About the Knowledge Economy Programme

The Knowledge Economy Programme is a joint initiative of Craigavon Industrial Development Organisation (CIDO) and Ardee Community Development Company. It is a cross border project linking eight businesses from Craigavon with eight in Ardee. The programme has been designed to ensure that the businesses involved gain maximum benefit from better use of ICT and the Internet.

Cross Border Success Story

Ardoa Food & Wine (Ardee) and California Market Bakery (Tandragee)

Established in 2005 by Caran Aiken and Olivier Collin, and based in Ardee, County Louth, Ardoa Food & Wine import wines from France, Italy and Spain. Mindful that many great styles and varieties are underrepresented in Ireland, wines are sourced from vineyards where grapes are grown by organic methods, and where traditional vinification practices are still in place. Central to Caran & Olivier’s selection process is a personal tasting visit to each winery. Ardoa Food and Wine are one of the first e-commerce websites operating in Ireland, offering food and wine direct to consumers.

Located in the heart of County Armagh, the California Market Bakery is a craft bakery committed to providing a wide variety of innovative and quality baked goods. San Francisco born Kathy McClean, and her husband Vince established the bakery to fulfill their ideals of using only the best ingredients to produce products that are fresh, healthy and additive / preservative free. Among the products offered are a wide variety of mouth-watering muffins, scones and cookies.

Ardoa Food & Wine and California Market Bakery are regular traders at various high-profile gourmet markets throughout Ireland, so imagine their surprise when Caran Aiken from Ardoa Wine and Kathy McClean from California Market Bakery both arrived as new participants at the launch of the Knowledge Economy Programme in Cavan last year.

Their shared programme interests and participation in the food and drink sector saw them establish a rapport, which has developed quickly into a co-operation-based cross-border business linkage.

The complementary skills and individual geographical location of each of the businesses has led them to co-operate on many practical levels, for instance:

• The businesses take each other’s products along to the market if one of them cannot attend. In addition, each of the businesses promotes the other’s products at the various stalls that they trade from and on their respective websites. In this way, they are accessing each other’s network of sales contacts, widening each company’s route to market.
• Both businesses engage in assisting each other to source supplies, for instance, Ardoa Food & Wine recently assisted California Market Bakery to source packaging for their products in Naas.
• Finally, in order to assist each other in fulfilling orders placed on their new websites, California Market Bakery and Ardoa Food & Wine are currently investigating the possibility of using the same courier to enable them to fulfil their quota with the courier firm, and hence keep running costs low for both organisations.

Both businesses are enjoying continued growth and success, and are in no doubt that this can be attributed at least in part to their cross-border co-operation efforts.

Benefits of the Programme

New Customers – Increased Sales
Effective E-Business will enable your business to compete in previously inaccessible geographical markets, thereby gaining access to a new customer base.

Customer Service – Cost Savings
Your website can be used to cut costs and improve customer service. Simple ideas such as documenting ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ and putting these online can reduce customer service costs whilst improving your customer relationships.  

Export Market Development
A professionally developed and effectively promoted website will provide your business with the opportunity to access wider UK, Irish and even global markets. On the Knowledge Economy Programme, you’ll receive expert internet marketing advice to ensure that internet traffic is driven to your website.

Funding has been obtained from Interreg IIIA under Priority 1, Measure 3, ‘The Knowledge Economy’, to assist with delivery of the Knowledge Economy Programme.