A brother and sister duo from Co Tyrone have launched a new food and drink business, delivering a taste of home to Irish immigrants around the world.
Ulster University student Cliodhna Goodfellow, and Declan Goodfellow, a mason living in New Jersey, are behind the new venture called Irish Goodies.
From her family kitchen table, the 21-year-old communications, advertising and marketing student has been creating care packages including treats and drinks not found outside the UK and Ireland and shipping them internationally.
The idea for the business came from the family’s own experience of living away from home.
“Declan saw the demand first-hand in America because he is close with a lot of Irish people over there, through football and work. “And every year I would be going over to visit and my suitcase would be full of chocolates, sweets and crisps and stuff,” said Cliodhna.
“And then recently my sister moved to Sydney, Australia and there was also a huge demand there.”
She shared that cheese and onion Tayto crisps have been the most popular item so far, and said that the response has been “great”.
“It’s just about having the home comfort of having a tin of Club Orange or having a packet of crisps to make a crisp sandwich. Just something that just reminds you of home and being at your own family kitchen table,” she said.
“The demand is there and we do see people go to Irish stores in these countries and things are either very expensive or the taste is just not the same.
“People have seen the page and said this is exactly what I wanted and it’s so easy to do.”
Declan who has been living in the US since turning 18 years old, has been spreading the word and securing orders across the Atlantic.
Since they began shipping at the beginning of the year, they have delivered local treats as far as Dubai, and have even received some local orders.
“We have been getting the word out through social media and it has just been booming since,” she said.
“We’re happy with it, it’s been steady but it’s going very well.”
Cliodhna said that while she has been packing the boxes from the “kitchen table”, if growth continues she would like to eventually develop a website and “reach customers more easily”.
Irish Goodies offers customers a selection of boxes allowing them to enjoy some “home comforts” while away from home.
“At the minute we have three boxes, one includes drinks and give items of choice, the other is biccies and tea bags and the other is the pick and mix box,” said the young entrepreneur.
“In that one you can pick whatever eight items that you like. That can be crisps, chocolates, curry sauce, pot noodles – anything that you like and that’s probably our most popular box.
“Today somebody ordered just crisps and yesterday somebody ordered all chocolate. It’s really just whatever people would like to have, whatever their home comforts are.”
Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk
