Tesco Ireland has signed a new €45m, three-year deal with Dublin food manufacturer Freshways to supply its meal deal range, a contract that gives food producers a concrete example of retailer supply agreements translating into factory investment and jobs at Irish manufacturing sites.

The three-year agreement, worth €15m a year, extends a supplier relationship spanning more than two decades, with Freshways continuing to supply sandwiches, wraps, salads and pasta dishes for Tesco's meal deal range, covering more than 40 product lines under its Crust & Co brand.

The contract follows an €8m investment at Freshways' Finglas production facility, adding new high-care manufacturing areas, enhanced storage and upgraded refrigeration infrastructure, and has resulted in 20 new jobs at the site.

Freshways, headquartered in Finglas, Dublin, is a food manufacturer supplying more than 1,300 customers across retail, foodservice, cafes and travel; turnover grew 7.2 per cent to €62.4m in 2024.

Tesco Ireland, the Irish subsidiary of UK retailer Tesco plc, sells more than 70,000 meal deals a week across its Irish stores and online.

John Brennan, fresh category director at Tesco Ireland, said Freshways has been a trusted supplier for many years, consistently delivering high-quality products that customers love. Seán Cleary, managing director of Freshways, said the deal provides a strong platform for future growth and that continued investment in the Finglas facility will support increased capacity and innovation.

The deal reflects growing reliance on long-term retail supply agreements to underpin capital investment at Irish food manufacturers, giving producers the confidence to expand capacity ahead of demand rather than purely in response to it.

The timing aligns with continued growth in Irish prepared consumer foods, with Bord Bia recording a 9 per cent rise in exports to €3.6bn in 2025, even as the sector navigates rising labour and energy costs.

For the sector, the contract reinforces convenience and meal deal ranges as a growth driver for Irish contract food manufacturers, prompting continued high-care facility investment to meet retailer volume and food safety requirements.

The wider signal for the sector is that Irish food manufacturers securing multi-year retail contracts continue to convert that certainty into factory upgrades and job creation, rather than treating supply deals as purely commercial arrangements.

Source: RTÉ / Checkout / Retail Insight Network / Bord Bia