Thank you for registering for the Love Irish Food Webinar
February 24, 2021
‘What Comes Next- Rebuilding from Covid-19 and Brexit?’
Date: Wednesday March 10th
Time: 10.00AM
Location: Zoom
Duration: 1 ½ Hours
‘What Comes Next- Rebuilding from Covid-19 and Brexit?’ will provide insight and practical advice from our expert panel on
-What Tesco Ireland seeks to create with local, quality driven supplier partnerships?
– How is the economic outlook likely to change and what can Irish produced food and drink suppliers do to futureproof business?
– What are consumers looking for post Covid-19? Why sustainable, locally sourced food and drink products are vitally important to Ireland’s economic recovery.
We will forward you the Zoom link closer to the event.
If you have any queries regarding these changes please do not hesitate to contact Love Irish Food at [email protected]
It is surprising how many water brands are owned by food and beverage giants
Published: The Irish Times 18/06/19 Written by Rose Costello.
Water must surely be every marketers’ dream. The basic product costs little and we are repeatedly being told we need to drink more. Up to two litres a day is considered advisable for the average person, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Where that water comes from is up to you. Most of Ireland has access to tap water that is believed to be clean and safe, though it does not always taste great.
All of us also have access to a variety of bottled waters from places as far away as Fiji. What distinguishes one from the other generally comes down to marketing budget.
Take Smartwater, which was launched on to the Irish market last year with a campaign fronted by Jennifer Aniston, its brand ambassador since 2007. There are no published figures as to how much she is paid by Coca-Cola, which owns the brand, but it won’t be peanuts.
Smartwater is described as “vapour distilled spring water with added electrolytes”. So it is creating by boiling water and adding minerals to “create a crisp, clean taste”.
In other words it tastes like water.
According to the label it is “bottled in Northumberland” in England. A green logo on the front identifies this as a “plant bottle”. According to Coca-Cola, this means that some of the plastic is made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which comes from fossil fuels, but some of it is from plants.
It doesn’t say how much, which plants, or how that works when it comes to recycling. It’s hard to see how such a bottle could be put with the plastic recycling, but Coca-Cola is not giving away its secrets. That’s the science bit.
Evian, the “natural mineral water”, lists the composition of its product rather than ingredients. That’s because it is bottled at source in the French town of Evian for its owner Danone. If the bottle looks a bit hazy that’s because it is made from 50 per cent recycled plastic. Compare the labels on Volvic, another mineral water brand owned by Danone and bottled in France, to see how the mineral content varies depending on the source. This will affect the taste.
Behemoths
It’s surprising how many water brands are owned by food and beverage behemoths. San Pellegrino, the sparkling mineral water bottled in Italy, does not mention on the label that the brand is owned by Nestlé.
This bottle also lists minerals on the front because the water comes replete with those picked up on its subterranean journey through Alpine rocks. It has some natural carbonation but carbon-dioxide is added to make the spa water more palatable. That’s the difference between still and sparkling water.
It’s hard to know how to categorise Ballygowan. Ever since the brand was launched in the 1980s, the water has been bottled at source in Newcastle West.
The owners claim it has gone through a 750-year journey through mineral-rich limestone and into the aquifer before being captured in Limerick. The business is owned by Britvic, a soft drinks company, with operations in Britain, France and Brazil as well as Ireland.
The bottle has what looks like an eye symbol over the words NSAI certified. This indicates that National Standards Authority of Ireland gave its stamp of approval to the process.
The green heart logo stamped with Love Irish food seems appropriate given that this has come out of the earth here.
Dunnes Stores Irish Spring water does not have that symbol even though it is bottled at source in Monaghan.
Deep River Rock, which is bottled by Coca-Cola, does not get to use the Love Irish Food symbol either, though its plant is on the island of Ireland in Co Antrim. Its label has “PET” inside a circle with two arrows, which is to indicate the plastic is recyclable. A set of simpler symbols could really help shoppers.
Expensive
Bottled water is expensive, but sometimes that is the point as with the Spanish brand Solan de Cabras Natural Mineral Water, which comes in a blue glass bottle and costs twice the price of many others.
At other times health is a concern. Many Irish households are still living with “boil water” notices, and unsafe levels of lead have been found in supplies around the country. The answer may not lie in bottled water, however, given that an analysis of some of the most popular brands showed some contained tiny pieces of plastic. The WHO is to conduct a review into the potential risks of plastics in drinking water.
The Smartwater bottle says it best: “Sometimes the answer is right under your nose, and other times it’s floating above your head.”
88% of Irish SME food companies expect revenue growth in 2020 – Love Irish Food/PwC Irish Food Barometer new research
PwC and Love Irish Food research reveals optimism among Irish SME food companies despite sectoral challenges
96% confirmed capital investment plans for 2020; 10% said that this would be ore than €3 million
However, just 6% of respondents are expecting a price increase to drive revenue in the year ahead; retailers’ opportunities to grow margins must now lie in the use of innovative technologies and doing things differently
84% reported that they have an environmental sustainability plan in place to make improvements in 2020
31% delayed investment in their businesses in the last three years due to Brexit
Irish SME food companies are optimistic about the growth prospects for their own businesses, but are less certain about the future performance of the economy. With the vast majority focusing on the home market for growth, expansion into export markets is an area for potential development.
