There’s a positivity about John Concannon that’s infectious. As soon as he starts speaking that positivity just rushes out of every word he says.
It’s no wonder then that after 32 years in business, JFC – the company he founded in Tuam, Co Galway – is heading for a turnover of €100m and employing 400 people.
John Concannon didn’t come into the world with a silver spoon in his mouth.
I had the life bet out of me at school and I couldn’t wait to get away
No, he arrived with something much more important – supportive parents who believed in their son and encouraged him all the way.
“I was never a star with the books,” he says adding that he was probably dyslexic. “I had the life bet out of me at school and I couldn’t wait to get away. My mother, Myra, kept telling me not to mind the teachers and that I was great. She motivated me to believe in myself. She is still the same today.”
John was 13 when he left school and joined his dad Joe on the 25-acre farm and in buying and selling and generally trading sheep.
“I recall dad saying we’d do great things together and you know we did. He was a tough taskmaster with a great work ethic. The clock didn’t exist for him.”
John had a truck licence by the time he was 17 and was on the road hauling sheep to Kildare Chilling, Dublin Meat Packers in Ballymun and Bert Allen’s new place in Wexford. Married with a young family, life was good.
Game changer
Then in 1987 a series of events set him on a path that was to change his life.
He came up with the idea of the multi bucket to help make feeding calves more efficient.
“I got a few pound from the County Development team here in Galway and that got me going and got me on the Late Late Show, and that was the game changer. Orders just flowed in.”
As any start-up business will tell you in these circumstances it’s very easy to overtrade and end up with severe cashflow problems. For John a key way of preventing this is to respect your suppliers and the credit terms you get from them.
“If you are being paid cash on delivery and getting say a 60-day credit line, that’s of huge value to any business. Once you get into a system with a supplier, you establish trust and a good credit line deserves respect.”
Selling multi buckets had a couple of advantages over selling sheep – they didn’t go out of date or get too fat. Mind you there was still a limited time to sell them and that meant John was on the road doing the business.
Achieving the first €250,000 annual turnover was huge. The product range expanded and plastic water troughs proved another winner. Learning to make moulds was also a defining move for the business and by 2000 JFC had a turnover of €4m.
The target for 2020 is €100m with sales into 40 countries and facilities in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Poland and England.
John is fulsome in praise of the JFC team who he says make things happen at JFC rather than waiting for a thing to happen.
Since day one, his wife Patricia has worked alongside him and now their four adult children are also heavily involved and have their own areas of responsibility in the business.
Who is ready for Brexit?
It hasn’t been all plain sailing though: BSE, Foot and Mouth, 9/11 and the financial crash in 2008 were massive challenges. Now there’s Brexit.
“Who is ready for Brexit? In or out it’s still bad news. We are preparing for the worst and hoping it doesn’t happen. But no doubt it will be an opportunity for some. So there are two perspectives and it’s a matter of which one do I want to have.”
“We are looking to Brexit-proof our products. Our ‘Evolution’ automatic calf feeder can feed up to 140 calves at a time. Its ability to provide real-time health information on calves is exceptional. We invest heavily in research and development especially in our more technical products.”
Sucked in positive thinking
In his early 20s John returned to night classes with subjects such as the psychology of sales and group dynamics. He says he sucked in positive thinking. Books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, You Can if You Think You Can and The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill were massive influencers and motivators for him. “If you want to be a leader, you also need to be a good manager. You need to be open, fair and honest with your people so that they will follow you up the mountain you might be leading them.”
A helping hand
The business leaders John admires most are Denis Brosnan who built the Kerry Group, Richard Branson of Virgin, Combilift’s Martin McVicker and McHale’s Padraig McHale. He is also an admirer of Joan Freeman having got involved in Pieta House for the Secret Millionaire series with RTÉ. He describes her as the Mother Teresa of mental health.
“I was reluctant to go on the programme but I did and it was one of the best things I ever did.
If you make a mistake, well what the heck. Learn from it and make sure you don’t do it again
"I stayed with Pieta House after the programme and we established a facility in Tuam that is fully paid for and had money to keep it going for a time. It’s a great support for people.”
“I particularly recall this guy from a prominent family business landing into me with a substantial cheque for Pieta House. He told me the banks had everything and this cheque was the last one that would be ok.
"He said that at least it would go to helping people. I’ll never forget that meeting.”
Looking to the future, John isn’t out of ideas and says to expect a big agri-related expansion in Tuam. He is always thinking three to five years ahead. “People with ideas need to be motivated and supported with training and guidance. If you make a mistake, well what the heck. Learn from it and make sure you don’t do it again.”
John Concannon will be a speaker of the Agri Careers Expo, 2019 which takes place in the RDS on 14 February. The Galway native will speak to Mairéad Lavery on the main stage at the event.
