Food brand distributor GM Marketing in Belfast has broken out into manufacturing with the purchase of herbs and spices maker Favourit Foods.

Family-owned Favourit Foods, which is also based in Belfast, was founded in 1914 and supplies the retail and foodservice channels in Northern Ireland.

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GM Marketing describes itself as a “brand-building distributor focused on core grocery categories” across the UK including the Tilda rice brand – owned by Spain’s Ebro Foods – Fox’s biscuits and Nando’s sauces.

GM’s managing director Gerard McAdorey said: “As a business, we are already supplying herbs & spices to market-leading retailers in Ireland, so this is a natural next step in the development of our business strategy and future growth plans. The brand has so much heritage and history steeped in Belfast; it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass by.”  

Favourit Foods previously traded as Martin Foods and supplies food manufacturers, retail and foodservice clients. The company is planning to build a new facility in north Belfast to add to its Duncairn Gardens distribution site in the same city and another in Leeds in northern England. The project will create 12 jobs.

McAdorey said GM plans to launch the Favourit Foods brand into new markets in the “coming months”, adding: “While this may be our first move into manufacturing, it certainly forms part of a long-term strategy for our future growth plans”. 

Meanwhile, the current owner of Favourit Foods, Sean McCrory, said the “time was right” to pass the business to a new owner “who will accelerate its growth and drive it into the next phase”.  

Financial terms were not disclosed.