Irish café popular with coffee lovers brews up successful partnership with Aldi

Velo Café in Cork, founded by Rob Horgan, has built its reputation on Leeside thanks to the impressive quality of its coffee.

The coffee is carefully hand roasted and packed in Cork - and has earned Velo an enviable reputation amongst coffee lovers.

Now, that coffee will be available throughout 130 Aldi Stores in Ireland thanks to a special 'Grow With Aldi' initiative offered by the German supermarket chain.

It's a dream come true for Mr Horgan whose George's Quay café has thrived thanks to a dramatic revival in Cork's quays as well as the area around Angelsea and the eastern docklands.

"We are excited to see our product made available to Aldi shoppers across the country. We believe we offer something truly unique, and are thankful to Aldi for giving us the opportunity to share it,” he said.

Velo Coffee Roasters visited a number of green bean merchants before selecting their preferred supplier based on the quality, providence and traceability of their bean and their passion for great coffee.

The coffee includes some of the finest beans produced in South America.

“If we don’t start with the best raw material we can’t provide you with the best coffee and we are delighted that we are going to be able to share our locally hand roasted coffee on Aldi shelves nationwide.”

Grow with Aldi represents a €500,000 investment by the retailer in a new supplier development programme.

It followed from research which showed 78pc of Irish consumers select an Irish-made product over an imported option.

CEO of Aldi Ireland and UK, Giles Hurley, said their new product sourcing initiative is commonsense.

“We have always taken great pride in our Irish sourcing and supporting Irish food and drink companies, having developed long-term partnerships with over 175 Irish suppliers throughout the country,” he said.

“For a lot of small food and drink businesses, trying to secure a listing with a major retailer puts huge pressure on their team."

"We’ve launched this development programme to make it easier for companies to get their products on our shelves and to give our customers access to the most exciting and best quality new products from Ireland,” he said.

Velo Coffee Roasters coffee will be available in Aldi from August 23 with two product offerings, ground and whole bean.