Football Manager Has Another Role. Meet Derek at Bunzl Irish Merchants

 Football Manager Has Another Role. Meet Derek at Bunzl Irish Merchants

One Stop Shop For Foodservice Needs

“Whether you’re starting from scratch, renewing or upgrading. Whether you’re big or small, a corner café or a multiple, talk to us.”

That’s the message from Derek Mellerick who is Business Development Manager with Bunzl Irish Merchants. Like many of you, I’ve known Derek for decades through football, first in his playing days with Ballyvolane and later chatting to him on the touchline when he took over as manager. Nowadays, he is involved at Lakewood AFC in Ovens. 

Along with Bunzl of course, clocking up the  miles as he covers Cork, Waterford and Tipperary. Over a catch-up cup of coffee recently he tells me that Bunzl are a one stop shop. “Everything from filling your Retail/Foodservice needs, Sanitisation, PPE, to Chemicals and Janitorial.”

The company operates out of a huge warehouse near Dublin Airport and deliver either through couriers or by using their own vehicles. You may have seen their sparkling showrooms in MacCurtain Street but that is set up for the hospitality (mainly hotel) industry.

Derek had been out that morning on a typical drive around the East Cork area. And he was in good form, having confirmed a large order at a supermarket that has successfully ventured into food service. Beside, another customer was keen to talk about upgrading his janitorial side, papers and soaps and more for the toilets from a range that includes mop buckets, mops, brushes, dustpans, trolleys, scouring pads and cloths, gloves and window cleaning products.

Mellerick has spent some 30 years in this business, not all of them with Bunzl, and says Takeaway is huge at the moment, driven by Covid. He affirms that the traditional takeaway sector is a really large one in any case. Now though the pubs, cafes and restaurants are driving it further, and are all looking for containers (big and small), papers for your breakfast roll, sandwich packing solutions, right down to those mini-sachets of salt and they can get them all at the one stop shop that is Bunzl.

We’re all familiar now with sanitisation. Even if the Omicron version of Covid 19 appears to be slowing down, the emphasis on sanitisation is not going to go away. I expect it to continue and that’s a good thing. Sanitisation stations will remain in communal areas and where food is being prepared and served. Sanitisers, hand cleansers, dispensers and paper towels and napkins will be needed. Hopefully the need for PPE (well, at least the all-over cover bit) will wane but there’s always be a need for aprons, gloves, hair covers and so on.

Bunzl Irish Merchants “are proud to be the market leader in the supply of catering disposables to every sector throughout Ireland, from healthcare to food service, and hospitality to retail. … Our goal is to drive sustainable change through innovation and collaboration….. Many of our products are made from recycled materials and are widely recyclable or certified as compostable.Our wooden cutlery is high-quality, durable, and totally sustainable. No plastic here, just sustainably grown wood forks, wood spoons, wood knives and more! Bonus, we have both wrapped and unwrapped options available!”

Those in the food industry, wishing to be more sustainable, could well check out two of the Bunzl brands. Sustain (cups, bowls, cutlery etc) are made from plants and break down to grow more plants – the circle of life. Revive (including containers), on the other hand are new recyclable packaging, made from old recyclable packaging. For instance, their Revive range in plastic bottles is made from plastic bottles – simple!

Contacts:

Looking for something for your food business? See the Bunzl brochure here.

Chat with Derek: dmellerick@irishmerchants.com or 086 412 4630

National Enquiries: 01 816 4800