Indian Sauce Producer Aruna Appoints Irish Supply Chain Partner Oakland International

County Louth based Aruna Sauces, known for their authentic artisan Indian sauces, has announced the appointment of Oakland International as their preferred Irish supply chain partner. Aruna Sauces MD, Sarah Nic Lochlainn, stated: “Many of our fellow food producers use Oakland for distribution and speak very highly of them, so when we needed a consolidator to assist with growth, Oakland was the obvious choice.” Oakland International’s willingness to tailor-make a solution to fit the artisan food producer’s needs, and their respect for their clients and the product they handle was a key factor according to Aruna in their decision. Proximity to Dublin and Aruna’s headquarters added benefit to the relationship, making it easy for Aruna sales personnel to load and get back on the road without wasting time. Aruna’s recent nationwide retail launch by a major retailer was the initial catalyst to approach Oakland to assist in servicing this large new account; undertaking the responsibility of creating the administration ready for the launch. Creating a new category, Aruna fresh curry sauce is refrigerated and now stocked in store beside the chicken to create a new meal solution for consumers. Said Sarah: “Being so innovative has pros and cons. The main challenge in creating a new category is the huge amount of work. Having a logistics partner who takes care of distribution from the factory to the customer allows us freedom to concentrate on the job at hand.” Since their consolidator appointment, Oakland International has enabled the specialist artisan producer to concentrate on growing their business, which has seen monthly sales grow significantly, and Aruna secure in the knowledge that all orders will be fulfilled by Oakland automatically. Sarah added:  “Oakland provides all the missing pieces in the puzzle. We needed a logistics specialist, warehousing and a distribution partner with experience in working with large multiples. In the near future we will need a logistics partner in the UK, and we look forward to working with Oakland on this expansion.” Behind Aruna Sauces is husband and wife team, Sarajit Chanda and Sarah Nic Lochlainn. Using Sarajit’s mother Aruna’s own recipes, originally created in their family kitchen in Bangladesh, they opened their now multi-award winning Fuchsia House Restaurant in Ardee in 2005. The couple soon identified a gap in the market for ‘dining in’ authentic restaurant-quality curry sauce, initially introducing their Aruna curry sauces at farmers’ markets in 2009, before going on to expand the range to include five fresh curry sauces available in selected retailers and stockists nationwide. Oakland International general manager, Richard Hill, commented: “We are delighted to be working with, and supporting such a multi-award winning company as Aruna Sauces. Oakland International is increasing and further developing growth partnerships with food producers across Ireland, the UK and Europe and we look forward to extending our relationship with Aruna as they continue to develop category offer and market share.”