Lir Chocolates

Three of our members Broderick's Handmade, Lir Chocolates and Glenhaven Foods are sampling in over 20 Tesco stores this weekend. Keep an eye out and taste some of the best locally produced Irish products, thank you Tesco Ireland and Backup Marketing for your support. #local #loveirishfood

Really clever display here in Dublin Airport this morning showing how you can appeal to shoppers at different ‘hot’ price points. Finding entry and hook levels for different shoppers is key as we move into gifting season. Positive shopper disruption, whatever your budget. Get your levels right. #tre #TopRetailExpert #simplevalue #shopperdisruption #digitaldisplay

What a sweet time I have had in Ireland over the last six months - literally!  Lir Chocolates produces more than five luxury chocolates every second for M&S and leading retailers - so you can imagine My Technical Placement there has been a fantastic experience. After a brilliant 6 months with M&S, I made the move to Navan, County Meath, to join the Lir Technical team, tasked with ensuring safe and high quality chocolate production. My role included vital parts of the food production process, such as: completing specifications for key customers, verifying nutritional information, approving packaging and artwork, and ensuring compliance to customer policies. I also got deeply involved in all elements of factory management and communication, preparing for audits and understanding key retailer requirements. I added new product information to our segregation and allergen risk assessments to mitigate safety and integrity risks. I also volunteered to help with events including our integrity awareness week, educating employees about the importance of food integrity. I took a leading role in additive removal projects, reaching out to more than 100 suppliers to source innovative ingredients for Lir. As part of this, I approved new suppliers, evaluating their documentation and accreditation, and conducted trials with the NPD team. I was very lucky to spend time across many functions. With the Quality team, it was brilliant to get onto the factory floor, conducting daily GMP audits and quality checks on all lines. I really enjoyed approving chocolate for unloading, assessing seal integrity, organoleptics, and micro. Whilst in New Product Development, I got involved in kitchen trials for unique new ingredients and created samples for retailers throughout the critical path. With the Process Team, I attended factory trials and post-trial reviews to assess feasibility and any product modifications. I also helped build quality contracts for new Christmas products and can't wait to see them on the shelves! Working with the Packaging Team was really valuable, creating packing specifications and attending transit trials to ensure secure and correct packaging. I want to say a massive thank you to everyone at Lir for making my time here so engaging and eye-opening. I have learnt so much about the level of commitment needed by every team to produce consistently high quality, beautiful products. I am really proud to have completed my placement year as a Food Technologist at M&S and then Lir. Two market leading businesses with amazing teams. It is bittersweet that I am moving on to complete the final year of my Food Science BSc at Leeds University. This year has definitely inspired me to pursue a career in the food industry! #lirchocolates #marksandspencer #foodscience #industrialplacement #universityofleeds