20 minutes with Sean Brogan, Brogan’s Bakery

When did you approach Ornua about licensing the Kerrygold brand?

We approached Ornua in 2015 in connection with licensing our products to its brands. Of particular interest to us was our shortbread. As butter is such a core raw material for us in the bakery, it seemed an obvious choice for branding the product and we were delighted when Ornua agreed to allow us to use the Kerrygold brand.

How long did it take to develop the product?

It has taken several years and significant up-front investment to develop our Kerrygold shortbread. It was important to get the product and the manufacturing process right, because the product needed to match the brand expectations of consumers when it comes to Kerrygold.

How successful has the product been since its launch?

The reception to date has been overwhelming. We started by approaching the Irish retailers. Musgraves (SuperValu and Centra), BWG (Spar, Mace, Londis, XL), Aldi and WHSmith have been very good to us and supported the product hugely. On the food service side, we work with Pallas Foods which has listed our shortbread in coffee shops and five-star hotels throughout the country. We’re finding the shortbread is proving very popular with tourists as it makes a great gifting product, and we’re seeing strong sales in Dublin airport, on Aer Lingus flights and in Irish gift stores such as Carrolls.

How competitive is the biscuit category?

It’s estimated the biscuit category in Ireland is valued in the region of €800m per year. However, it’s a hugely competitive category, with about 80% of biscuits sold on promotion in the UK and Ireland. Most biscuits sold in Ireland are imported.

Are you looking at export markets?

While we’re still growing in the Irish market, the business is fully focused on export markets for this product. My goal is to follow the trail blazed by other Irish food companies around the world. We’re already doing business in the UK, Germany and Malaysia. We have also listed in Dubai Duty Free, with our first orders shipping this month. We’re also talking to distributors in the far east who want to stock our product because Kerrygold is seen as a super-premium western food brand.

What has the reception been like for the product in Germany?

We only launched in Germany in the last few months, but the reception has been phenomenal. With the support of Ornua, and indeed Bord Bia, we have signed an agreement with a large German distributor and have listed in Germany’s two largest retailers Edeka and Rewe, as well as Netto, Hit and Müller. The Kerrygold brand is huge in Germany and we hope to continue building on that success.