Innovation and Tradition Combine in Oakpark Foods Winning Formula

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“We are now a key player in the UK market and have contracts with Morrisons, Aldi UK and others. We had to make a substantial investment in our factory, technology and management team to do it and it wouldn’t have been possible without Enterprise Ireland support.”
David Brett, Oakpark Foods

Key Takeouts:

  • Oakpark Foods availed of Enterprise Ireland’s food innovation supports to improve their packaging and develop new products.
  • It has enjoyed significant growth in recent years, largely driven by exports, but sees Brexit as a major issue.
  • The company now employs almost 100 people, with annual sales of just under €31 million.

Case Study: Oakpark Foods

Oakpark Foods has established itself as a leading bacon products supplier in the hugely competitive British retail market. “40% of our business is now in the UK,” says general manager David Brett. “We have been able to differentiate ourselves from our competitors there by using innovative packaging, clever new product development, and bespoke unique cures.”

The Cahir, County Tipperary-based company is part of the family-owned Brett Group, which has been supplying farm inputs in the region for almost 80 years. “We are now in the fourth generation,” he says. “The business dates back to the 1940s. Our core business is animal feed manufacturing. We sell dairy, pig and ruminant feed to famers around Leinster and Munster.”

The company acquired Oakpark Foods in the early 1990s. “Back then it was a small operation supplying local supermarkets and shops with bacon products. When we came on board we looked at how we could add value. After that, the opportunity came up to buy the nearby Sunglen Pig Farm which produces 800 pigs a week. Our mill in Callan in County Kilkenny manufactures the pig feed using a bespoke diet; this is then fed to our own pigs on our farm; and we produce top-quality consumer packs of bacon joints and rashers at Oakpark. This gives us unique seed to fork provenance.”

Oakpark has enjoyed significant growth in recent years, largely driven by exports, according to Brett.

“We are now a key player in the UK market and have contracts with Morrisons, Aldi UK and others,” he adds. “We had to make a substantial investment in our factory, technology and management team to do it and it wouldn’t have been possible without Enterprise Ireland support.”

The breakthrough into the UK was also facilitated by the growth of the discount chains in Ireland. “We supply both Aldi and Lidl here and they introduced us to the right people in the UK. That was a great help. But we also had to invest in a very significant R&D programme and we introduced a number of first-to-market products there. We used packaging technology to extend the shelf life of our products, we developed a new-style American streaky bacon product, and we also introduced 50 per cent fat-reduced lardons which appeal to increasingly health-conscious consumers.”

All of the R&D was carried out inhouse with Enterprise Ireland support. “It was a lot of hard work, but it had to be done. If we didn’t have a different story to tell we would have just been another bacon supplier.”

The company now employs almost 100 people, with annual sales of just under €31 million and is implementing a strategy to grow turnover by 33 per cent over the coming years. That strategy also takes Brexit into account.

“Brexit is a major issue for everyone involved in the food industry and we have to make our business as lean and efficient as possible in response,” he points out.

The bacon business will not suffer to the same extent as others, however, as Brett explains. “80% of the bacon sold in the UK is of EU origin and British people aren’t going to stop eating bacon overnight. The traditional bacon butty will remain a staple part of the diet. But Brexit is a serious issue nevertheless and we have done a lot of scenario planning. Selling into the UK will not be as simple as it is today. That’s a given.”

The company is not going to rely on a continuing taste for bacon in its key export market and is investing €5 million in a new facility in Clonmel with Enterprise Ireland support. The new manufacturing facility will produce a new range aimed at mainland Europe and further afield.

“It’s a completely new venture and will be up and running very shortly,” says Brett. “We are diversifying away from the UK market. The UK will remain important to us though and we are in there for the long haul. We have one of the most efficient slicing lines in these islands. That’s vitally important. In the end, it’s all about the price of a packet of rashers.”

Click here to learn more about Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation supports.

Broderick’s Bars: From One Kitchen to 30 countries

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“We wanted to create something different in terms of its taste, its packaging, the branding and the format. We were aiming at export markets from the very beginning and we knew that we needed a great product if we were going to succeed.”
Barry Broderick, Co-Owner Broderick’s Bars

Key Takeouts:

  • R&D funding and Growth programmes allowed Brodericks to commit the time, people and finances to research projects.
  • Growth programmes offered by Enterprise Ireland taught them about best practice, scaling and growing exports.
  • Broderick’s range of cakes are now exported to 30 countries and available on many international airlines.

