I am looking forward to attending the Dingle Food Festival – my first time in Dingle (that I can remember) and definitely my first time at the Blas na hEireann awards which are held on the Saturday.
I like food festivals because of the opportunity they give to meet loads of food producers in one place – and in Dingle the addition of 2 special visits will make it really good. Thanks to Aoife (on behalf of Irish Food Bloggers Association) for organising the special food bloggers schedule for us.
Here are the events I will be going to:
Friday 5 – 7pm: The Dingle Brewing company holding an event where they showcase their first beer (Tom Crean) and also products from local producers such as Ted Brown Seafood, Thomas Bric goat cheese and milk, Maja Binder cheese maker, The Little Cheese Shop, Reel Dingle Fish & Chip Shop, Gerry O’Sullivan Blasket Island Lamb, Lispole Free Range eggs and Baccus Bakery
10 – 2pm: Farmers Market taking over the entire town and including regular stallholders alongside Blas Awards entrants.
And then 2 Blas events – a 1pm to 3pm networking event with producers, judges, retailers, press and us food bloggers. Leading onto the awards ceremony from 6pm to 8pm that night.
Let me know if you are going to be around for the weekend?
This looks like a great day for any food producer who is currently thinking about new or redesigned packaging. €50 for the day
It’s the first in a series (hopefully) from Teagasc, Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia who have a working group tackling the issue of inadequate knowledge and skill sets in this crucial area to the food sector.
* Packaging – an effective way to develop your brand.
* Regulatory up-date: labelling and food contact materials.
* Case Study: Innovation and added value through packaging.
* Global Market trends and technical innovations.
* The Retail perspective.
* State supports for packaging.
* Packaging strategy for your company
I am presenting a workshop in Dublin that morning so maybe able to attend the afternoon part of this. Otherwise I’d be there bright and early.
Pat Lawlor was at the GIY Gathering event I went to yesterday and I took the opportunity to say hello afterwards as a fan of his product.
He had some sample packs with him (I took 4 and gave them out during the Amazing Grazing event on the Quay) and he talked me through the changes in V2.
Based on feedback from retailers HR has stressed his Irishness. So the addition of 2 very visible Irish elements at the top and his address under the Creamy strapline is also in green.
And a more subtle change too. Kilbeggan is now in the font used on the Kilbeggan whisky labeling. Pat asked for and got permission to do so.
Now two consumer facing food products from the same area share a strong common visual feature. You have to love the way this oats farmer thinks, I do 😉
My third post from this conference held as part of the Harvest Festival in Waterford. Here are the first (Peelham Farm) and second (M&D Bakery).
Killowen Farm Yogurt: They took over Killowen Dairy from orginal producers. 3 of them (friends) took over and lost a pile of money over 12 months. Mentor came in (Wexford CEB appointed) and suggested trimming the team (out went the 2). He also took advice from a friend of his who ran an ice cream company.
So the friend sat down with them and asked them “Are you out of your heads?” – he kept it up for an hour just to make sure they were serious! They put in better processes and tried for 1 day manufacturing, 1 day packaging and it took them a couple of months to do that.
They consolidated the business and moved it back to their dairy farm (which was 8 miles away). From there they started to do some market research and then sold into new local stockists.
They then got a listing with Pallas Food via a Speciality Foods fair (Bord Bia run) in Dublin and that moved them into volume and then the food service area. Food service is now 30% of their business.
They supply into a number of local hotels with the blessing of Pallas Foods so they retain the direct relationship with chefs whose feedback is blunt, immediate and vital 🙂
He touched on HACCP – they got away with murder early on but now are completely compliant so they can trace back for each batch where the raw ingredients came from. He said this is crucial for working with new buyers.
He again said that the assistance of Wexford CEB vital to them.
Awards – these reflect their emphasis on pure ingredients. Great Taste awards, Blas na hEireann (Gold medal) and JFC Innovation awards – most innovative food company. (a 3 star great taste award and 10 1 star awards).
Funding – initially Leader and then Wexford CEB helped with an owners managers course and assisted with their website. They also use on average at least 2 mentors a year. Going forward they hope to approach Enterprise Ireland for assistance.
They backload via Pallas Foods.
Packaging. New packaging launched in the last weeks. It took months and months and was shortened via Bord Bia Vantage programme.
They do about 40% private label – Superquinn glass jar and also Aldi. He sees this as helping their growth and also lifts their standards a lot.
Above photo from my previous post on their redesign. Thanks to Nicholas – that was a frank and enjoyable presentation which I am sure many food producers will appreciate and learn from.
