Top honours for Cuffe’s Centra at the National Q Mark Awards

CUFFE’S Centra, Belmullet, has been nominated for a prestigious Q Mark Award for Hygiene and Food Safety at this year’s National Q Mark Awards. This nomination means they were in the top 6.75% of all audits completed by EIQA on the island of Ireland.

The coveted Q Mark is awarded only to companies who achieve the highest standards of quality and excellence. This was a very special year for the Q Mark Awards as the Excellence Ireland Quality Association (EIQA) celebrates 50 years trading.

Cuffe's Centre is a family-run supermarket that has been in business for over 36 years. It started with three employees and now has 38. The longest serving member of staff, Brendan Deane, said it was a huge achievement to be recognised at the Q Mark Awards. “We work hard on a daily basis to give our customers the highest standard possible,” he added.

Speaking at this year’s awards, Irene Collins, managing director of EIQA, said: “Companies who achieve a National Q Mark Award nomination are fully immersed in continuous improvement. There’s no end point where they can rest on their laurels, and that includes digging deep into their hygiene and food safety management system and asking themselves and their colleagues if there are ways to improve how they use it.

“The National Q Mark Award nomination clearly tells their customers that the highest standards of quality and excellence are at the heart of their business.”

The awards were presented by EIQA and officiated by the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys.