Irish Gourmet Preparing For The Christmas Season

Apologies again for the distinct lack of blogs on Irish Gourmet of late.

We have been blogging away on our sister site www.basketsgalore.co.uk and trialling a new design and platform so will now aim to replicate this across this - our luxury food hamper division.

We aim to bring you lots of info on our suppliers, great taste award winning products, recipes, hampers and occasions and of course add a bit of fun with stories and competitions.

Irish Gourmet operates all year round offering birthday hampers, fresh fruit get well hampers, congratulations, sympathy and thank you hampers. However, it really comes into its own in November and December when the Christmas Season is fast approaching, as our luxurious Christmas Hampers are stuffed full of award winning local produce and are a firm favourite with both corporate and retail customers.

Our corporate newsletter has also been emailed today, with the retail one to follow next week. So if you are a past customer please check your inbox for details of our current Christmas Hamper range and any current special offers or discounts which may apply.

Many thanks,

The IG Team

Irish Gourmet Supplier Focus - Ummera - Smoked Meats

One of the best selling products in our Irish Gourmet Hampers is the organic smoked salmon from Ummera Smokehouse, Timoleague, Cork.

Having just placed an order for a fresh delivery, the owner (Anthony Creswell) informed me that a new batch was being smoked that day. This got me thinking as to how the smoking process actually works.

Luckily Ummera created a video of exactly how is it done & so now I know! I thought I would share it with you too, so you can see how much effort goes into producing the best smoked salmon around.

They not only smoke salmon, but also Gravadlax, Chicken, Duck & Bacon which we stock in November and December for Christmas Hampers.

Smoking Salmon

Smoking Chicken Breasts

Smoked Meats Salad

Snow in Ireland Hampering Deliveries

Our clocks may be "springing" forward in just over a week to mark the start of Spring/Summer, but unfortunately it is anything but warm outside!

Most areas in Ireland & the UK are so badly affected by snow and flood waters that many roads are impassable & people are being advised not to travel unless absolutely necessary. Many homes have been left without electricity and schools around the country are closed.

At Irish Gourmet we are still dispatching gifts today by courier, but some deliveries may be subject to delays due to the wet or snowy conditions. Some gifts dispatched on Thursday may also be affected.

You can track the delivery progress of your gift basket via your account. If the tracking information shows "on hold" rather than "with delivery courier" or "on van" it suggests that the local depot has been unable to each the delivery address that day & so will try again on the next available day.

We apologise for any delays experienced, but trust you understand that it is outside of our control. The courier companies we use are some of the biggest around & so will have contingency measures in place for such events.

Hopefully the bad weather conditions will clear over the weekend so as normal service can resume on Monday. We have lots of Easter gift baskets to dispatch next week, so remember to order yours ASAP.

Any queries please just get in touch with us on info@giftbaskets.ie

Thanks,

The IG Team

Irish Gourmet's St Patrick's Day Competition!

Irish Gourmet's St Patrick's Day Competition!

We have just launched a St Patrick's Day Competition on Facebook & Twitter and already we've had lots of people liking & sharing the posts, so thank you!

On Facebook

To be in with a chance of winning a fantastic Irish Themed Gift Basket then simply follow the steps below on our Facebook Page

Or Twitter

Or if you are on Twitter then simply like @IrishGourmet & retweet us to enter the draw.

You can see our full range of Irish Gift Baskets on Irish Gourmet UK or Irish Goumet IE and below are a couple of ideas for inspiration:

Artisan Tastes Duo 

St Patrick's Day Hamper

We operate all year round & our hampers make excellent Thank You, Birthday and Christmas gifts too.

Many thanks,

The IG Team 

As of Tuesday 18th December we are still receiving, processing and dispatching hundreds of orders.As of Tuesday 18th December we are still receiving, processing and dispatching hundreds of orders.

As of Tuesday 18th December we are still receiving, processing and dispatching hundreds of orders.

This is always our busiest week, as it is human nature to leave things to the last minute!

There is still time for pre-Christmas delivery, as we will be dispatching right up until Thursday afternoon.