My second post from this conference held during the Harvest Festival in Waterford (see the first one here). They are raw notes and I have not edited them a whole lot.
M&D Bakery. They are in business 25 years and the Blaa is their main product. Started in the 1690’s with the Hugenots who set up an area behind Reginalds Tower known locally as New Geneva. One of the businesses there was a bakery and they imported French flour which was used to make Pain Blanc. Leftovers from their main loaves were used to make smaller pans and it is believed that the Blaa was named as a shortened version of Blanc!
They soon spread and in the 1800’s and 1900’s there were always 10 to 12 bakeries in the City with up to 15,000 blaas made each day. In the 1990’s the number of 9 dwindled down to only 3 still going in Waterford.
Even with only 3 bakeries there are still 10,000 to 12,000 sold a day.
He then explained how the Blaa was given a Euro-torque award and that lead to a lot of coverage for the Blaa and joining Good Food Ireland helped enormously. They took advantage of that and featured in the Galway Volvo Ocean Race Green Dragon blaa sandwich.
After that (and the publicity which then followed) they extended to Electric Picnic, Oxygen and have recently been “listed” by the Guinness Storehouse as their sandwich bread of choice.
They are now thinking beyond the regions and moving to baking and freezing to extend distribution nationally (which fortunately the Blaa is well suited for).
In 2009 they were contacted about the idea of obtaining protected geographic status. They are hoping for PGI – Protected Geographic Indication.
This would be a strong selling point for Waterford and would would be applied for by the Waterford Blaa Bakers Association. The point is to keep commercial blaa manufacture alive in the City so the status would be the beginning of the story.
He shows a graph which showed the various countries which hold this designation – France and Italy have over 150 designations each. The UK have over 50. We (Ireland) have 4.
Only 2 of those are actually available on the market 😦
I was fortunate enough to be able to get to this event held as part of the Harvest Festival in Waterford and because of the lack of wifi in the venue I took notes during the presentations and will share them over a couple of posts. They are raw notes and I will not be editing them a whole lot.
This one was from Denise Daly Watson who spoke about a Food network she helped to set up and also a little about her own farm based food business.
Scottish Borders Food Network is a Leader funded project which started in 2006 – founded by businesses for businesses with a consensus approach. 61 members – primary producers as well as food hospitality providers (24 producers, 33 providers and 3 associates) Strong artisan focus
She said that their understanding of what consumers/customers what has helped them to add value [and hence to increase margins, keith]
As part of balance of committee 50:50 producers and providers.Their goals include promoting local Borders food, providing a forum for member businesses, tackling the distribution challenge and making the link between food and the environment.
Funding – they have received 100k over 2 years from Leader with matched funding from Local Authority. Also the Scottish Government is very supportive with a strong food policy.
Some of the Network members
Actions Taken:
* Employed a coordinator, created a brand and a website, showing with regional food and tourism events, chefs events to meet the producers.
* Accessability – this was a response to their civic responsibility and addresses the myth that local food is not everyone across the social divide.
* Post Leader Funding – increasing membership, bringing in more artisan producers. Stronger brand recognition.
* 5 year regional food strategy with trans-national collaboration to qualify for EU/Leader funding
* Address shortage of vegetable growers
Learnings to date. Consensus is important, this leads to member buy in. Communications are important to develop trust along the food chain.
Running a food network is complex – mixed profiles and requirements Peelham
She runs Peelham Farm – they are organic and spent a lot of money developing a brand having realised the importance of that in their marketing.
Sustainability, transparency and taste – two of the things which are so important to them and they won a 2009 farm award because of that.
They use rare breeds and have learned the skills/trade of butchering. They sell to a number of Michelin star chefs.
They have an open farm – transparency. So they encourage farm visits.
Finally she said that their use of the internet will be extending and youtube to be added to their twitter and facebook portfolio.
[liked that presentation a lot, very passionate and inspiring speaker, keith]
The closing date for these is next Monday 12th September (entry here on their site – click on the relevant category on the left of that page to see online entry form).
The Why Bother is answered by them:
Our media partner, The Irish Times, will announce and profile all 18 shortlisted companies in early November.
Following the announcement of the overall category winners, at the Brand Forum End of Year Event on 22 November at Trinity College Dublin, they will feature in a two page feature in The Irish Times newspaper.
A short video interview with each of the 18 shortlisted companies will feature on the Bord Bia website.
