Lidl Ireland is to give Dublin supplier Naked Bakes a €700,000 permanent listing on its 223 stores across the island of Ireland after a successful stint on its 2024 Kickstart Supplier Development Programme.
Applications are now open for agri-food producers to secure a place on Lidl's development programme, which is designed to support small and medium sized suppliers into the food industry.
The six-month development programme offers suppliers dedicated business support from Lidl's in-house experts, advancing their product, brand and business with practical guidance on how to scale production, drive production efficiency, as well as product development and packaging support.
Now in its ninth year, and supported by Bord Bia, the 2024 programme saw a record number of applicants from every province in Ireland.
Aisling Tuck of Naked Bakes joined Lidl's programme last year, and supplied its Naked Bakes Cookie Dough to Lidl stores across Ireland on a promotional basis.
"Getting our foot in the door of a major retailer like Lidl has been a massive win for us and now securing a permanent placement in every store across the country is life changing for our business," she said.
"By joining the Kickstart programme, we’ve benefitted from hands on support and guidance from Lidl experts across supply chain, packaging, product formulation and even marketing, which has been a gamechanger for us to scale up our operations and our future," she added.
Kate O’Driscoll, Supplier Development Manager at Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland, said that the Kickstart Supplier Development programme allows the supermarket chain to support Irish producers building their businesses while providing customers with a great range of new and innovative Irish products.
"We're delighted to support suppliers like Naked Bakes and several others on getting fully listed and now being part of Lidl’s everyday product range. Other products have benefited from the expansive international store network, reaching the shores of the UK, Europe and even the USA over the nine years of the programme," she said.
Fiona Twomey, Global Retail Specialist at Bord Bia, said the Kickstart programme provides companies with a great opportunity to engage with a global retailer like Lidl, picking up important learnings and experience along the way through capability development workshops.
"In addition to this, Kickstart can also open doors for participating companies to explore export opportunities through Lidl's global network of stores," she said.
Since its launch in 2017, Lidl has invested €37m in supporting over 300 Irish businesses through the Kickstart programme.