Please choose the Christmas delivery shipping option, and your order will be turned around as quickly as we possibly can. 

All parcels are sent via an overnight courier service, and delivered by the biggest and best courier companies in the UK & Ireland.

We email you a dispatch notification when your order has been sent from our warehouse, so you will know when your gift basket or hamper is on it's way to it's destination.  And you can track it's delivery progress at the touch of a button.

To assist us at this very busy time of year we would like to remind customers to please provide us with the correct postcode by using the  postcode checker, a local telephone number for the recipient,and of course the gift card message.  This will ensure there are no unnecessary delays.

Thank you for your help, we look forward to being of service to you this Christmas.

Kind regards,

The Team at Irish Gourmet

We're Still Delivering in Time For Christmas

Don’t worry there is still plenty of time for pre Christmas delivery. 

We have been  working round the clock to process and package your orders.  We’re pleased to announce as of midnight on Saturday 15^th December our warehouse is right up to date with assembly.   Our offices have been open extra  early this morning, Sunday, to print out all the orders that have come in overnight and we will be sending these to warehouse this afternoon so they can be packaged up for dispatch as early as tomorrow, Monday 17^th December.

So please keep ordering.  We aren’t going to stop until we are completely sold out. 

Currently there is no deadline, but we will be keeping you up to date every morning and evening over the next few days. 

Happy Shopping!

The IG Team

Irish Gourmet Christmas Hampers Being Packed

At Irish Gourmet Christmas Is Well Underway!

Here at Irish Gourmet HQ Christmas is in full swing with hundreds of baskets being packed everyday, ready for delivery! We've had Christmas music belting out for a few weeks now!


Our packing area where baskets & hampers are filled with the correct products and sealed. Fresh items such as cheese and meats are not pre-packed however, they are added to a cool sleeve on the day of dispatch.

Baskets & hampers packed and boxed, ready to be shipped off to their destinations around Ireland, the UK and Europe.

Order your Christmas gift basket now for Christmas delivery from Irish Gourmet IE or Irish Gourmet UK

Irish Gourmet Christmas Hampers 2012

It's not even Halloween yet, but at Irish Gourmet we have been preparing for Christmas for many months now! It's now only 70 days to go!

The product offering is decided as far in advance as Spring, then the design and photography are carried out during the Summer months. Finally in the Autumn the pricing & list of contents are written up, then we launch the Christmas Catalogue and add the Christmas baskets and hampers to our website. 

For Christmas 2012 there are a few old favourites back such as the popular 'Great Taste Award Winning' range and the 'Traditional' range. They have of course been updated for 2012 though to include the latest, tastiest products.

Christmas Traditional Feast - £77.99/€101.39

Great Taste Award Silver Hamper - £84.99/€110.49

Also new for Autumn 2012 is the 'Artisan' range which consist of local, gourmet products from small producers around Ireland. This include organic smoked salmon, cooked ham joints, gourmet cheese selections and handmade chutneys, jams and chocolates.

Artisan Elite Hamper - £129.99/€168.99

 We offer fast delivery at competitive prices which includes full tracking details. Customer support is also available at the click of a button, as our dedicated team answer your emails.

So check out www.irishgourmet.ie and www.irishgourmet.co.uk for all your Christmas hamper needs.

Win A Luxury Irish Gourmet Hamper

Irish Gourmet Hampers August Competitions

To celebrate Irish Gourmet having its very own Facebook and Twitter pages we have launched some competitions for our followers.

Twitter Competition

All you have to do to be entered into the draw is:

1. Follow @IrishGourmet

2. Retweet one of our tweets about this 'Artisan' hamper competition

3. Spread the word to your friends & colleagues (optional!)

Facebook Competition

1. Like Irish Gourmet's Facebook Page

2. Tag yourself in a photo in the competition album

3. Share our page with friends & family

Also keep an eye on our page/account for further competition updates, as we may carry out a "Stage 2" step to narrow the entries down.

The winner will win a gift basket from our "Artisan" Hamper Range for delivery anywhere in the UK or Ireland.

Further info and closing date/time will be tweeted over the next few days.

Good Luck!

The IG Team

Irish Gourmet Moving Premises - Delivery Schedule

12-16th July - Irish Gourmet's Change of Scenery

Hi Folks,

Over the past few years Irish Gourmet has been steadily growing
(with a lot of hard work) and we have moved premises a couple of times
 to help improve operations & bring you the best service possible.

We last moved our Headquarters in October 2007 & this July
(12-16th July 2012) we have decided to coincide our move with a public
holiday to minimise disruption to our delivery service. We aren't moving far
(just across town), but gift baskets, hampers, boxes and all the stock take
up a lot of room so it is going to take us a while to pack up here, move
everything & unpack at the other end!

This means that unfortunately there will be no deliveries available on
Friday 13th July & Monday 16th July. There will also be no deliveries
to Northern Ireland on 12th July due to the Public Holiday. We will email
to advise anyone who orders to NI for this date, as unfortunately we can’t
turn it off in the calendar when deliveries to other regions are still OK
on that date.

Please see the delivery schedule below:
Thursday 12th July – No Deliveries to Northern Ireland, IG office closed
Friday 13th July – No Deliveries, IG office closed
Saturday 14th July – No Deliveries
Monday 16th July – No Deliveries, but dispatches resume & IG office open
Tuesday 17th July – Normal Service resumes

As a Thank You

To thank you for your understanding, a complimentary chunky chocolate fudge
will be included with all orders placed during this period & we will also
upgrade all deliveries to the express service for dispatch on Monday 16th July.
We would like to thank you for your continued custom and please just drop us
an email if you have any queries, as we can often still reply with email support.

See you at the other side!

Kind regards,

The IG Team

Irish Gourmet Christmas Review

Hi Folks,

Apologies it has been so long since my last post. There is so much to tell you about!

A fairly recent occasion & the biggest of the gift basket year has just passed, so I thought I would take some time to review it. Yes you guessed it - Christmas Time!

Thank You

The team here at Irish Gourmet would like to say a big thank you to everyone who shopped with us during November & December for Christmas hampers & gift baskets. We hope your friends & family members enjoyed receiving & eating the contents! We know many of you shop with us every year & we really appreciate your continued custom. We have been steadily growing for the past 10 years and keep making improvements to the systems every year. Our aim is to be a well oiled machine! One thing remains constant though; we only offer great quality, local food that we have taste tested & love!

New Irish Products

We are always keen to add new lines to our range, so new products for Christmas 2011 included a new "Chutney For Cheese & Wine" & "Beetroot Blush" from Janet's Country Fayre in Co. Wicklow. Fruity Rice & Oat Crisp Clusters from Mackle Snacks in Dungannon. Skelligs Chocolates were also back for this Christmas after a devastating fire destroyed their factory in Co. Kerry last year. Danucci Chocolates from Co. Louth were also reintroduced back into our gift baskets in 2011. We also stock more fresh meats at Christmas time, so bring in extra Ummera Organic smoked salmon (in various sizes) as well as their bacon rashers, duck breasts & chicken crowns. We also stock Brady Family's carved glazed traditional ham & cooked ham joints at this time of year.

No Snow!

We were so pleased the snow stayed away this December & no pipes were bursting! It meant we were able to keep dispatching Christmas hampers right up until the 22nd December, for delivery on 23rd December. Some of the couriers even worked the Saturday 24th, Christmas Eve, to get those last few parcels delivered.

We even dispatched baskets on Friday 23rd December & these were delivered as soon as the courier companies reopened again on 28th December. We were then busy again on 28th & 29th December too, dispatching New Year gift baskets & helping to resolve any problems.

After Sales Care

With so many gift baskets being dispatched there are inevitably a few delivery problems, such as the recipient not being home when delivery was first attempted & they need help re-arranging delivery. As a good will gesture we also dispatched some fresh cheese packs to recipients who couldn't get a 2nd delivery attempt rescheduled until after Christmas. We also did very well in terms of few breakages too this year. We bubble wrap individual jars and our boxes are padded inside with air pockets, but occasionally a jar still might arrive broken (if a courier might have been particularly heavy handed with a box for example). When this happens we send out a fresh gift basket or a complimentary hamper to replace any damaged goods. We want the recipients to be delighted with their basket & so work hard to help on those rare occasions something might go wrong. Of course you get the odd chancer who refuses to take any responsibility when incorrect address or telephone numbers have been supplied. Even then we do our best to come up with a suitable resolution, but we do ask for costs to be covered for return to sender, redelivery & restocking fees - never mind the administration time & costs involved.

To Conclude...

So all in all a successful Christmas & New Year was had! January has been busy with VAT receipts & returns (the fun!), but also with updating our gift basket offering. We'll be back in touch soon with all the latest news.

Many thanks,

The Irish Gourmet

Irish Food Products Direct

Fair ye all,

Coming later this month in April 2010 will be the new Irish Gourmet website, which is reverting to its original guise as a showcase for Irish food products.

Its something we always wanted to do, it was our vision nearly 10 years ago to create something like this, but in the intervening period of time, we had to do dull things like build a cash flow, make a profit, establish a customer database, ship out thousands of hampers, little nuisances such as that.

We had to battle all the techological hurdles of internet bandwidth restrictions, hosting issues, overloaded servers.

Throughout this time, we would see rival companies start up and spend phenomenal amounts of money on a market, which simply wasn't big enough. Invariably the pace of change and development online has been so fast that small companies technological investment is outdated very quickly.
Other times we would gasp in astonishment at the sums of money spent on websites which were far inferior than our own small sub brands.

Anyway all is well in the world as The Irish Gourmet paced itself. This new website will be our 4th version of the site since 2004, but this is what we wanted all along and it has been acchieved in record time. This blog post marks the beginning of the design process and we expect to have the complete website in its .co.uk format up and running before the end of April with the .ie site available the following week.

Categories will be:

The Weavers
The Bakery
The Butchery
The Fishmongers
The Patisserie
The Sweetie Shop
The Grocery
The Dairy
The Epicurist
The Winecellar
The Farm
The Hamper Shop

Customers will be able to select the finest artisan, gourmet food products from the shopping sections above. So you can visit the weaver and buy your basket, then visit the Bakery to add your biscuits, the patisserie for your cake, the dairy for a cheese and the epicurist for some hand made specialities.
Or you can just visit the hamper shop and choose from a wide range of our hamper styles.

Essentially this website will be so cool that if you want to buy a hamper in the UK or Ireland, then Irishgourmet will be an essential browse.

Our objective is to build and design the most user friendly Irish Hamper Website in the World.

Let us know if you agree when you're browsing in May

The Irish Gourmet

Easter food gifts

With Mother's Day & St Patricks Day only just over, Easter is now fast approaching! With Good Friday on the 2nd April, Easter Sunday on the 4th & Easter Monday the 5th April.

The Easter holidays are generally a time for family get-togethers, be it a family picnic, barbeque or sit down dinner. This is why a food hamper is an increasingly popular Easter present. Our new spring range of hampers are perfect for a family feed, as they contain a mixture of sweet & savoury gourmet items, fresh meats such as ham & salmon and pressed apple juice. http://www.irishgourmet.co.uk/spring-summer-hampers.html



Irish Gourmet is also pleased to introduce some special Easter-themed gift baskets this year, to compliment our existing good food hampers. Our Easter gifts baskets are perfect presents for children & contain cute stuffed animals such as bunnies & chicks, chocolate easter eggs as well as lollies & candies. You can also add extra items to a basket if it is for more than 1 child to enjoy!



Our Easter presents can be delivered directly to the lucky recipients, across Ireland & the UK for only £3.99. Courier companies will not be delivering on Good Friday & Easter Monday, so we suggest picking a delivery date of the 1st April at the latest. So why not send your kids, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, godchild or family an Easter gift basket today & they can enjoy it together over the holiday period.

Irish food - Perfect for St. Patricks Day

This Wednesday, the 17th March is St. Patricks Day! What better way to celebrate than enjoying some delicious Irish food from Irish Gourmet. The vast majority of the gourmet food items in our gift baskets are of Irish origin.

For example:

Fivemiletown & Causeway cheeses, which are produced in Northern Ireland.
Our Offbeat chutneys & marmalades are also produced in Bangor, Co. Down.
Cottage Pride jam's, Barnhill fruit juices & Forest Feast snacks & tropical fruit mixes are all from Co. Armagh.
Baked goods like the biscuits, fruit cakes & oatcakes we include are by Ditty's, Grace's and Corn Dolly bakeries & they are all located in Co. Down.
Our recently introduced Ashers Bakery fresh cakes & buns are from Newtownabbery, Co. Antrim.
The Whitewater Brewery who produce the Ale in our gift baskets, is nestled in the Mourne Mountains.
Melting Pot Fudge is also produced in Co. Down
SD Bells Tea headquarters are located in Belfast.

The Organic Salmon in our gifts baskets is from Co. Cork, Ireland
Bradys Air-Dried Ham is Irish pork, from Co. Kildare.
Mileeven Honey, based in Co. Kilkenny
Butlers Chocolates, from Dublin.
Lily O'Briens Chocolates, from Co. Kildare
Skelligs handmande Chocolates, from Co. Kerry
Wicklow Fine Foods Chocolates & Biscuits, from Co. Wicklow
Filligans Chutneys & Relishes are from Co. Donegal
Or toast the occasion with some world famous Jameson's Irish Whiskey!

We can ship our hampers directly to you, or to the lucky recipient(s). Next day delivery is available to the UK & Ireland, so you still have time to order. Good luck!

Send a gift basket for Mother's Day (Sun 14th March)

Mums spend most of their time looking after us, and everyone else for that matter. Some mums don't make much time for themselves, so why not send her a hamper full of yummy treats so she can put her feet up and indulge this Mother's Day.

Whether she prefers tea & biscuits, wine & cheese or is a bit of a chocoholic, we have gift baskets to suit all tastes.

We will also be including a cute Mother's Day balloon & gift card, with all orders quoting "Happy Mother's Day" in the gift card message.(*While stocks last). So you can pick a gift hamper from any of the sections on our website.

Please get ordering ASAP to ensure you avail of this offer. Mother's Day in the UK & Ireland is on Sunday 14th March, so we are aiming to deliver all Mother's Day gifts on Thursday 11th or Friday 12th March. We will also include a note on the outside of the box, so your mum is aware the contents are strictly for Mother's Day!

Valentine's Day Gifts to Ireland & UK

Well The Irish Gourmet has finally gone all romantic and designed a few Valentine-themed gift baskets for our customers. They are still full of gorgeous gourmet food & drink items, but may include a silk red rose, Valentine gift card or red ribbon to mark the occasion! Our all year round range also make popular Valentine's presents, such as our Champagne & Chocolates gift baskets, and arrive beautifully gift-wrapped.

Valentine's Day is on Sunday 14th February this year, 2010. There is still time to order your gourmet gift basket for delivery on Thursday or Friday though. A gift basket is an excellent choice, as hopefully you will get share too! Or if you are apart from your Valentine this year we can deliver it directly to the lucky recipient, along with your personalised message, and surprise them for you. The contents are sure to make them smile & can also be enjoyed for longer than flowers!

You can view our Valentine range by clicking on the title of this post.

So go on, send your love with a romantic gift basket today!

Christmas Hampers to Ireland

Happy Christmas to all our readers and customers.

With only 15 days to go until Christmas Day, hundreds of Irish Gourmet hampers are being dispatched. This year we have a selection of over 60 baskets, but the selection will gradually reduce as varieties sell out.

Heavy sales of Battle of the Biscuits means it will be withdrawn shortly. There is also heavy pressure on Great Taste Award Winner Silver edition, Christmas Wine Celebration and 100% Alcohol Free.

In spite of this Irish Gourmet has never emailed a customer with a week remaining before Christmas to advise them that they are unable to fulfil their customers order. Invariably we are the company that people in NI and the ROI find when they are let down by others.

