Growing Mushrooms & Love to the next level
Just twelve months ago, Mushrooms & Love featured in The-Anglo Celt as a small family business with a big ambition: to create innovative mushroom-based snacks and bring them to customers across Ireland.
Today, that ambition has become reality.
Richard and Sophy Francis, founders of Mushrooms & Love, are celebrating a major milestone as their award-winning Mushroom Crisps launch into all 167 Aldi stores nationwide through the highly competitive Grow with Aldi programme.
For the Ballyconnell-based family business, it marks the culmination of years of hard work, countless hours of product development, and an unwavering belief that mushrooms could become the star ingredient in a completely new type of snack.
Mushroom crisps are crunchy, less greasy and have less calories than regular crisps. The naturally flavoured crips are vegan and gluten-free, offering unique benefits for a treat. Mushrooms contain fibre, vitamins and minerals. “A huge selling point for many customers,” observes Richard.
What began as a small local venture has grown into one of Ireland’s most exciting emerging food brands. Over the past year, Mushrooms & Love has exhibited at leading food festivals, expanded production, secured listings with retailers across Ireland, and won multiple national food awards.
Their Mushroom Crisps, made using mushrooms and produced in small batches, have attracted attention from customers looking for something a little different. Available in three flavours – Sweet Chilli, Shroom and Seavoury – the crisps combine bold flavours and a distinctly Irish story.
“We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved, but we’re even more grateful for the support we’ve received along the way,” said Richard.
“When The Anglo-Celt featured us last year, we were still very much at the beginning of our journey. Since then, local customers, retailers, friends, family and organisations such as Bord Bia, Local Enterprise Office Cavan, Supervalu, and Aldi have all played a part in helping us grow.”
The company has also earned significant recognition from food industry judges. Their products have received awards at the Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards, Great Taste Awards and the Free From Food Awards, helping establish the brand as a serious player within Ireland’s growing artisan food sector.
Despite the growth, Mushrooms & Love remains firmly rooted in their origins. Production, packing and distribution continue to be managed by the family, with a strong focus on quality, innovation and supporting Irish suppliers wherever possible.
The nationwide Aldi listing is the company’s biggest retail opportunity to date and means shoppers from Cork to Donegal can now discover a product that was conceived and developed in Cavan.
“As exciting as this moment is, we’re only getting started,” Sophy added. “Seeing our products on shelves across Ireland is something we could only dream about a year ago. We hope people will pick up a bag, give them a try, and continue supporting local Irish businesses.”