Ireland - a growing market for UK speciality food?

I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland last week, both to visit existing gourmet food customers and see some potential new ones.  Whilst there I was very interested to draw comparisons between the UK and Irish market.  First of all I was shocked at the depth of the recession over there.  After many boom years, largely due to European Investment, known as the Celtic Tiger, Ireland has got a recession far deeper than ours.  House prices have dropped by 40%.  Retail food prices in the multiples have dropped by 10%.  After full employment for many years Ireland has unemployment.  Many of the “new irish” have fled back to Eastern Europe.  Hotel prices compared to only 18 months ago have almost halved.  Last time I stayed it was difficult to get a hotel room for under 120 euros a night, this time I paid 59 euros for a similar hotel and 2p on the return flight!  Every time I turned on the car radio all the talk was of recession and swine flu.  Not what you would call entertainment.

However, despite all that, the independent food shops seemed to be thriving.  Sure they have had to adapt some of their ranges and offerings, but only one of the retailers (and that was a small supermarket chain) I visited seemed very concerned about the current economy.  In fact in Dublin, per capita, there were more independent food halls than cities in the UK.  Donnybrook Fair, Fallon & Byrne and Fresh who between them I think have eight outlets were full of customers spending money.  In fact Fallon & Byrne is worth singling out for a special mention.  On three floors it has a wine bar in the cellar, a thriving food hall on the ground and a splendid restaurant with great wine on the first floor. You won’t be surprised to learn that I spent about four hours there – I’ll leave you to guess on which floor!

Bearing in mind my comments a few weeks ago about food halls in London, you might find it surprising that there is room for so many quality outlets in Dublin.  However, perhaps not.  Dublin is still a relatively wealthy city with earnings 15-20% higher than the UK. But more importantly than that perhaps is the culture of supporting independent retailers on that side of the Irish Sea.  Whilst some community has broken down over the last few years, it is noticeably higher than in the UK.  That will be obvious to anyone who has been over there outside Dublin.  When that comes to shopping, consumers are more used to walking to their local butcher, greengrocer or corner shop than UK citizens.  The Irish, I believe, are less likely to jump in the car and drive to their nearest out-of-town hypermarket than those in the UK.

Whilst it might be a grand idea to believe that independent food shops can change a culture, small things can make a difference.  If you have the space, inviting a mums and toddlers group to use your café one morning a week, having a pensioners discount day, opening a wine bar alongside your retail outlet (!) can all create a sense of community. Supermarkets can never do this, despite the marketing!