Sweet Blas awards for Cork’s Second Street Bakeshop
38 producers took a haul of awards home to Cork after the Blas na hÉireann food awards earlier this month in Dingle. The finals of the largest and most influential food awards on the island of Ireland took place on Friday 2 October with 51 producers from Cork shortlisted across a wide range of categories.
Second Street Bakeshop in Carrigaline was awarded Best in County, proudly sponsored by Cork Local Enterprise Office and the prestigious Best Artisan Producer award, supported by the LEO Network.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to receive the Best Artisan Producer award for Second Street Bakeshop,” said founder Claire Keane. “After starting my first food business in San Francisco almost 20 years ago, coming back to Cork and building something new from the ground up has been a really exciting chapter. Our toffee popcorn brittle is all about using simple, natural ingredients to make something that people genuinely love to eat, so to have it recognised by Blas na hÉireann is incredibly rewarding. It’s also a wonderful celebration of the producers, suppliers, the team and the Local Enterprise Office who have supported me along the way, and I’m so excited for what’s ahead.”
Cork-based seafood processor, The Good Fish Company, scooped this year’s BIM Seafood Innovation Award for a new salmon product that is helping the business grow its presence in the United States. It won the award for its premium Atlantic Salmon with Guinness Sweet Honey Mustard Melt & Panko Crumb product. The product has already achieved significant international recognition, including the Seafood Excellence Award for Best New Retail Product at the Seafood Expo North America in Boston in 2025.
The bronze, silver and gold winners from Cork include: Alternative Christmas Pudding Co., Bandon Vale Cheese, Bantry Bay Mussels, Barry & Fitzwilliam, Cake Wheelers, Clóna Dairy Products Ltd., Coastal Trading, Cully & Sully, Durrus Cheese, Eight Degrees Brewing, Five Farms, Folláin, Hassetts Bakers & Confectioners ltd., Hyde Irish Whiskey, Hyde ltd, Irish Yogurts Clonakilty, K O'Connell Fishmongers, Keohane Seafoods, Kepak Ltd, Macroom Buffalo Cheese, McCarthy's of Kanturk, Niks Tea, OGAM Foods Limited, On The Pigs Back, Rebel City Distillery, SAGE 2 GO, SAGE by, Kev Aherne, Salt of Kinsale ltd, Saturday Pizzas, Second Street Bakeshop, Sibly Food Co., Skeaghanore West Cork Farm, Spice O' Life, St Patrick’s Distillery Ltd, Stonewell Cider, The Good Fish Company, Toons Bridge Dairy and West Cork Distillers.
2026 marks another record year for Blas na hÉireann, with over 3,000 entries across more than 200 categories, reflecting the strength and diversity of Irish food and drink.
Artie Clifford, Chairperson of Blas na hÉireann, said: “2026 has once again shown us just how exciting and dynamic Ireland’s food and drink industry is. The standard of entries continues to climb, with producers demonstrating incredible creativity and a real commitment to quality.
“Blas is about much more than awards – it’s about celebrating the people and community behind one of Ireland’s most exciting industries. Next year we will celebrate 20 years of the awards and it's incredible to see just how far we've come in those two decades.”
The Blas na hÉireann awards weekend ran from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 October in Dingle, with a packed programme of events. See www.irishfoodawards.com for more.