Kilkenny Food Vision 2020-2025 reboots the county’s Food Culture Strategy

Kilkenny is bidding to become Ireland’s strongest local food economy and food culture hub; to increase the amount of local food and beverages on menus and retail shelves in the county, growing local food consumption by 30% over the next three to five years.

Kilkenny Food Vision 2020- 2025: “Add 3 Ingredients” will launch next Thursday, October 24.  The vision is focused on three high-level objectives which the stakeholders believe will have long-term and broad-based strategic impact for food culture in the County and adjacent region to which it is closely linked.

As a driver of the objectives, the strategy plans to set up Ireland’s first ever food verification system which would be guided by the principles of the highly-successful Canadian-based foodservice certification program Feast On® that recognises businesses committed to sourcing Ontario-grown and made food and drink.

Kilkenny has also vowed to support new and growing food enterprises and the vibrant food industry and wants to create more market, pop-up or festival-focused retailing and direct selling access and opportunities to local and visiting consumers.

A key enabler of the objectives is the creation of a Food Development Office to drive the objectives.  The Vision also proposes the development of a distinctive Kilkenny Food Brand to unify the various strands of the county’s vibrant food culture.

The Food Vision development process involved over 70 local stakeholder inputs, initially led and supported by a partnership of the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Kilkenny and Kilkenny LEADER Partnership (KLP).  It maps the pathway for growth of the local sector in Kilkenny city and county and the surrounding hinterland over the next three to five years.

Kilkenny has made significant progress since its original food strategy was devised in 2009.  That plan was the ground-breaking pioneer and influencer of the many ‘county food strategies’ that followed in the last decade.  The county’s foodie reputation has vastly grown in profile over the period.  Among other evidence of development, Kilkenny boasts one of the best food festivals in the country, the Savour Kilkenny Festival of Food, and the city and county boasts an engaged core group of food stakeholders who now want to move the journey on, the report continues.

The new Kilkenny Food Vision develops on the existing foundations, extracts from those assets the next opportunities, and pinpoints the pathway for a journey from which Kilkenny food stakeholders as a whole can embrace and benefit.  The Food Vision’s pathway will be a “first in Ireland” in terms of the three specific clearly understood and measurable targets.

Rebecca Mackenzie is the CEO of Ontario Canada’s Feast On® programme.  The programme has brought real commercial success to the Ontario food community.  Rebecca is a contributor to the Kilkenny Food Vision 2020- 2025 and her input into a number of the sessions is seen as invaluable, particularly in her contributions regarding local food sourcing.

Rebecca will speak to the operation of Feast On and its lessons for Kilkenny, at the launch of the Kilkenny Food Vision 2020- 2025 and at meetings with groups of potential stakeholders over the course of her visit next weekend.

Commenting ahead of the launch, Rebecca MacKenzie said: “It’s exciting to see a community work collaboratively towards a plan that is focused on building local food systems and supporting small to medium sized businesses.

“Taste of place is top of mind to travellers and a solid plan to advance the food and beverage offerings in Kilkenny will support both the community and the visitor experience.”

Local stakeholders were very keen to engage, according to Business Advisor with Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny, Catherine Hennessy. “The engagement process involved consultation meetings, an online food survey for food stakeholders and a separate one for consumers. Key aims for the future are to lengthen and strengthen the annual food calendar of activity within the county and the creation of a food development office to coordinate all future food activity,” she revealed.

Co-operating through the Kilkenny Food Vision 2020-2025, the wider industry aims to raise the profile of Kilkenny food and beverages in general and get more local Kilkenny people consuming local food and drinks.  KLP CEO, Declan Rice, said. “We want to foster greater commercial growth among existing and new producers- and particularly to encourage the farming community to add further value to their primary produce and potentially to supply that product to the local market.

“So much has changed since the inaugural strategy launch in October 2010.  We were the first county in the country to produce a strategy- now we are re-booting that strategy and look to the future with a refocused vision and great optimism.  We think the time is right.”

The Kilkenny Food Vision 2020-2025: “Add 3 Ingredients” will be launched on Thursday, October 24, at Kilkenny’s Butler House, as the Savour Kilkenny Festival of Food gets underway across the city and county.