Students Showcase Their Products

The Department of Tourism & Hospitality at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) hosted their annual Food Product Development Showcase. This event is the culmination of a semester’s work on the Bachelor of Business in Culinary Arts Degree, and brings together modules in Culinary Entrepreneurship and Food Packaging & Design.

The students worked individually, or in groups, to develop an innovative food product, along with a Business Plan to support their product. Sixteen products were presented to a panel of judges, which included Artie Clifford,Chairperson of Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards; Michele Santry, Food To Go Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland; David Chandler, Sales Director of Blenders and Julie Delaney, Brand Manager for Blenders. Adrienne Rogers, Head of Enterprise at Cork City Local Enterprise Office, and Eddie O’Neill, Artisan Food Specialist with Teagasc were also in attendance for the showcase.

The hotly contested event saw the following products coming to the fore:

Natural Fruit & Vegetable Jellies Healthy Snack Pack

Cherry Smoked Black Pudding – using a traditional Polish recipe

Yotta – a Prosecco flavoured yogurt panna cotta

Katcha Budda Bowl - super vegan tofu meal

Guinea Fowl, Duck Liver and Wild Mushroom Layered Terrine

Artie Clifford, Chairperson of Blas na hÉireann, commented “the most noticeable thing about this year is the level of confidence of the candidates, both in themselves and the products they have developed. The future of NPD in Irish food is very bright”.

Michele Santry, Food To Go Musgraves Partners Ireland said “the standard of the products, projects, and students, were extremely high in CIT this year. I’m delighted to see such talent coming through. I’m looking forward to working with these innovative thinkers in the food industry in the years to come.”

Julie Delaney, Brand Manager of Blenders, sponsors of the award also thanked the students and staff “for all their hard work…in creating a truly wonderful event.”

The Rubicon Centre at CIT provided a bursary of €4,000 to the two winning students to develop their products under their Student Inc. Incubation Programme, along with a fully serviced office space located in The Rubicon Centre, Ireland’s premier Business Incubation Centre.