them happy.
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