Velo Coffee is coming to a shelf near you!

Fenagh Mahoney

Cork business Café Velo is one of eleven food and beverage producers that earned their place on the shelves of SuperValu stores this month.

Velo Coffee produces hand roasted coffee and one of the secrets to their success is that they are tapping into years of knowledge having sourced their roaster from Probat, a German company that have been making roasting equipment since 1868.

Velo Coffee owner Rob Horgan attended a Food Academy Programme run with the backing of the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in 2017. This training programme is supported by both Bórd Bía and SuperValu and its aim is to prepare small food producers to become suppliers to SuperValu.

Operating out of a café under the same name on Georges Quay, the extension of their brand is an exciting development.

"Participating in the SuperValu Food Academy Program was the best decision we made when looking at a new branded food offering. The course accelerates the focus on your entire production process and seeing Velo Coffee on the shelves in SuperValu last week made the dream a reality," said Rob Horgan from Velo. In this, he joins fellow Cork city companies Smoke House Sauces and Oh Naturelle.

Mary Kate Mageean, SuperValu’s Food Academy Project Manager said: "As the number one supporter of the Irish food industry, we source from over 1,800 suppliers and we’re proud to now have a total of 350 small Irish food companies well on the road to success, with their products on shelves in SuperValu stores around Ireland."

If attending a Food Academy Start Programme appeals to any budding entrepreneurs out there, the next programme will begin during the year.

Find out more information by getting in the contact with the Local Enterprise Office, Cork City at 021-4961828 or info@leo.corkcity.ie.