Case Study: Broderick’s Bars

The Broderick’s range of cake bars and mini-bars are now exported to 30 countries around the world and can be found on the menus of a number of leading international airlines, including American Atlantic and Delta Airlines. The company, which recently moved to a purpose-built manufacturing facility in Tallaght, employs 110 people.

This is just the start, according to co-owner Barry Broderick, who adds that innovation has been at the very heart of the business since it began life as Ina’s Handmade Foods in 1994.

“The business started out in my Mum’s kitchen when my brother Bernard and I were kids”, he says. “We got involved as unpaid labour back then and have been working in it ever since. Back then, we produced a range of cakes for coffee shops and the food service sector generally. We always used Belgian chocolate and butter, and saw the opportunity for a premium grab and go offer using those base ingredients. That’s where the idea came from initially.”

Barry and Bernard then set about developing Broderick’s Bars. “We wanted to create something different in terms of its taste, its packaging, the branding and the format. We were aiming at export markets from the very beginning and we knew that we needed a great product if we were going to succeed. You have to have a product that people are interested in and that they want to buy again. You need to have a USP, and innovation is so important to that. You can’t stand out from the crowd without it.”

He appreciates the support Enterprise Ireland has provided over the years. “Enterprise Ireland has been a very good partner”, he says. “They really try to help you to achieve your ambitions and are very good at helping you scale a business. They mentor you through the growing phase of the company. They help you put the structures in place to build the business. Their Management for Growth and Leadership 4 Growth programmes have also been really helpful. It’s really about bringing best practice to your business, so that you can scale your business and grow jobs, and grow exports.

“On the R&D side, it’s very good because it enables you to realise the importance of R&D and innovation”, he adds. “Exporting success requires a lot of innovation and we really wouldn’t have been able to do that without Enterprise Ireland assistance. It allowed us to commit the time, people and finances to research projects, which enabled us to do something different and stay relevant in the eyes of our customers.”

Innovation remains central to the company’s growth ambitions. The latest additions to the Broderick’s range are BC bars, a range of natural, healthy, protein bars. “A lot of research went into developing these bars, and that knowledge is now available to the food service side of the business as well.”

The Tallaght facility also has a dedicated gluten-free unit. This will play an important part in the company’s future growth plans. “We want to be more than just a brand, we want to be bring people an authentic experience through great-tasting innovative products.”

Learn more on how Enterprise Ireland focuses on innovation with its wide range of supports.

BFree Foods Pioneers Gluten Free Innovation to Drive Export Growth

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“We started with two products and we now have 15. We are constantly working on our products to improve them. We are also working on ways to extend the shelf life of our products without sacrificing flavour – this is very important in markets such as Scandinavia.”
Alex Murphy, BFree Foods

Key Takeouts:

  • Enterprise Ireland’s food innovation supports helped BFree research an alternative to gluten in bread.
  • Research revealed a growing lifestyle market for gluten- and wheat-free bread products.
  • Their gluten-free wraps won several awards, and have a 10% share of the Australian wrap market.

Case Study: BFree Foods

Established in 2011 by Cuisine de France founder Ronan McNamee, BFree Foods has grown to take a significant slice of the domestic market in the “free-from” bread category, and has increased export sales rapidly in the US, the UK, Scandinavia and Australia.

The business has been built around research and innovation from the very start with the aim to be the best. “UCC has an incubator for the brewing and baking industries. We worked with PhD students there on our first product, a loaf of bread. The problem is that gluten does so much for bread – it is the scaffolding that gives it structure, taste and the crisp golden crust. Without it, the bread just falls apart and doesn’t taste very good. We had to solve that, and deliver something that gave us the edge versus the competition. We did a lot of market research at the same time.”

That research revealed a growing lifestyle market for gluten- and wheat-free bread products. “When we launched our first products it was very much with a healthy lifestyle message”, Murphy adds. “We assured consumers that we’ve done the research for them and have created a product that tastes great and is nutritionally good for you.”

Solving the gluten problem proved interesting. “We use various ingredients such as apples, potatoes, peas, sweet potato, even bamboo, to add flavour and replicate the gluten”, she says.

The company launched its first two products on the market in 2012 to a very positive response. “We were producing fresh, tasty and nutritious bread, not long-life products, which can often be full of preservatives.”

