McDonald’s gives five-year bacon contract to Tipperary meat producer

Tipperary meat company Dew Valley has won a contract to supply all McDonald's Irish restaurants with bacon.

The multimillion euro contract, which will see the privately owned Tipperary firm, deliver up to 9 million pieces of cooked bacon to McDonald’s annually, will amount to 36 tonnes of meat annually.

McDonald’s has also held open the prospect of Dew Valley supplying bacon to other McDonald’s outlet in Europe. Before the Dew Valley contract was signed, McDonald’s Ireland sourced its bacon from the UK.

McDonald’s uses bacon for several of its products, including in breakfast menu items such as Bacon and Egg McMuffin and Bacon Roll, as well as in its Quarter Pounder Deluxe, Big Tasty and Chicken Bacon Onion sandwiches.

While financial details of the contract were not provided, it is understood that the deal could be worth around €3 million over five years.

McDonald's Ireland managing director Adrian Crean said the fast-food chain was "committed to supporting the Irish agri-food sector", while Dew Valley owner Jack Blake said he hoped the contract would "open new doors of opportunity for the company in overseas markets".

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said the deal was "a vote of confidence" in Irish suppliers and described the possibility that the contract might be extended to McDonald's European restaurants as "further good news".