Brady Family Ham celebrates a history of high-quality Irish traditions

Having recently launched new flavours – including twice turf smoked, black pudding-spiced and whiskey marmalade – Brady Family Ham is an Irish food company that continues to innovate without losing sight of its original values.

Speaking with Irish Country Living, managing director John O’Brien explains the brand’s humble beginnings by Mary and Ossie Brady at their apartment in Maynooth in the 1980s. The couple later bought a site in Timahoe, where they began curing fresh pork to gammon by hand using salt. The process and product used by Mary and Ossie remains unchanged to this day. In 2000, however, the Bradys sold their family business, employing 18 people and specialising in over-the-counter bulk ham, to John’s father Bill O’Brien.

“Bill really set the tone. I came on board in 2003 so I worked with him for 10 years before I took over. His full team still work in the business along with new members,” says John.

“We met up with Mary and Ossie only recently in Timahoe. It was their first time back at the premises in about 18 years. They were pleasantly surprised at how things are done, saying to us that the ham hasn’t changed a bit. Mary said she knew that already though, from buying the ham in shops – it was the same as ever. I was delighted to hear that because it was a bit nerve-wracking wondering what they would think of it all now.”

New range

September 2005 welcomed Brady’s first pre-packed sliced range. In the same year, the family bought Rudd’s meats in Birr, Co Offaly.

“At that point we were a really traditional porkmeat business. Between Rudd’s and Brady’s, we were selling ham from the leg of the pig, rashers from the back, sausages from the pig’s shoulders and then pudding. The business grew steadily for the next few years,” John says.

The market for bulk and sliced meats was split 50:50 when the O’Brien family bought the business. That has now changed to about 80:20. Investing in pre-packed meats was inevitable, but so too was maintaining the quality and taste of Mary’s recipes.

“With this in mind, in July 2012 we launched Brady pre-packed ham as you see it today. The weekend we launched that we were fifth in the marketplace so we had a long way to go. Now we are considered premium,” says John.

John and his team are steadfast on upholding the trust they have gained in Irish consumers, but also keeping up to date with demand. Dedication to Irish-farmed produce and consumers is central to Brady Family Ham, working with Irish businesses like Wexford Preserves and Spice O’Life to develop new flavours.

“A principle is not a principle unless it costs you money. We could have moved to EU pork and saved a lot of money, but we didn’t do that,” John says with pride.

Procurement manager Pat Creighton details the quality crafting methods.

“We have a lot more pork and a lot less water in our finished products,” he says. “We do things slowly and naturally. We dry-smoke the raw product, slowly cook it and smoke it again to really show through the flavour.”

And the authenticity of Brady Family Ham is evident in John’s words.

“All of the pork is 100% Irish, 100% of the time. The way we do things has remained the same for 30 years, including our communications with the farming community, the customers who buy our product and the shops which sell it.”

www.bradyfamily.ie