Carroll’s Cuisine, which is based in Tullamore, Co Offaly, will have taken on approximately 60 people by the end of 2016. The company was part of Aryzta but there was a management-led buyout in 2015 and Carroll’s Cuisine has seen significant investment since.

Since the buyout, a bigger emphasis has been placed on growing and developing new cooked meat products. Carroll’s Cuisine is now buying more Irish pork legs to convert into ham while in the last 12 months, it has also started processing poultry. Carroll’s buys in raw chicken and turkey and processes it into ready-to-eat cooked meat products. According to Kantar Worldpanel, Carroll’s is now the number one cooked meats brand in Ireland.

Carroll’s is also famous for its ready-meals including Carroll’s lasagne, chicken curry and salmon tagliatelle.

Roles that were filled this year were in marketing, sales (national account manager roles and sales reps) and new product development, while many general operative roles were filled too. “As the business has grown, all various teams have grown” says Carroll’s chief operating officer John Comerford.

With regards to recruitment for 2017, John says: “There’s a fairly hefty growth target. There’s four main production lines and there’s another line being installed in the next two weeks, and we’re taking on 20 general operatives to work on that. As the brand continues to grow we see huge opportunities, particularly in poultry. It’s seen as a much more healthy option than pork or ham – we expect poultry to grow significantly over the next few years.”

Carroll’s Cuisine employs 150 people altogether.

Connolly Meats, which is based in Co Monaghan, created eight new positions in 2016 for general operatives and in management. It has no plans to recruit in 2017 as of yet.

Templetuohy Foods, which is based in Co Tipperary, filled five full-time roles and one part-time role in 2016. These included two driver roles and a quality manager role, while there was also a position in finance, a position in store, and a part-time position in the office. Templetuohy Foods expects to take on at least one new driver in 2017. The company employs 26 people altogether.

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