How Irish sauce brand Chimac is growing in UK speciality retail
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Entering the UK speciality retail market can be challenging for food brands. Building relationships with distributors, farm shops, delicatessens and independent retailers takes time, persistence and local expertise.
Over the past six months, Gourmet Partners & Brand Builders have been supporting Irish sauce brand Chimac as part of its UK expansion journey.
Through our Brand Builders field sales programme, our team has been introducing the Chimac range to buyers across the UK speciality food sector, helping build brand visibility, retailer engagement and distributor partnerships.
The early results demonstrate how structured retail outreach and in-market brand building can help accelerate growth for food brands entering the UK market.
Introducing Chimac to the UK speciality retail sector
Chimac is an Irish food brand producing a range of Korean-inspired sauces designed to bring bold flavours to home cooking.
The brand has built a loyal following through restaurants and direct-to-consumer channels and is now expanding its presence within retail.
As part of this expansion, Gourmet Partners has been helping introduce the brand to retailers across the UK speciality food sector, particularly within:
farm shops
delicatessens
food halls
premium independent retailers
You can learn more about the Chimac product range here
Building retail visibility across the UK
Since the start of the programme, our Brand Builders team has completed over 370 retailer store visits across the UK.
These visits focus on high-quality independent retailers within the speciality food sector, including farm shops, delicatessens and food halls.
Each store visit allows our team to introduce the brand directly to buyers, present the product range and collect valuable feedback from retailers.
This hands-on approach helps brands build real visibility within the retail sector, rather than relying solely on distributor listings.
Strong Engagement From Retail Buyers
Retailer engagement during the programme has been consistently positive.
Through our opportunity scoring system, buyers are scored based on their level of interest in the brand, helping us track potential listings and follow-up opportunities.
Across the programme we have seen a high proportion of retailers scoring the brand positively, creating a strong pipeline of potential retail opportunities.
Many retailers have highlighted:
the strong flavour profile of the sauces
the distinctive branding and shelf presence
the growing popularity of Korean cuisine
the appeal of the products to food-curious customers
Alongside this positive feedback, retailers also provide constructive insights which we share with the Chimac team through our monthly reporting. This feedback helps refine retail strategy and support long-term growth.
Supporting Distributor Partnerships
Alongside retailer engagement, Gourmet Partners has also been supporting Chimac’s UK distributor development.
Using the intelligence gathered during store visits, we identify which wholesalers retailers already buy from and where there is the strongest opportunity for distribution growth.
As part of this work, Chimac has secured new distributor listings with:
The Bay Tree
The Gorgeous Food Company
These partnerships allow the Chimac range to be presented to retailers through established speciality food distribution networks.
A Growing Success Story For An Irish Food Brand
Chimac is a great example of how international food brands can successfully build traction within the UK speciality retail market through a combination of:
field-based brand building
retailer engagement
distributor partnerships
structured market feedback
Over the past six months, Gourmet Partners & Brand Builders have helped introduce the brand to hundreds of speciality retailers while developing its UK route-to-market strategy.
You can read the full Chimac UK Retail Case Study here
Client feedback
“As an Irish business expanding into the UK, having Gourmet Partners & Brand Builders as our boots on the ground has been a game changer. In just six months,
they’ve helped us build new retail partnerships, deepen relationships with existing customers, and give us brilliant visibility into what’s really happening on the shop floor.
The team are proactive, super responsive and incredibly generous with their time and feedback – they consistently go the extra mile.” Sofie Rooney, Chimac
Helping Food Brands Grow In The UK
At Gourmet Partners, we help ambitious food and drink brands grow across UK speciality retail.
Our work combines strategy, distributor introductions and field-based brand support, helping brands build distribution across farm shops, delicatessens and independent retailers.
If you’re a food brand looking to expand in the UK, we’d love to help.
Get in touch
