What is your background?

For 26 years I worked in the snack food sector with Perri Crisps in Ashbourne, which is now owned by Tayto Snacks. I was responsible for buying and sourcing potatoes for the factory, which used 28,000t of potatoes every year. I also spent every summer working on the family farm in north Dublin. Our farm would have supplied early season potatoes to the factory for crisps at one point.

Where is the family farm?

The home farm is located just outside Skerries, in an area of north Co Dublin known as Loughbarn. It’s a seventh-generation family farm, now run by my brother Martin. It’s a mixed farming enterprise, farming around 400 acres. We’ve a small amount of cattle for grazing, but most of the land is used for potatoes and traditional cereals such as spring and winter barley, while we also grow rapeseed for rotation. We grow 100 acres of potatoes every year.

When did you decide to start making your own crisps?

It’s always been in my head to make crisps with potatoes from the family farm. I was looking at the growth in the luxury crisp market in Ireland and I put the idea of making crisps to my brother and we decided to go for it. In 2016 and 2017, I looked into the feasibility of setting up our own crisp business. I then sourced processing equipment from all over Europe. From working at Perri, I knew the type and scale of equipment we needed. I then left my job at Perri in 2017 to start the Clinton’s Crisps brand and set up our crisp factory in a business unit in Ashbourne.

How fast is the luxury crisp market growing?

The market for luxury crisps has grown every year since 2010. The entire crisp market in Ireland is valued at €244m and is growing in low, single-digits of 2% to 3%.

However, the luxury crisp market is forecast to grow at 8% per annum up until 2023 – almost triple the growth rate. Irish people have the second highest consumption of crisps in Europe, after the UK.

What potato varieties do you use in your crisps?

100% of the potatoes used in our crisps are sourced from our family farm.

We grow the Lady Rosetta variety as it’s a good, early-season potato. For our storage crop of potatoes, to keep over the winter/spring period, we grow Amarilla and Kibetiz varieties, which are cold-stored. They have a low sugar content, which is good for storability and will last until July.

Are you exporting any product?

We’ve already started exporting some product to the UK. However, the UK is a competitive market for Irish companies right now.

We’ve also put feelers out for customers in Germany and further afield. In Europe, consumer tastes are different. Continental consumers prefer big bags for party-type occasions and like flavours such as salt or paprika. In Ireland and the UK, cheese and onion and salt and vinegar are the preferred flavours.