Longford business achieves success with Food Academy programme

Longford business, UC Nuts took part in the 2023 Food Academy programme, which is a tailored business development programme for early to mid-stage producers, supported by SuperValu, Bord Bia and the Local Enterprise Office.

UC Nuts produce roasted peanuts, almonds and roasted cashews.

It started off by selling their products to big wholesalers, as well as selling locally in their home town of Longford, before reaching national scale through the Food Academy programme.

Set up in December 2018 in Longford town, UC Nuts began production in 2020 and started supplying their roasted peanuts, almonds and roasted cashew to big wholesalers retail shops.
As a new company just starting out, lockdown hit UC Nuts hard and production stopped.
However, Uche Chiemeka of UC Nuts, explained that their fortunes changed for the better after she came across a social media post about the Food Academy.

"I applied (to the Food Academy) and luckily was chosen. It's been a life changing experience and I have benefited immensely from it."
Uche continued, "The Food academy opened my eyes to so many things. It has made me a better business person who really knows what she is doing both pricewise, brandwise and other areas.
"I am better equipped and knowledgeable too. Our packaging and raw materials are very sustainable since they are locally sourced and we are working towards reducing plastic and using more recyclable packaging in the future also."

SuperValu is celebrating ten years of the Food Academy programme, with €230m of Food Academy products sold in their stores over the last decade.

Food Academy producers are continuing to perform strongly, supporting 1,500 jobs through the programme which offers considerable benefits to both local communities and the national economy.
More than 1,000 local food producers have completed the Food Academy programme since its inception, with over 300 Food Academy producers regularly stocked in SuperValu stores across the country, including UC Nuts, across 52 weeks of the year.