When did O’Brien Fine Foods acquire the Brady ham business?

We first acquired the Brady ham business in 2000. Since then, we’ve taken the Brady ham business from being one that only sold bulk ham product for deli counters to a business that is now a leader in the pre-packed cooked ham category.

How have you built the Brady Family business since it was acquired?

After we launched our first pre-packed product in 2005, we could see how the pre-packed category was outgrowing sales in the deli category by 2:1. However, between 2010 and 2011, we lost our way a bit and we were asking ourselves what the Brady Family brand actually stands for. First and foremost, Brady’s ham is Irish as we’re the only brand that uses 100% Irish pork 52 weeks of the year. We also still cook the product the same way it was first done by the Brady family. We relaunched the brand in 2012 to focus on these key attributes of the product.

How much have you invested in the brand?

Outside of the €14m we invested in developing our processing facility in Timahoe, investing in the Brady Family brand has been the second largest investment for the business. To date, our investment in the brand has been a little over €7m and, pound for pound, it has been the best investment we’ve made.

Can you see a return on this investment?

We’ve gone from getting an average retail price of €13/kg for our first range of pre-packed ham to now getting €23/kg. Consumer awareness of the Brady Family brand has gone from the mid-30s in 2012 to being in the high-80s today and we now have a very loyal customer base. Of the 1.7m households in Ireland, over 700,000 households buy Brady’s ham every year and over 150,000 households will buy it more than 23 times a year.

How competitive is the cooked meats category?

Our category is going through its most competitive period ever. There are significant amounts of money being wiped off the value of the category because of the intense competition between supermarkets. Own-label, in particular, is putting the category under a lot of pressure. The sales volume of the category has grown, which is positive, but the value of the category could be significantly more if the right price was being charged. The cooked meats category is a top 10 category. It’s not quite like the steak category in terms of sales but it is a footfall driver for customers.

How difficult is it to build a food brand?

Launching a new brand is very, very tough. We’ve just been through it with our Homebird brand, which is our new white meat brand for cooked chicken and turkey. Startup food companies need support from the industry and the Government but I do think we’re probably trying to support too many startup food brands. Instead, I think we should support a smaller number of high-potential startups, especially when they’re launching into one of the most competitive grocery markets in Europe.

John O’Brien is an ambassador for Food Works, an accelerator programme for food and drink startups run by Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc. The programme is now recruiting www.foodworksireland.ie