Founder of Largo Foods wins industry category

THE MAN behind Tayto and Hunky Dorys crisps has been named as the winner of the industry category of the Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

Ray Coyle began his career as a potato grower in the 1970s, supplying companies such as Tayto, which then had about 85 per cent market share. He felt there was an opening for a small potato chip company and in 1982, he founded Largo Foods.

The company, which began with a staff of nine, grew steadily, introducing Hunky Dorys to its range in 1995. It established a factory in Plzen in the Czech Republic and in 2000, added a small manufacturing unit in Chisinau, Moldova.

A major turning point for the company was the acquisition of Tayto in 2006 for more than €60 million. Over the next two years, the two businesses were integrated into one site in Meath. The company is based outside Ashbourne, with an additional manufacturing facility in Donegal.

In 2007 it established Cornscape, a manufacturer of popcorn and baked products, in Barnsley in Yorkshire.

Exports are increasingly becoming a core part of the business, with Largo Foods recently moving into the Chinese market. As well as its office in Shanghai, it also sells into eastern Europe and the US, as well as supplying all of the multiples in Britain and Ireland. In addition to the Tayto, Hunky Dorys, Perri and Sam Spudz brands, Largo Foods manufactures own-label products.

It has 50 per cent market share in Ireland and generates 20 per cent of its sales from exports to the UK and further afield.

In a move that has generated significant capital for the company, 25 per cent of Largo Foods was recently sold to Intersnack, a German company which already had a 15 per cent stake in the firm. Another 11 per cent is being sold to a private German investment firm, with a buy-back option in three years. The deals will allow Largo Foods to expand internationally.

In a sign of further diversification, Largo Foods opened Tayto Park, an adventure and theme park, in Ashbourne last year. The 55-acre site has more than 100 attractions, including playgrounds, restaurants, shops and animal petting areas.

Largo Foods is a major employer, with close to 600 staff in Ireland and 125 abroad.

It sources 30,000 tonnes of potatoes from Irish farmers annually – approximately 10 per cent of the nation’s annual potato crop.

Coyle beat off competition from eight other candidates to win the coveted Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for industry.

These were John O’Donoghue of facility services provider Noonan; Domini and Peaches Kemp from Itsa Ltd; Justin Keating from Version 1; Justin Quinn from the Centre for English Studies, Mairéad Mackle from Homecare Independent Living; Paul Hourican of ICT company PFH Technologies, and Peter Boyle of jewellery business, Argento.