Galway company The Foods of Athenry has come up trumps in a nationwide search for Ireland’s finest indigenous food and drinks products

The company was among just five winning local and artisan producers that stood out from all applications in the 2024 Homegrown at Maxol programme.

Now in its second year, Homegrown at Maxol celebrates local food and drinks producers in Ireland who continue to operate small businesses, despite the prevailing economic challenges impacting the sector.

The initiative provides winning producers with the support and tools needed to help scale-up and grow their businesses, with a free listing across the Maxol store network in the Republic of Ireland, along with invaluable mentorship from leading retailers together with marketing support.

Multi-award-winning business The Foods of Athenry is — naturally — based in Athenry, and was born 20 years ago, when the Lawless farming family decided to close their dairy farm.

The family repurposed the farm buildings into a bakery, starting off by making brown bread and scones.

Founder and managing director Siobhan Lawless said: “In bringing up our own family, we firmly believed that good food promotes good health.”

So it wasn’t long before the Lawless’ identified a gap in the market for handmade, delicious, gluten-free and/or vegan snacks with recipes and production methods rooted in tradition.

Having rebuilt the business following a fire at the company’s new gluten-free facilities in 2011, the Lawless family’s business story is one of perseverance and passion.

And the rewards have followed. The Foods of Athenry has amassed more than 100 awards for its range of cookies, crackers, snack bars, cakes, cereals and Christmas specialities, baked from scratch using original recipes and natural ingredients.

Maxol stores will stock a selection of The Foods of Athenry’s delicious snacks like the Fully Loaded Granola Bar, Caramel Rocky Road Biscuit Bar, and the morish Honeycomb Rocky Road Biscuit Bar.

The winning products will be available across the Maxol store network in the Republic of Ireland.  Siobhan and Paul Lawless of The Foods of Athenry will also feature on The Simpler Life Podcast with local food champions James Kavanagh and William Murray recorded at the duo’s new home in Kilkenny, where they got to chat about and sample the winning produce.

Pictured: Winners: Siobhan and Paul Lawless of The Foods of Athenry.