A Castletownbere based seafood company is celebrating after landing a €500,000 deal with Lidl to supply brown crabs to 800 of its stores in Spain and Portugal.
Shellfish Ireland, which employs around 150 people in Castletownbere, landed the deal due to their relationship with Lidl Ireland, and will now see its produce shipped from West Cork to depots all over Spain and Portugal.
The deal is the result of efforts to open up new avenues for Irish suppliers in the seafood area in Lidl’s international markets.
This has resulted in one of Lidl Spain’s buyers, Fernando Clemente, moving to be based full time in Lidl s Dublin HQ to negotiate international contracts directly with Irish suppliers.
Ryan Murphy of Shellfish Ireland said the deal was “a great opportunity” for the company and said engagement with Mr Clemente was a key part in securing the opportunity.
“Fernando came down to us to see how we do things. So he saw how we catch our crab, we took him out in the boat fishing. It’s a very rare opportunity to get a buyer down to you and see how you do things so it was brilliant,” he said.
Mr Murphy said his family – which has run the business for four generations – was hugely excited by the deal.
