Food Academy

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Blakes Always Organic

Blakes Always Organic produce Organic produce locally. Our current products are Organic Kefir, (a probiotic health drink for gut revitalisation made with whole Organic milk.) and Whole-bean Artisan Organic coffees.

One of our Directors: Sean McGloin became aware of the health benefits of the fermented milk kefir and was making kefir for his family before developing the product on a small commercial scale. In 2016, Blakes Always Organic commenced selling Organic Kefir. The first Kefir test run was carried out on the 07/04/2016 and the kefir was then released to the marked in May 2016. Starting off, we made batches of kefir in a small 20 litre Bain Marie, which we bottled and labelled by hand. We had to move to a 200-litre vat within 3 months and in 2018 we had to purchase an 850-litre vat. We currently produce around 2000 litres per week. The product proved to be very popular with our health-conscious customers, and our production scale has grown continuously to cater for the increasing demand as the undisputed health benefits of milk kefir is the main driver of sales.

Our product is a “clean” product. We add nothing but the Organic milk and bacteria. Our customers can always add whatever fruit they prefer before consumption to make fresh smoothies, add it to oats for a healthy porridge, bake bread with it, or alternatively, consume the kefir in its natural form, as it has been consumed for countless generations throughout Eastern Europe and Russia, where the literal translation of kefir is; ‘Feel Good’. Our kefir products are produced in The Food Hub in Drumshanbo.

Our other Director: John Brennan, worked closely with Coffee and Cocoa farmers in South America, so Organic coffee was an obvious product choice for us. Our coffee venture started in 2015 working on developing the product and our first coffee roast test run 04/04/2016 and with the help of a local coffee expert in Carrick-On Shannon, in 2016 we launched our first blend of whole bean coffee: Blakes Always Organic ‘Culture Blend’ Coffee. In April 2016, 106 -250g bags were produced. From April- Dec 2016 200kgs of coffee were roasted. This blend won the Bord Bia Organic award in 2017 for the Best Prepared Product category, despite stiff competition. In the Summer of 2018, we were proud to add a second blend of coffee to our products:  Purely Arabica Blend, and recently launched a third Organic coffee: a Peruvian Arabica, decaffeinated using the CO2 method rather than solvents for a coffee with all the flavour but little or no caffeine.

Blakes Always Organic currently employs 6 staff along with two directors and are embedded in the local community, as we continue to grow and evolve, we hope to create more jobs in the local area.

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