Listings in all the major multiples followed and then it was time to look further afield. “We always intended it to be an export product and our next move was into the UK”, Murphy explains. “Innovation is a big selling point there. There are so many people playing in the gluten-free market you have to be able to offer something different. We did some very, very basic consumer research among people with coeliac disease and wheat intolerance, and what they told us was they missed out on family meals; family members ate one thing and they had to eat something else.”

That led the company to develop gluten-free wraps, which tasted just as good and folded as well as the standard product. “Our wraps won several awards for quality and there was no other offer like this in that category and that got recognised among the UK multiples.”

So successful have the company’s wraps been that BFree now commands a 10% share of the total Australian wrap market – both standard and free-from.

Success in the US quickly followed, with Walmart, Costco and KROGER among BFree’s key customers. “We supply 5,500 outlets in the US and it is now our largest market.”

Innovation has been key to the company’s growth and success. “We started with two products and we now have 15”, Murphy points out. “We are constantly working on our products to improve them. We no longer use eggs as an ingredient and this has made our products suitable for vegans. We are also working on ways to extend the shelf life of our products without sacrificing flavour – this is very important in markets such as Scandinavia.”

This activity has been supported by Enterprise Ireland over the years.

“As a start-up, we worked with the universities and then we engaged with the fabulous team in Enterprise Ireland, who helped us with research, development and innovation as well as with expanding internationally. BFree now employs 40 people in Dublin and Enterprise Ireland also helped us establish an innovation hub here in Dublin, where we have four researchers working on new product development and innovation. We are now looking at extending into different categories as well and that will be very exciting.”

 

 

Learn how Enterprise Ireland invest in R&I with its innovation supports.

East Coast Bakehouse

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“Knowing what Enterprise Ireland do, they are about creating real employment opportunities in Ireland. We knew for us it was a credible soundboard to the plan that we had.”

Darragh Monaghan – Commercial Director

Who

East Coast Bakehouse are a Louth-based biscuit producer. Using the finest ingredients, they have created a range of biscuits which landed on shelves in September 2016.

How

Accessing relevant funding from Enterprise Ireland enabled East Coast Bakehouse to secure and fit out their 50,000 sq ft manufacturing facility.

Result

East Coast Bakehouse are in a position to produce enough product to enter both the UK and Irish market simultaneously.

See How We Helped East Coast Bakehouse

Dawn Farms Meeting Customer Expectations Through Innovation

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“We have had a long-standing positive and proactive relationship with Enterprise Ireland and currently avail of its R&D support programme”

– John McGrath, Head of Business Development

 

Case Study: Dawn Farms

Established in 1985, Dawn Farms is a family-owned company and the largest specialist supplier of cooked and fermented meat protein ingredients outside of the USA. The company currently supplies world-leading food brands across more than 40 markets, including the UK, the wider EU, the Middle East and Africa, offering a “one-stop shop” to customers in the pizza, sandwich, snacking and ready meal categories.

Named Irish Food and Drink Exporter of the Year in 2016, the company employs over 1,000 staff based in state-of-the-art facilities in Naas, County Kildare, and Northampton, England.

According to Head of Business Development John McGrath, a holistic relationship-based service that puts the customer’s brand first – with product, process and service innovation playing a central role in its total value proposition – is at the heart of the company’s success.

“We have identified a number of key trends, based on consumer insights, that drive our product development pipeline”, he explains. These include the “quest for health and wellness” and “sustainable lives”.

In line with these trends, all Dawn Farms products are free from artificial colours, hydrogenated fats and MSG, while also meeting the latest standards on salt.

The company’s new Streetfood Collection, born out of its extensive investment in consumer insights, combines a bespoke cook and sear process to produce a range of Mexican, American and Korean-inspired street food cooked meat products to allow their customers meet growing demand in the hand-held snack and food to go markets across Europe. Cooked “low and slow”, this new range brings all the flavours of street food alive and comes in vacuum-sealed pouches for better and more consistent recipe and flavour delivery in store.

“Today’s consumers are seeking out authentic and better tasting food experiences”, says McGrath. “The Street Food Collection delivers on that need for Dawn Farms customers.”