So that is clear enough – this is about publicity in the mainstream media = increased sales (if distribution is in place). To take advantage of the shortlisting (and the award winning if you are that good) make sure you have your stockists listed on your website and also actively promote the shortlisting and the other companies listed on your Facebook and Twitter accounts (assuming you have them).
Categories (you can enter more than one)
The Exporting Award
The Branding Award
The Innovation Award
The Entrepreneurial Award
The Domestic Success Award
The Sustainability Award
I am looking forward to seeing the shortlist. Once again – details here on Bord Bia site.
Within this lies another tale – how does a daughter or son establish their own identity on an established brand. It needs to be tackled – otherwise they are just doing what their parent(s) did. I have known Eilis Gough (founder of Milleeven Honey) for many years but have never met Sarah her daughter.
However I was aware of Sarah’s products and brand and so asked Philip Darling from Concept Choice to do a guest post on how the brand and packaging came about.
The design of the Sarah’s Honey brand
“Milleeven Fine Foods, based in Kilkenny, Ireland, decided to launch a range of flavoured honey to the market place. They already produce traditional honey products, so wanted something different for the Irish, UK and international consumer.
Branding and Positioning
Our first stage was to work with Tessa O’Connell of Brand Edge, who hosted a branding and positioning workshop for Mileeven and a selected audience type, from retail buyers to consumers. The day was really useful in identifying the perceived view of honey products, company reputation, qualities and indeed what the ‘modern’ consumer was looking for in honey. We also knew that the UK marketplace was very competitive, with massive marketing budgets to push their products.
We looked at what made Mileeven different, things that the large companies couldn’t claim with any real consumer believability, a love of honey and a hands on involvement from an ‘artisan’ family producer. Once these values and propositions were marked up on the flip chart, coupled with the wonderful mother and daughter story, ‘Sarah’s Honey’ (the daughter’s name) was realised and born. The name and spirit of the brand fitted, was true and gave a real point of difference from their competitors.
Packaging and Labelling practicalities
The next stage, was to look at the packaging practicalities and labeling of the new brand. Mileeven suggested a lovely glass jar that fitted that homemade ‘story’ and we decided to expand the label area to give it more shelf presence. A teardrop shape was conceived which had a secondary subtle effect, of ‘flowing’ honey.
Many typefaces were considered in the logo make-up but we settled on a ‘hand drawn’ effect which fitted well. A series of little watercolour illustrations were commissioned, again as if Sarah herself had created these for her ‘homemade’ production line. Each product also featured a different coloured border to assist content recognition and words such as ‘scrummy’ and ‘passionate’ to enhance the ingredient descriptions within.
Telling the Story – Video
As with any brand, the packaging is just part of the consumer experience, so to really extend the story, we conceived, shot and produced a video entitled ‘Sarah’s World’. Filmed over a couple of days on their farm (and in-between the showers) we created an atmospheric movie that showed Sarah within a rural environment, taking time out, writing, painting and collecting ingredients for her honey recipes. The whole video was then edited to look like a homemade super 8 film and wonderful music score commissioned to complement the visuals.
We also photographed Sarah and the full range of products for use on POS, PR, web and exhibition use. Some shots were taken quickly to capture a spontaneous feel, others took much longer to ensure everything was perfect in presentation. We also sourced vintage props and had lots of help from Eilis with family heirlooms and tablecloths.
The packaging, photography and video was then displayed in the London Food Fair of which they received lots of positive feedback and most importantly, samples requests and advance orders.
Overall, we really enjoyed the project, from brand generation right though to the packaging, photography and video. It was great too, to work with a client prepared to listen, trust and get involved in the marketing of the brand.
Philip Darling, Creative Director of Concept Choice
Great to see the exploration of the positioning using primary and secondary research right at the beginning of this project and also the extension into other media.
Two of her recent posts are interviews with Irish producers – both of whom have scaled their production without loosing their connection with the passion and core values that make a strong brand.
Burren Smokehouse
The first (linked here) explores the taste of both farmed and wild salmon (recently reintroduced) with Birgitta Curtin. Really smart website BTW – do not remember seeing this properly before.
Glenilen Fairy
In the second one (linked here) Ailbhe discusses brand design and solar power with Valerie Kingston.
While the solar power and planned water turbine get a paragraph of the interview those of you who are familiar with this business will know that Valerie and Alan’s dedication to renewables goes way beyond “lite green” and you do not pick that up from their website or communications generally.
I am looking forward to more in this “Introducing…” series 🙂
biabeag (small food) 