If it was easy wouldn’t everyone be doing it?”

That’s the simple explanation John Flahavan offers Irish Country Living when asked for the secret behind the success of his family’s famous breakfast brand. After all, over 200 years of work has gone into making the brand what it is today.

Based in Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford, Flahavan’s has been a firm favourite in Irish homes for many years and is now branching out further afield, exporting to Britain, America and Korea.

It’s even reached the White House, with Barack Obama receiving Flahavan’s products in his St Patrick’s Day hamper for two years in a row.

“He obviously likes it if he asked for it again,” says John Noonan, Flahavan’s sales and marketing director (one of three Johns in the company – the third is production director John Coffey).

Despite its international appeal, Flahavan’s is still very much a family business – the family home is across the road from the mill. John’s wife Mary devises recipes using Flahavan’s oats and two of their six children are working in the company.

It’s also very much led by the needs of the local economy, using oats from 150 farmers near the Waterford area.

“We’re the main indigenous company that supplies the Irish market, so the products that are coming in from a multi-national are generally manufactured abroad and exported into Ireland. A total of 95% of the oats we use are grown in Ireland.”

“I think people are very conscious of the importance of buying local and the impact it can have on jobs,” says John Flahavan.

FOODIE FAVOURITE

In recent years, porridge has enjoyed a revival amongst younger people and foodies. This is reflected in Flahavan’s range of products that now include microwavable sachets and organic oats.

“It’s become fashionable for a number of reasons. For one, there aren’t many cereals that can offer as many benefits in terms of heart health and cholesterol,” explains John.

“Also, making porridge used to be a difficult chore. People had difficulties making it and cleaning up after it,” he adds. “In 2000, we started researching more convenient formats of porridge and those translated into our drum products. That took away the difficulties in preparation and allowed people to make porridge in their own way, whether it was in the office or using the individual servings at home.”

Porridge on the go

Flahavan’s is also entering the fast food market, with a place on McDonald’s breakfast menu and the development of their instant porridge machines. Yes, you read that correctly, the company has introduced instant porridge machines to Ireland.

“They work like coffee machines. You select the flavour you want – plain, honey or berry – and it’s ready in a matter of minutes,” explains John.

“We have one at the University Hospital in Galway and the other one is at the M1 service area in Lusk. They’ve been in operation for three weeks, providing people with a healthy alternative to eating deli food.

“We saw similar machines in America and have been working on the project for a while. It’s very much in the trial stage at the moment, but we’re hoping it will take off,”adds John.

Late Late laughs

Finally, there was no way we could leave without finding out more about the Late Late Show incident with Andrew Scott. For those who didn’t tune in, Andrew appeared in an advert for the brand in the 1980s, which was aired on the show, and the actor, who made a name for himself playing Moriarty on Sherlock, admitted he was not a fan of porridge.

Unbeknownst to him, John (referred to as “Mr Flahavan” by Tubs) was in the audience and waiting to present a very embarrassed Andrew with the tracksuit he donned in the advert. Twitter and Facebook were abuzz with praise for John’s gracious attitude. As the saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad publicity and the clip of the interview currently has over 100,000 views on YouTube.

“If he had said ‘oh I eat porridge every morning’, it would have been far less memorable,” laughs John.

“It actually worked in our favour. RTÉ got in touch with us looking for a copy of the old Flahavan’s advert, but I had no idea who Andrew Scott was or how his career had developed,” he continues.

“It turned out I had a copy of the advert and the original tracksuit that he wore. I then asked the researcher if there was any chance I could get a few tickets for the show, and since I was bargaining with the tracksuit they obliged. When I got there, she gave me a black shopping bag to hide the tracksuit in. They sat me down, put a mic on me and the rest is history.”

Andrew may not start his day the Flahavan’s way, but Barack Obama does and if it’s good enough for him...

Flahavan’s is one of the official sponsors of the West Waterford Festival of Food, which takes place in Dungarvan from Thursday 10 April to Sunday 13 April. For more information see www.westwaterfordfestivaloffood.com