Lidl Northern Ireland and SlumberJack Coffee make the perfect blend with new £500,000 supply deal

Based in Antrim, SlumberJack Coffee is a family-run business roasting the freshest, highest quality coffee beans at its state-of-the-art roastery for an intense, luxurious flavour. Established in 2014, the artisan business sources coffee beans directly from a family farm in Brazil’s Alta Mogiana Mineira region.

Located 1,205 metres above sea level, the region is renowned for coffee bean production, with an unrivalled climate and perfect temperatures for growing coffee. The farm is part of a cooperative ensuring 100% traceability of beans, with each harvest meticulously tested for quality and taste.

Gary Murray, Head of Buying at Lidl Ireland and Lidl Northern Ireland said:“SlumberJack Coffee is an innovative company dedicated to producing the very highest quality coffee direct from farm for a truly authentic taste. As a family-owned business the Walkers take great pride in honing their roasting recipe and are continually driving forward with innovative new blends and flavours.

“As a retailer committed to supporting local food producers, we’re delighted to establish a new relationship with such an exciting home-grown artisan producer and to open up opportunities for future growth. We’re delighted to add SlumberJack Coffee to our growing network of more than 50 local producers across Northern Ireland.

“This new partnership is also part of our commitment to provide shoppers with the best choice and value while also supporting ambitious local suppliers and quality produce. We’re confident customers will love the premium taste and quality at unbeatable value.”

The new products currently on sale across all 41 Lidl Northern Ireland stores include SlumberJack Italian Espresso Wholebean 500g (£3.99) and SlumberJack Italian Espresso Ground 220g (£2.49).

Alf Walker, Business Development Manager at SlumberJack Coffee, said: “At SlumberJack Coffee we specialise in roasting the finest and freshest premium coffee beans to achieve the perfect flavour. We have spent the last number of years refining our roasting technique and creating the perfect packaging to ensure freshness and quality of both our whole bean and ground coffee products.

“We’re thrilled to now secure a major deal with Northern Ireland’s fastest-growing supermarket and to see our products stocked on shelves across all Lidl stores in the island of Ireland. Through this contract, not only have we been able to avail of export opportunities and reach new markets, but we’ve grown the business to upscale production to meet customer demand.

“Since hitting shelves last month, we’ve seen incredibly strong demand for our products and we look forward to adding to our product offering with a number of new lines currently in development.”

Lidl Northern Ireland is a major supporter of local food suppliers.

An independent report into the economic impact of Lidl Northern Ireland’s operations revealed that the retailer spends at least £290 million annually with suppliers across the region while also supporting 3,500 jobs.

In 2018, Lidl Northern Ireland struck a deal with Northern Ireland’s Dale Farm, the UK’s largest farmer-owned dairy co-operative, to supply locally made cheddar cheese to 8,000 Lidl stores across 22 countries in the UK, Europe and the United States.

In 2020, Lidl Northern Ireland announced a £24 million contract with Fermanagh-based bakery, Crust & Crumb, to supply an expanded line of pizza products across more than 1,000 UK and Ireland stores whilst top Northern Ireland horticulturalist Greenisland Flowers secured a new supply deal with Lidl Northern Ireland to ship over four million stems of freshly cut tulips, lilies and scented stocks, building on their existing partnership worth more than £7.2 million.

Earlier this year Lidl Northern Ireland confirmed a new and expanded contract with Irwin’s Bakery after a successful 20-year partnership deal worth more than £50 million.

Under the new supply deal, worth £2.7 million annually, the family-run bakery will continue to supply customer favourites including Nutty Krust batch bread, Irwin’s Veda malted loaf and Jammy Joey’s buns to 209 Lidl stores across the island of Ireland.