 

     

    The company’s Texan BBQ Beef Burnt Ends sandwich filling is another example of this consumer-led innovation in action. “Consumers today are becoming more discerning about barbecue food and this is evident in the different types of regional barbecue sauces offered in burger chains as well as the broad choice of restaurants seeking to deliver authentic American barbecue experience and tastes”, McGrath points out. “It also taps into the ‘back to basics’ food trend – a return to primeval cooking methods such as grilling, barbecuing and fermentation. The burnt ends’ concept also fits the sensorial trend towards charring, blackened and burnt textures in ingredients from meat to ice cream.”

    Similarly, the company’s Italian-Style Porchetta product was inspired by traditional Italian street food. “The rationale behind this ingredient is to give food-to-go consumers an authentic Italian food experience. This fits in with the Borrowed Nostalgia food trend, where people are looking for traditional food experiences from other countries. Porchetta is a traditional Italian roasted pork delicacy, typically sold from a cart or a truck, sliced to order and served in a sandwich as a quick treat at the market or at a fair.”

    “We have had a long-standing positive and proactive relationship with Enterprise Ireland and currently avail of its R&D support programme”, he adds. “This has allowed us develop a range of product and process improvements across the business that underpin our commercial strategy and foster new growth opportunities in a very demanding marketplace.”

    Game-changing brewing technology boosts brand value for Marco Beverage Systems

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    “People sometimes see an R&D grant as something to get a product to market, but a reputation for innovation also increases your brand value and drives sales all by itself.”

    – Paul Stack, Operations Director, Marco Beverage Systems.

    Key Takeouts:

    • Enterprise Ireland’s funding helped drive culture of innovation.
    • Leading-edge technology transformed brand awareness and opened new markets. R&D for one product generated platform technologies that could be used in others.

    Case Study: Marco Beverage Systems

    “It’s important as an SME to be able to afford to continually innovate,” says Paul Stack. “In our business, we generally get about a seven-to-ten-year product lifetime, so innovation is key to replacing and renewing products.” Stack is Operations Director at Marco Beverage Systems, a hot water delivery systems company, headquartered in Dublin.

    The company, which provides systems for coffee and tea brewing in the food and beverage industry, is a recipient of Enterprise Ireland’s RD&I funding.

    Its range of products includes water boilers and coffee brewers. Marco has manufacturing plants in Dublin and China, and distribution offices in America, Europe, the Middle East and China, giving the company global reach.

    80 per cent of Marco’s products are exported: an increase from 68 per cent only three years ago. It has just under 100 employees globally, with approximately 60 based in Ireland, and its products can be seen in significant coffee, tea and catering locations, including familiar names like Starbucks, Bewley’s and Costa Coffee.

    The company’s success is fuelled by its emphasis on innovation. This focus, and a desire to expand it, led the company to apply for RD&I funding from Enterprise Ireland back in 2004. “The main considerations for our design team are energy efficiency, beverage excellence and design excellence, incorporating user experience and aesthetics,” says Stack.

    “Energy efficiency has been a major success for us in terms of cutting-edge design. Over 50 per cent of the energy footprint associated with a cup of tea or coffee is in brewing it,” Stack points out. “Our R&D department has significantly reduced the amount of energy our products use, and one of our products is 70 per cent more energy-efficient than anything else on the market globally, which is a great selling point.”

    One example of a product that has benefitted from the Marco Beverage Systems R&D program is the Uber Boiler, launched in 2009. This one-cup coffee brewing station has replaced more traditional bulk coffee systems in many cafés and restaurants. It allows baristas to have more control over a recipe and brings them closer to the front of the shop to interact with customers.

    The Uber Boiler and similar systems are now a common sight in coffee shops, but when the company first developed this product it had a big effect on the industry. “The product completely changed how our brand was seen in the marketplace as it was so innovative. It opened doors for us, especially in new regions like America. People came to us because of the popularity of the technology,” says Stack.

    The company has also found that R&D for one product can generate platform technologies that can be used in others. A separate research project for a different product resulted in innovations that contributed to an automatic version of the Uber Boiler, the SP9, demonstrating the types of cross-pollination that an R&D program can produce.

    “People sometimes see an R&D grant as something to get a product to market, but a reputation for innovation also increases your brand value and drives sales all by itself. R&D drives a whole culture of innovation in your business, which keeps you relevant and sets you apart from competitors,” explains Stack. “I wouldn’t just suggest that other Irish SMEs conduct R&D – I consider it absolutely critical. Enterprise Ireland’s funding can really drive this forward.”

