Bord Bia has announced a programme of promotional and trade activities across 13 countries to mark St Patrick’s Day. Throughout March, the agency will host over 40 St Patrick’s Day events across three continents, targeting trade customers and consumers. These events, which span key international trading markets including the US, UK, Europe, and Nigeria, are aimed at improving Ireland’s reputation as a supplier of high-quality produce.
Bord Bia CEO Jim O’Toole will visit Washington for trade engagements and meetings with senior representatives from the Irish food and drink industry. In the UK, Bord Bia will sponsor the Lord Mayor of London’s official St. Patrick’s Day celebration at Trafalgar Square, which attracts over 50,000 visitors. Celebrity Irish chef Anna Haugh will also be showcasing Irish beef, farmhouse cheese and oysters at Myrtle restaurant in London.
Premium
In the United States, Bord Bia will exhibit at the Annual Meat Conference in Orlando, Florida, the biggest gathering of meat industry professionals in the US. Irish meat will be positioned as a premium offering in the US market, emphasising its distinctive qualities in terms of production and taste.
In Italy, campaigns promoting Irish beef will take place in 20 leading Milan restaurants from March 9th to 17th. Alongside this, Bord Bia’s Irish grass-fed beef outdoor advertising campaign will run this month, displayed on 200 billboards and at 79 underground stations. The campaign will highlight the Protected Geographical Indicator (PGI) for Irish beef and will be part of a three-week in-store and online promotion with supermarket retailer Esselunga from March 13th to 23rd in over 190 stores across Italy.
France will see a two-week shopper marketing promotion at 250 Carrefour hypermarkets around the country. The campaign will showcase Irish beverages, seafood, beef, and more. For drinks, Bord Bia will run a Spirit of Ireland training session on the merits of Irish whiskey for retail staff at drinks chain, Intercaves (80 stores in France), at its annual training convention. In Belgium, Bord Bia will promote organic Irish beef and lamb, targeting media, chefs, and key customers through a restaurant event as part of the EU Organic Beef and Lamb campaign.
Cocktails
In Nigeria, Bord Bia’s team is launching the fourth annual Irish Cocktail Week in Lagos, featuring a mixologist competition. Premium restaurants and bars will be leveraging St Patrick’s celebrations by creating unique cocktails using Irish drinks. In Vietnam, Bord Bia will host Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Noel Grealish, in meetings with customers of Irish food and drink in Hanoi.
In 2024, Ireland exported €17 billion of Irish food and drink worldwide, equivalent to €46 million worth of Irish food and drink exported every day. Irish food and drink brands are consumed in 187 markets worldwide. Ireland exports around 90 per cent of its food and drink production. Over 60,000 farmers and 324 verified companies are members of Origin Green, the only sustainability programme in the world operating on a national scale throughout the entire supply chain.
Dairy – Ireland produced 8.5 billion litres of milk in 2024.
Drinks – Irish whiskey is one of the fastest growing spirit categories in the world.
Beef – Irish beef is served in the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Ireland is the eighth largest exporter of boneless beef and veal in the world.
Ireland is the EU’s largest beef exporter.
Ireland is the largest exporter of beef in the northern hemisphere.
The Negishi restaurant chain in Japan is made up of 40 restaurants that focus on serving Irish beef tongue.
Over 90 Michelin star and award-winning chefs promote Irish beef through Bord Bia’s exclusive Chefs’ Irish Beef Club. It celebrated 20 years as a club in 2024.
The UK is Ireland’s lead agri-food destination with exports worth €5.9 billion last year.
Pictured top are floats from the St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin
