Love Irish Food has announced the winner of the Love Irish Food Blas na hÉireann Bursary 2023. BiaSol, a family-run company, which creates zero-waste food products, was awarded the almost €7,000 prize, on Friday, 29 September, at the Blas na hÉireann food awards.
The Bursary will encompass a one-year free membership to Love Irish Food together with promotional support.
Based in Tullamore, County Offaly, BiaSol strives to make highly nutritious, zero-waste food products easily accessible in Ireland. They repurpose food waste to produce a range of products including breakfast bars, grains, and baking kits. Led by brother and sister team, Niamh and Ruairi Dooley, the company was born in 2020 as a way to combat food wastage and improve nutrition.
BiaSol collects spent grains from four breweries around Ireland to make Super Milled Grains, a nutritional supplement made from light malt, dark malt and whole grains. Their products are stocked in stores in Westmeath, Mayo, Waterford, Kildare, including Avoca in Wicklow.
BiaSol joins Love Irish Food as a new member whose brands employ over 12,000 people in the food, drink and support industries, throughout the Republic of Ireland.
Commenting on this year’s winner of the bursary award, Kieran Rumley, Executive Director, Love Irish Food said: “I’d like to congratulate Niamh and Ruairi from BiaSol on winning the Love Irish Food Blas na hÉireann Bursary, and welcome BiaSol as a new member brand. We are very impressed by the innovation and dynamic persistence shown by BiaSol. They have an incredible belief in sustainability and bring that into a practical application. As a new member, BiaSol will share the many advantages of Love Irish Food membership in joining with over 100 other Irish produced food and drink brands. This bursary is designed to bring opportunities to new and emerging brands, and we are delighted to support BiaSol on their journey.”
Artie Clifford, Chairperson of Blas na hÉireann, the Irish Food Awards said: “It’s fantastic to see the standard of food and drink in Ireland go from strength-to-strength year on year. We are delighted that BiaSol has been awarded the Love Irish Food Bursary, and we are proud for Niamh and Ruairi that all their hard work is paying off. We look forward to seeing their continued success and wish them the very best of luck."
This is the second year of Love Irish Food’s Bursary award with Blas na hÉireann to help promote new and emerging Irish-produced brands. The award was first presented in 2022 to Zingibeer.
