This in person event was held in the Carlton Hotel Dublin Airport and focused on opportunities for food and drink manufacturers wanting to supply the airline and ferry sectors.  Participants received presentations from Michelle Tully Retail in Motion, Fergal Kelly Irish Ferries and David Waldron, Keoghs Crips.

Key Learnings from Michelle Tully, Retail in Motion

• Retail in Motion provides front- and back-end retail processes for low cost and legacy airlines and acts as a food and drink sourcing partner for many of the leading airlines.
• Your product should have e.g.  regionality, strong brand, value for money, storytelling, sustainability, etc
• Products will have to match specific requirements e.g. Robust packaging to withstand all day bar, may require crew training and crew incentives, etc.
• Retail in Motion will help advice on logistics which can be complicated across Europe.

Key Learnings from Fergal Kelly, Irish Ferries

• Irish Ferries operate 8 ships out of 7 ports
• Buyers typically look for local products, provenance, quality, value for money, consistent supply, and flexibility.
• Typically deliveries are direct to the ship at specified times.

Key Learnings from David Waldron, Keoghs

• Keoghs commenced selling to airlines in 2018 and now sell to six airlines around the world
• It will be vital that you identify which key airlines you want to target and understand the potential volumes
• Think about what might affect the product onboard e.g. will it need to be refrigerated in warmer climates, will humidity have an effect on the product performance
• How will the product perform on board e.g. how does your product taste in altitude (seasoning), and respond to cabin pressure