    Irish Dog Foods brings export market to heel

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    “Initially, we set up as a standard dog food business. But we found that we were just a ‘me too’ brand, so we needed something to set us apart. As a business in a small island nation, with all the logistical and transport challenges that poses, our business had to find a niche to allow us to sell globally.”

    – Liam Queally, Managing Director, Irish Dog Foods

     

    Case Study: Irish Dog Foods

    “We have grown at an exponential rate and Enterprise Ireland’s support has been key to that growth,” says Liam Queally.

    “We’re currently in our second phase of Enterprise Ireland-supported R&D projects with a range of new products focused on export markets in North America.” Queally is managing director of Irish Dog Foods, a pet food manufacturer headquartered in Naas.

    The company, a recipient of Enterprise Ireland’s RD&I funding, produces a range of dry pet foods and meat-based treats. It found that ‘humanisation’ – creating dog snacks inspired by appealing and healthy human foods – was the key to opening new markets and increasing sales.

    “Initially, we set up as a standard dog food business. But we found that we were just a ‘me too’ brand, so we needed something to set us apart,” explains Queally. “As a business in a small island nation, with all the logistical and transport challenges that poses, our business had to find a niche to allow us to sell globally.”

    Key Takeouts

    • Developing niche products defined brand and opened new markets such as the US.
    • Applying for Enterprise Ireland’s RD&I funding was straightforward and encouraged strategic thinking about research and development.
    • Open discussions and idea generation were a major part of the R&D process.

    The company responded to this challenge by developing new product ranges, with support from Enterprise Ireland.

    “New products are key to our growth in new markets. Enterprise Ireland’s RD&I grants have enabled us to get new products to market in a shorter time,” Queally explains.

    In 2012, Irish Dog Foods successfully applied for Enterprise Ireland’s RD&I funding to develop a humanised pet treat range, with the aim of launching these products in North America. The range included a healthy granola-style bar and a chicken fillet-based snack with superfood ingredients such as kale, spinach, cranberries and blueberries, and ingredients to promote good joint and skin health.

    This innovation paid off, and the new products opened doors in the US market. Between 2013 and 2015, export sales increased from €29 million to €43 million and 30 new staff members were hired in Ireland. The company is now heavily export-focused, with many well-known retailers stocking its products. These include Petco, Petsmart, Walmart and Costco in the US, and Aldi and Lidl in Europe. Irish Dog Foods also has distributors further afield in countries such as South Africa, Korea and Japan. “Our American customers operate in what is widely agreed to be the most impenetrable and competitive market worldwide. In a number of these, we are the only Irish manufacturer listed,” points out Queally.

    The company carries out all its R&D in dedicated facilities on-site. Initially, it had only one employee working on new product development. Now, the team has grown to fourteen people, including food technologists and innovation experts. R&D doesn’t have to be hugely technical, much of the work involves coming up with new ideas. “A key R&D facility is our innovation suite, a stand-alone room for thinking and brainstorming,” says Queally. “This is an environment designed for open discussions and idea generation, where we use idea boards to develop new concepts.”

    Queally would advise other Irish companies to follow his lead and apply for Enterprise Ireland’s RD&I funding. “Applying is fairly straightforward, and we learnt a lot about R&D throughout the whole process, even the application stage,” he explains. “It got us thinking strategically about our R&D and what it could bring to the business. Any hurdles were worthwhile and we had excellent support.”

    Click here to learn more about Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation supports.

    Enterprise Ireland companies with Global Ambition

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    Attendees at Enterprise Ireland‘s International Markets Week heard from established Irish companies successfully selling globally and had the opportunity for meetings with Market Advisors, available to provide expertise on exporting to new markets.

    If you are attending IMW please consider the following:

    • In which markets are you successful and how have you achieved this success?
    • What is your business/value proposition?
    • Why have you decided to target this new market?
    • What market validation have you carried out and what evidence do you have for a demand for your product / service?

    Contact the International Markets team at International Markets Week for further information.

    Winning business in Brazil

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    Both time and commitment are key to success in winning business in Brazil where the tax system is complicated and protectionist. Advice from Enterprise Ireland’s Latin America team can help smooth the path to success.

    To learn more about Enterprise Ireland supports and for further information on doing business in Brazil click here