We advise customers to order as early as possible as this gives us time to adjust inventory and if you are reading this and can only see a reduced selection, there is a reason for this and we hope you'll visit us again in the future.

Irish Gourmet.

Exciting New Irish Gourmet Website

The Irish Gourmet is thrilled to annouce that our fab new website was recently launched, just in time for the busy Christmas period.

The old website served us well over the years, but we thought a Spring (or Autumn) clean was in order. The new site has the look & feel of a traditional Irish Shop, selling wonderful Irish artisan produce. As well as this attractive new look we have also amended the categories to make searching even easier for our customers. A bit like re-arranging the layout of a shop! There is also an improved search facilty, if you would like to see all gift baskets containing 'brie cheese' or 'dark chocolate' for example.

A lot of our customers send our gift baskets to friends & family abroad, so the decision was made to arrange out baskets according to where they can be shipped to.

1) Great Britain & Ireland
2) USA, Canada & International
3) Germany, France & Europe

These sections are further sub-divided into 'Christmas', 'All Year Round Hampers' (i.e - birthday, get well, thank you gifts, and 'Shop by Price'.

As well as making browsing easier for our customers, there have also been improvements behind the scenes. These improvements will help us improve automation, like stock management and order processing.

We know a lot of our customers are repeat customers, who had previously created accounts with Irish Gourmet. As we have moved platforms, unfortunately your email address & log in details will no longer be recognised as a returning customer. Please don't think you are doing anything wrong. We have records of all past orders though, if you would like to check what gift basket you ordered last year. Creating a new account is quick & easy, and your billing & shipping addresses will be stored for future orders again. Other shopping cart improvements include the calender & the ability to input multiple shipping addresses under 1 order, is shortly being introduced.

We hope you enjoy shopping on the new Irish Gourmet site. Please let us know your thoughts or suggestions. Our Christmas 2009 hampers and gift baskets are available to buy now & we look forward to helping you with your Christmas gifts.

The IG Team

Christmas Presents in Dublin Ireland

The proliferation of cross border traffic over the past few years due to the rising difference in the cost of living between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic has presented the Irish consumer with a fantastic opportunity when it comes to sourcing Christmas presents and gifts within Ireland.

By no stretch of the imagination can Irish Gourmet be considered a large company, but we are located in Northern Ireland and as a result can take advantage of All Ireland Courier rates.

The advantages of an Irish Gourmet Hamper as a Christmas Gift or present are numerous.
1) The value and quality of our hampers are the best in Europe. But don't just take our word for that, take some time to look around other companies within Europe delivering to Dublin.

2) We only do hampers as presents. Nothing else, so as a result the attention to detail and what goes in them is of absolute importance to us. A recent enquiry from England wanted us to do their Irish deliveries, but compared us to a traditional English hamper company. They counted items and weights and said we needed to do better. Unfortunately this is not our ethos. You cannot compare a Christmas Pudding baked by Ireland's Master Baker and a low cost volume brand made for the British supermarkets.

3) Sales tax in the north is 15%, whilst in the republic it is 21%. Minimum wage in the south is 50% higher than in the North.

4) Technically speaking the most Irish Hamper company in the world is Irish Gourmet. We buy organic salmon from Cork, chocolates from Galway, sweet gourmet items from Wicklow and cooked ham from Donegal. We combine with Northern Irish product likes to create a 100% Irish product, excluding the wicker basket of course.

So when you are searching for a Christmas gift to send to friends or relatives in Dublin, take a look at what www.irishgourmet.co.uk has to offer and be pleasantly surprised at the low cost, high value present you will be able to send.

Irish Gourmet

Irish Gourmet hasn't had time to do much blogging recently over the Summertime. With extensive logistical preparations for Christmas, a premises re-organisation, a brief trip to the Ardeche region of France and the annual visit to the Speciality Food Fair in London to tell you all about over the next month, the poor fellow has neglected his blogging duties.

We will post shortly with news about what's new and what is out of the 2009 Irish Gourmet Hamper Range.

IG