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This is the first year Finnegan & Sons has been at Bloom, but Paul Finnegan, who runs the business with his brother Joe, has picked the year well.
More than 100,000 visitors are expected to attend the 10th Bloom festival over the five days, a substantial jump on the 40,000 visitors who came in year one.
Finnegan & Sons is among more than 100 Irish food and drink producers at Bloom this year and it has a stand in the Bloom Food Village, which is generally mobbed with people all day.
The other reason it is a good year for Finnegan & Sons to be at Bloom is because the company has recently launched its new added-value potato products: wedges, chips and baked potatoes. These are the potatoes that don’t make the grade at supermarket level (they don’t look as pretty as other potatoes) and so, rather than be sold at a lower cost or thrown away, the Finnegan family decided to add value to these unwanted potatoes by converting them into more ready-made varieties.
The company is launching the products this year and Bloom is the perfect showcase. “We’re here at Bloom to push the Finnegan name and to position our new products in the market,” says Paul. “When customers are looking for products like these, hopefully they will associate our name with them.” He admits the supermarkets impose tight grades for potatoes, but says “that’s the business”. “The grades are tight. They do expect everything, but I mean that’s our business; number one is quality. It’s all about quality with us. And anything that’s left over we can still use it up.” Finnegan & Sons controls the entire process from growing to packaging. The company has its own packers and processing facility on-site at its 1,800 conacres farm just outside Ashbourne, Co Meath. Some 750 acres of the farm is used for growing many varieties of potatoes for retail giant Dunnes Stores, including roosters, maris pipers, Kerr’s pinks and queens. The rest is used for winter wheat, winter barley, spring barley, oil seed rape. Listen to the full interview with Paul Finnegan below Paul says the fact that the company controls these later stages in the process means it ensures cleaner products. “There are no artificial flavourings on the products. It’s basically just potatoes and sunflower oil. Also the fact that we own the process means that there’s no waste as well. We have a 100-head suckler herd, so anything that is leftover goes to them.” Declining consumption After a few bad years for the potato industry, 2015 saw it back in positive territory. According to data from Kantar Worldpanel, presented at the National Potato Conference in February 2016, last year saw growth in terms of both value and volume in the potato market for the first time since 2008. Value was up 14% in 2015 and volume was up 6.5%. While there have been increases in volume and value over the past seven years, the two did not grow simultaneously until last year. Asked about declining potato consumption and the way he thinks the industry is going, Paul says that “potatoes will do well to hold their own”. “We have seen a decline in potato sales over the last few years and that’s why we’re adding value to our products. And it has got a bit of bad press over the years, but when you look at the nutritional value, you’d actually be amazed at what it can do.” Ireland's potato market returns to growth Listen: Irish celebrities reveal their favourite flower at Bloom 2016The fact that we own the process means that there’s no waste as well. We have a 100-head suckler herd, so anything that is leftover goes to them
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