Business growth is set to continue into 2020, but softening expected in the Irish economy.
Very few Irish food companies (6%) expect to achieve price increases in current trading conditions indicating that margin improvements will be derived from advances in technology and operational efficiencies.
Sustainability is high on the agenda.
These are some of the key findings from the 2019 SME Irish Food Barometer, new research carried out by PwC and Love Irish Food launched today taking the pulse on business confidence, growth opportunities and challenges facing Irish SME food companies.
Optimistic about business growth
Showing they are confident about the factors within their control, over eight out of ten (88%) Irish food companies expect revenue growth in the year ahead, of which a third (34%) expect this revenue growth to be in excess of 10%.
Most of this growth is expected to be organic (rather than from external factors such as a merger or acquisition), with the key drivers being new product development and growth of exports in addition to operational efficiencies.
This optimism is reflected when it comes to projected capital expenditure. Almost all respondents (96%) confirmed that they are planning some form of capital investment in 2020 in order to develop their business. One in ten (10%) said that this would be in excess of €3 million.
However, just 16% are of the view that economic growth in Ireland will improve in the year ahead, 50% say it will remain unchanged and 34% say it will decline. As a small open economy, this is not surprising given external uncertainties and a softening in European and global growth.
Just 6% of respondents are expecting a price increase to drive revenue in the year ahead – an ongoing challenge for many Irish companies who are grappling with tight margins and cost competitiveness.
The growth of volume at the expense of value has placed huge pressure on the food manufacturing sector. With a price sensitive consumer, retailers’ opportunities to grow margins must now lie in the innovative use of emerging technologies to better understand shopping habits and to create brand loyalty.
Highlighting the need for development into new markets, the survey confirms that Irish SMEs value the domestic market (the Republic of Ireland) as the greatest source of growth (78%) in the year ahead. 24% said that the US was their most important growth market in the year ahead; 12% said this was the EU and just 11% said it was the UK.
Investment stalled, but not stopped, by Brexit
Suggesting growth is very much on the agenda in the face of change, just 31% reported that they had delayed investment in the organisation due to Brexit. Any delayed investment was principally in areas such as production capacity, operational resources innovation and marketing.
At the same time, the majority (63%) of respondent companies are currently exporting some product to the UK including one in five stating that these exports represent more than 20% of their total revenue. In light of Brexit, time will tell if exports to the UK continue at their current levels. Brexit presents an opportunity for certain Irish food manfacturers who may benefit through import substitution. Irish SME food companies may look to grow business by offering alternatives to product ranges that are currently imported from the UK.
Speaking at the survey launch, Grace McCullen, Senior Manager, PwC Ireland Retail & Consumer Practice, said: “The survey highlights optimism about the future growth potential for Irish food companies. They are also keen to seek operational efficiencies through innovation and technologies to improve margins, cost competitiveness and satisfied consumers.”
“With the domestic market being the priority for growth prospects, expanding into new markets and new products should not be ignored. The UK will exit the EU at some point and that will give rise to new opportunities for manufacturing food products in Ireland that may have been supplied from the UK.”
Skills, potential trade tariffs and operational costs holding back growth
Key challenges curtailing growth prospects include: availability of labour (43%), trade wars and tariffs (37%), operational costs such as energy, insurance and rates (28%), volatile commodity prices (21%) and embracing the sustainability agenda (17%).
Sustainability is on the agenda
84% confirmed that they have an environmental sustainability plan in place to make improvements in 2020. Key areas for this investment are energy consumption, reducing plastics and water usage.
Irish consumers want to buy Irish
Three-quarters (77%) of survey respondents are of the view that the Love Irish Food endorsement is of recognisable value to consumers and retailers largely because it clearly identifies that the product is Irish and sets the brand apart from imported products.
Key reasons for buying Irish, cited by the participating food companies, are quality, supporting local suppliers, sustainability, food traceability and positive impact on the economy.
Kieran Rumley, Executive Director, Love Irish Food, the not-for-profit organisation established to help safeguard the future of Irish Food & Drink brands, said: “The survey highlights evidence of optimism amongst Irish SMEs around growth into 2020, notwithstanding a difficult trading environment. There are considerable challenges in areas such as availability of skills across the board from operational, to technical to management – which in turn highlights the need for a greater take-up of available apprenticeships in the industry.”
“The survey also suggests that Irish food companies are taking the sustainability challenge seriously with many planning to invest in initiatives to improve the environment. This together with the strong regional dispersion of the food industry base contributes greatly to overall sustainability.”
“It’s also encouraging to see that the majority of survey respondents are now looking to invest in their companies in the coming year. For certain food sectors, this represents a significant growth opportunity, specifically for those import substitution sectors. However, behind these positive signals there remains the worrying inability of Irish food producers to recover adequate costs, forcing them to continue to operate on even tighter margins.”
