Growing kale sales in Northern Ireland

Peter Robinson, Procurement Manager for the Foodservice division at the North Down Group with Farmer James Booth and Rachel Booth aged 4 from Windwhistle Farm.
September 2016 - Picture by Darren Kidd / Press Eye. — Peter Robinson, Procurement Manager for the Foodservice division at the North Down Group with Farmer James Booth and Rachel Booth aged 4 from Windwhistle Farm. September 2016 - Picture by Darren Kidd / Press Eye.

Wednesday 5th October was National Kale Day, and with kale now recognised as one of the leading food trends in the food and fitness sector, the popularity of kale has surged in Northern Ireland.

One of the Province’s leading suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetables, the North Down Group, has seen growth of 25% in sales of kale year-on-year, and the company now has three local farmers who are supplying over 6,000 kilos of kale per year.

Peter Robinson, Procurement Manager for the Foodservice Division at the North Down Group explains: “Five years ago there was virtually no demand from our customers for kale but over the past two years, kale has become a key ingredient on many of our customers’ menus. We’ve been working with our local growers to increase their acreage, dedicated to kale, and we’re now supplying locally-grown kale to over 100 customers Province-wide.”

A new kale grower to the North Down Group is Comber-based Windwhistle Farm, owned by the Dunlop family.