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Foodie Fun in Ireland

Ireland is graced with some fantastic ingredients and we have many wonderful restaurants, cafés and food companies up and down the country that make full use of them.

Katia from ProperFood.ie, who has contributed to this site as well, has put together a HUGE post about gastronomic activities in Ireland.

If you're travelling around Ireland or even just want to find something food related on your doorstep, Katia has you covered!

She's split the list into a few different blocks, which cover the different types of activities. So you'll find everything from Afternoon Teas, tours of Breweries & Distilleries, Cookery Classes (both on location and online), Farm Visits, Markets, Producers, Randoms as well as Wild Walks and Food Tours. It'd definitely keep you pretty busy!

Green Friday Offers?

If we all switch some of our spend to Irish shops it'll give the economy a tangible boost.

A lot of Irish food and drink producers are offering discounts and other special offers at the moment, so why not take advantage? I know I will!

Here's a few offers I've come across, but if anyone knows of others please let me know and I'll add them:

Mileeven Irish Honey are offering reduced shipping rates for orders to Ireland and the UK. €4 to all of Ireland and the UK. Free shipping for orders over €35.

Shines Irish tuna are doing "buy one, get one free" on their gift sets. Offer valid until midnight Sunday November 29th 2020.

Bulldog Barbeque, who are based in Wexford, are offering 20% off everything. Use code: blackfriday2020 at checkout.

Muff Liquor are offering a 10% discount on online orders and cocktail boxes with code: BLACKFRIDAY Offer excludes their new whiskey. Offer expires Sunday November 29th.

N…

A Bit of Media Coverage!

I'm both delighted and rather excited that the site got a nice little mention in The Irish Times.

In a piece entitled "Click for home: The best Irish websites for online shoppers" Conor Pope did a nice write up on Irish websites that are catering to online shoppers. One line from the opening paragraph really stuck out - emphasis added:

There were also a few people who said the only options when it comes to online shopping are giant international companies. That could not be further from the truth.

Conor Pope, Irish Times, September 14th 2020

It's so so true.

There are so many Irish companies that offer fantastic products - and not just of the edible variety!

Conor's piece is well worth bookmarking, as he's listing a nice range of sites offering a broad range of goods, including quite a few that I wasn't aware of.

Personally I like to buy Irish when I can and it's easy to buy Irish and support local businesses whe…

Irish Consumers Want to Buy Online

A few days ago a new report was published by IEDR, the company behind the .ie domain name, and Digital Business Ireland which highlights the massive switch to online.

Some key takeaways from the report (which was based on a sample of 1000 Irish consumers):

74% of Irish consumers are put off by the restrictions imposed on physical retail95% of Irish consumers shop online at least some of the timeSince the pandemic there has been a noted switch to Irish online shops

The full report goes into some of the other trends about online shopping, but the key takeaway is that both consumers and retail see online sales combined with offline or some combination of both, such as "click and collect", becoming more common. The graphic above illustrates in a bit more detail how consumer attitudes have changed due to restrictions due to social distancing and other limits, as well as the overall level of "comfort" people have.

Have you shopped more online…

Buying Food Offline

While this site's primary goal is to list Irish food and drink producers, shops and services that are selling online, there's also a lot of places out there that don't quite fit.

They're still operating, but either they're offline only, or you need to call them to place an order and collect the food etc.,

A lot of bloggers and trade associations have been compiling lists of what's "out there" so here's a few of them:

Damien has put together a list of traders still operating in the English Market in Cork. Ken has a very good guide to what's available in Kilkenny for both takeaway and collection, as well as what's open. The Gastro Gays have a very long list of delivery and collection options. There's a mix of both online and offline.The team at Good Food Ireland have a list of their members who are operating contactless takeaway or pickup.The Irish Food Awards are maintaining a list of producers many of whom offer a collection option.The Irish Orga…

Some Updates

This site has been up and running for only a few days, but the number of Irish food and drink producers listed has been growing steadily.

I've been in touch with several of the chambers and other organisations around the country and the site's traffic has been growing steadily.

At the moment the listing criteria is pretty simple:

the site needs to be selling food or drink that is either available for delivery or collection in Ireland. If a site does not offer some kind of order option, no matter how rudimentary it might be then it won't be listed. Sorry!

Irish food is not my area of expertise, so a huge thanks to Katia who has been helping me with the site. She knows here stuff.

Also a big thanks to Stephen who has been helping to make the site look a lot slicker.

If you know of any Irish food or drink companies that are selling online you can either submit a listing or contact me and I'll do it.

Delays & Lead Times

Over the past couple of weeks many online shops have seen a considerable increase in both traffic and orders. While overall this is probably a "good problem" to have it is not without its challenges.

Many retailers, both online and offline are struggling to keep up with demand while maintaining safe conditions for their employees and clients.

Personally I've noticed that several sites are being forced to close to standard online orders for several days at a time while they deal with the backlog.

So my personal advice to you would be to be patient.

If you can plan your shopping further in advance. While some online shops have plenty of stock, others are reporting that they are several days or even weeks behind their normal timelines.

Also expand your options a little. If you normally shop online with a particular chain why not try a different one? They might have delivery slots available. Or, even better, buy stuff from a …

Adding Listing or Other Suggestions

Over the past 24 hours I've had some very helpful feedback and input from a variety of people.

First off - thanks to all of you. It's been immensely helpful.

So a couple of things:

Categories:

If you think there's a category that's missing please let me know. I'm adding "obvious" gaps as I add listings, but there's probably ones that I've missed.

Claiming Listings

If your site has been listed and you'd like to edit or improve the listing there's a "claim listing" option. If you're having issues please let me know.

Adding Sites / Listings

If you'd like to contribute listings / sites / food producers etc., there's a "create listing" at the top right of the page.

What can be added to a listing?

You can add a number of things to a listing:

Description - what does the site offer ie. what kind of food or drinks do they sellWebsite address - this is compulsoryEmail address - optionalPhone number - opti…

Buy Food Online

While many of the supermarkets that offer online delivery might be having problems with capacity at the moment, there are still a lot of independent food companies that sell online.

This site is a simple directory of Irish food companies that are selling and taking orders online.

Some of them have full online stores with home delivery, while others might be offering a much simpler service with "click and collect" or some other variation.

If you can shop from the safety and comfort of your home it's better for everyone!