Food and drink producers from across Ireland have been selected to display their products in 210 stores as part of the retailer’s supplier development scheme.

The programme focusses on small and medium sized enterprises, with the core aim to help these businesses grow in a number of key areas including brand development, customer outreach, new export opportunities, and supply network expansion.

Kickstart was developed in 2017 by Lidl and Bord Bia, and since then has invested €6 million euro into supporting over 350 Irish food and drink suppliers.

The selected manufacturers range from a bakery based in Portadown to a South African meat company from Newtonards.

In addition to in-store promotion, Lidl has said that the scheme will also provide producers with “a full business support package”, which will include benefits such as one-to-one mentorship, networking events, training events, as well as sales opportunities as their products will be offered to Lidl’s 300,000 weekly customers.

NI Food & Drink Association (NIFDA) has supported this year’s programme. NIFDA chief executive Michael Bell said the scheme was “a fantastic way” for smaller food producers to understand what it takes to supply to a major retailer and make their mark on the competitive grocery market.