Register for free at
There’s a positivity about John Concannon that’s infectious. As soon as he starts speaking that positivity just rushes out of every word he says.
It’s no wonder then that after 32 years in business, JFC – the company he founded in Tuam, Co Galway – is heading for a turnover of €100m and employing 400 people.
John Concannon didn’t come into the world with a silver spoon in his mouth.
I had the life bet out of me at school and I couldn’t wait to get away
No, he arrived with something much more important – supportive parents who believed in their son and encouraged him all the way.
“I was never a star with the books,” he says adding that he was probably dyslexic. “I had the life bet out of me at school and I couldn’t wait to get away. My mother, Myra, kept telling me not to mind the teachers and that I was great. She motivated me to believe in myself. She is still the same today.”
John was 13 when he left school and joined his dad Joe on the 25-acre farm and in buying and selling and generally trading sheep.
“I recall dad saying we’d do great things together and you know we did. He was a tough taskmaster with a great work ethic. The clock didn’t exist for him.”
John had a truck licence by the time he was 17 and was on the road hauling sheep to Kildare Chilling, Dublin Meat Packers in Ballymun and Bert Allen’s new place in Wexford. Married with a young family, life was good.
Game changer
Then in 1987 a series of events set him on a path that was to change his life.
He came up with the idea of the multi bucket to help make feeding calves more efficient.
“I got a few pound from the County Development team here in Galway and that got me going and got me on the Late Late Show, and that was the game changer. Orders just flowed in.”
As any start-up business will tell you in these circumstances it’s very easy to overtrade and end up with severe cashflow problems. For John a key way of preventing this is to respect your suppliers and the credit terms you get from them.
“If you are being paid cash on delivery and getting say a 60-day credit line, that’s of huge value to any business. Once you get into a system with a supplier, you establish trust and a good credit line deserves respect.”
Selling multi buckets had a couple of advantages over selling sheep – they didn’t go out of date or get too fat. Mind you there was still a limited time to sell them and that meant John was on the road doing the business.
Achieving the first €250,000 annual turnover was huge. The product range expanded and plastic water troughs proved another winner. Learning to make moulds was also a defining move for the business and by 2000 JFC had a turnover of €4m.
The target for 2020 is €100m with sales into 40 countries and facilities in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Poland and England.
John is fulsome in praise of the JFC team who he says make things happen at JFC rather than waiting for a thing to happen.
Since day one, his wife Patricia has worked alongside him and now their four adult children are also heavily involved and have their own areas of responsibility in the business.
Who is ready for Brexit?
It hasn’t been all plain sailing though: BSE, Foot and Mouth, 9/11 and the financial crash in 2008 were massive challenges. Now there’s Brexit.
“Who is ready for Brexit? In or out it’s still bad news. We are preparing for the worst and hoping it doesn’t happen. But no doubt it will be an opportunity for some. So there are two perspectives and it’s a matter of which one do I want to have.”
“We are looking to Brexit-proof our products. Our ‘Evolution’ automatic calf feeder can feed up to 140 calves at a time. Its ability to provide real-time health information on calves is exceptional. We invest heavily in research and development especially in our more technical products.”
Sucked in positive thinking
In his early 20s John returned to night classes with subjects such as the psychology of sales and group dynamics. He says he sucked in positive thinking. Books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, You Can if You Think You Can and The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill were massive influencers and motivators for him. “If you want to be a leader, you also need to be a good manager. You need to be open, fair and honest with your people so that they will follow you up the mountain you might be leading them.”
A helping hand
The business leaders John admires most are Denis Brosnan who built the Kerry Group, Richard Branson of Virgin, Combilift’s Martin McVicker and McHale’s Padraig McHale. He is also an admirer of Joan Freeman having got involved in Pieta House for the Secret Millionaire series with RTÉ. He describes her as the Mother Teresa of mental health.
“I was reluctant to go on the programme but I did and it was one of the best things I ever did.
If you make a mistake, well what the heck. Learn from it and make sure you don’t do it again
"I stayed with Pieta House after the programme and we established a facility in Tuam that is fully paid for and had money to keep it going for a time. It’s a great support for people.”
“I particularly recall this guy from a prominent family business landing into me with a substantial cheque for Pieta House. He told me the banks had everything and this cheque was the last one that would be ok.
"He said that at least it would go to helping people. I’ll never forget that meeting.”
Looking to the future, John isn’t out of ideas and says to expect a big agri-related expansion in Tuam. He is always thinking three to five years ahead. “People with ideas need to be motivated and supported with training and guidance. If you make a mistake, well what the heck. Learn from it and make sure you don’t do it again.”
John Concannon will be a speaker of the Agri Careers Expo, 2019 which takes place in the RDS on 14 February. The Galway native will speak to Mairéad Lavery on the main stage at the event.
Register for free at
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