2020 has been quite the year for Miena’s Handmade Nougat. The company’s founder talks us through some recent highlights for the brand.
We launched our Miena’s Christmas Crackers in November this year as a special way for you to enjoy our nougat this Christmas! And they have proved very popular.
We have our: Nollaig Shona Box (Almonds & Pistachio, Almonds & Fig and Almonds & Cranberry) Nut Selection Box (Roasted Almonds, Almonds & Pistachio and Almonds & Pecan) and Fruit Selection Box (Almonds & Passionfruit, Almonds & Mixed Berry and Almonds, Rhubarb & Strawberry).
And huge thanks to Vicki O’Toole at JJ O’Toole or the gorgeous packaging and to Paul-Michel Ledoux for all our wonderful photos! You can order them online from us here. And they are also in select Dunnes Stores and Avoca shops.
New Festive Nougat Log
We were also delighted to create a lovely Christmas Nougat Log for Simply Better at Dunnes Stores! This was made from our Almond & Pistachio Nougat and then drizzled in Belgian dark chocolate. We were really happy how it turned out. It is also available in select Dunnes outlets nationwide.
Farmer’s Market in Airfield
If you’re in Dublin don’t forget to visit the Wicklow Naturally stand at the Airfield Estate Farmers Market! Lots of wonderful Wicklow products, including fresh produce from the fab Kilmullen Farm and our own nougat. So proud to be part of it!
The market is on from 9.30am to 2.30pm every Friday and Saturday until Christmas.
Origin Green certification
We were honoured to become a Gold Member of Origin Green, the Bord Bia sustainability programme. We add nothing artificial to our nougat and we operate as efficiently as possible and implement robust environmental standards.
This is really really important to us as an Irish company, so we put a lot of time and effort into it. We are all very proud to have achieved this.
Read more here.
Finalists in the SFA awards
This autumn, we were also short-listed as a finalist in not one but two Small Firms Association National Small Business Awards categories. We’re finalists in the Outstanding Small Business category (sponsored by One4All Ireland) and in the Exporter of the Year category (sponsored by Enterprise Ireland).
This means so much to all of us! We will keep you posted here and via social media to let you know how we got in the New Year when the winners are announced but meanwhile it is a great boost for us and will help us to push on in 2021.
New flavour for Xocolatl
We’ve also created a new nougat bar for our wonderful Danish partners Xocolatl. It’s a gorgeous Pecan & Liquorice flavour! And we were delighted to have shipped it out in time for Christmas.
Second shipment sent to Belgium
We also sent off our second shipment of Irish handmade nougat to the wonderful La Fée Verte in Habay in Belgium. We are so proud to represent Irish food producers in Europe like this! And it’s a really wonderful shop too.
Along with Belgium and Denmark, we of course still export to Harrods of London and let’s hope we can keep that market open in 2021 and bring our nougat to new ones too.
Last but by no means least . . .
And lastly I’d just like to pay tribute to my two wonderful colleagues here at Miena’s: the awesome Nuala and Carmel! Without these guys, I’d be lost! They are the backbone of our operation. So thank you both for all you do and for your constant good humour and positivity!!!
Happy Christmas everyone! xxx Miena
