Rewarding the best of Ireland’s food and drink industry

SUCCESS AT HOME AWARD COMPANY: CONNACHT GOLD BUTTER Connacht Gold has a multi-award winning range of butter products and has been shortlisted based on the growth the brand has experienced, with significant over-performance in the category over the past year.

SALES CAMPAIGN Sales in the margarine/yellow fats category had decreased year-on-year (Nielsen), which presented an opportunity to grow the Connacht Gold brand. At the beginning of 2014, Connacht Gold launched its real butter campaign communicating the unique selling point of its low-fat butter – real butter, half the fat. Overall Connacht Gold brand sales increased by 3.2 per cent year- on-year with a 6 per cent growth in category share. The sales of low-fat butter increased by 4.5 per cent, softer butter: by 11 per cent and unsalted butter by 30 per cent. COMPANY: ATLANTIS SEAFOODS – KILMORE QUAY Atlantis Seafoods was set up in 1996 to supply fresh locally caught fish to hotels and restaurants in the southeast. Today, it employs 50 and supplies seafood nationwide. SALES CAMPAIGN Atlantis has been shortlisted because it has developed a branded product aimed at the retail market. In 2007, hotels and restaurants were 100 per cent of the company's revenue. But, as the food service industry suffered in the recession, sales declined. Atlantis developed the "Kilmore Quay" range of 10 quality products with a high fish content and all certified gluten-free. These are available in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Musgrave and Spar. COMPANY: GLENILEN FARM Glenilen Farm is a dairy business in Drimoleague, Co Cork. Owned and run by Alan and Valerie Kingston, it produces live yoghurt along with chilled desserts, cream, lemonade and butter. SALES CAMPAIGN Glenilen introduced a new four-pack yoghurt. Since 2002, the Glenilen Farm 160g yoghurt jar had proved successful. But, with the rise of private label and low-cost glass jar yoghurts, sales were affected. Glenilen implemented a retail strategy to combat falling sales and the ionic jar range is now back in growth. A new concept 4 x 125g plastic pot was created based on the best-selling lines in the 500g pots as follows. The range was positioned as a premium offer. COMPANY: CELTIC PURE Celtic Pure is a family-owned company established in 2000 by Padraig and Pauline McEneaney. In the early years, the husband and wife team produced and ran all its operations from their garage. In 2014, the company manufactured and sold over 40 million bottles of Irish spring water from its 40,000sq ft production facilities. SALES CAMPAIGN Celtic Pure was confident Irish consumers' habits had changed towards drinking bottled water more regularly. But the only way they could remain competitive in this market was by manufacturing its own bottles. Last year, the company invested more than €3 million in a new bottling line that increased production capacity. EXPORT AWARD COMPANY: SILVER HILL FARM Overseas trade is responsible for more than 80 per cent of Silver Hill's turnover since its formation in 1962.

It has been shortlisted based on its fresh approach to building export growth over the past two years, specifically in the Chinese market and with retail accounts across Europe.

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Success at Home shortlist: Alan Kingston, owner manager at Glenillen Farm Ltd

EXPORTS As a long-term supplier to Chinese diners in Europe, Silver Hill had always planned to expand its sales in the Far East. In 2013, it established a partnership with one of its customers in Singapore and invested in a permanent base in the market. This has been a great success and it is shipping one container a week to Singapore alone.

Silver Hill is in year three of a five-year growth plan to double the turnover of the company. COMPANY: GALLAGHER'S BAKERY Gallagher's Bakery was established in 1968 as a family business in Ardara, Co Donegal. In 2012, it entered the gluten-free bakery market and today it exports all over the world. The company employs more than 260 people, up from 95 in 2012, and is poised to grow further in line with its ambitious plans. EXPORTS Export sales growth has been steep, valued at €18 million this year, compared to €5 million in 2013. The company hopes to double export sales next year. The most significant growth has been delivered in Australia, accounting for €6 million in sales; Canada, valued at €3 million and the US, where trade began last year. COMPANY: BUTLERS Established in 1932, Butlers Chocolates is Ireland's leading independent producer of premium luxury chocolates and confectionery. Butlers also has its own retail network, Butlers Chocolate Cafés, with 18 in Ireland, along with international franchises in New Zealand and Pakistan. A Middle East flagship café will open in Dubai airport in the next few months. EXPORTS The chocolates are exported all over the world and are now available in more than 40 countries and 60 airports. The UK is the company's largest export market and in recent years, there has been a notable increase in sales to the Middle East and Asia. This year has also seen significant growth in sales to the US and Australia. COMPANY: ARYZTA BAKERIES IRELAND Aryzta is a leading international speciality food company with long established roots in Ireland stretching back to its co-operative days as IAWS and the acquisition of Cuisine de France in 1998. Today, Aryzta operates more than 60 bakeries globally. EXPORTS Aryzta Bakeries Ireland has developed an export strategy to become the leading supplier of speciality in-store bakery products to the UK. The domestic market plan was adapted to work in collaboration with the UK's key retailers, who together hold 70 per cent of UK grocery. Over the past three years, total export sales at Aryzta Bakeries Ireland have grown by about one-third.

DIGITAL AWARD COMPANY: LILY O'BRIEN'S Lily O'Brien's is one of Ireland's best-known chocolatiers, with a 13.4 per cent market share in premium confectionery. Based in Newbridge, Co Kildare, the company was started in 1992 by Mary Ann O'Brien after she began to make chocolates in her kitchen. Within 12 months, she had a listing with Superquinn. It now employs more than 115 and produces up to 65 tonnes of chocolates per week during peak periods. DIGITAL STRATEGY It has been shortlisted for this award for its Christmas 2014 Unwrap a Gift online campaign. The three-month digital campaign was designed to build data acquisition, (+53 per cent), increase online sales (+44 per cent) and drive customer engagement (up 725 per cent). Lily O'Brien's is developing a new website. COMPANY: KEELINGS Keelings is an Irish-owned family business, focused on growing, sourcing, shipping, marketing, selling and distributing fresh produce. Established in the 1930s, it employs about 2,000 across five business units. DIGITAL STRATEGY Keelings has been shortlisted based on its 2014/2015 digital brand awareness campaign. Keelings developed a digital strategy to engage with consumers in healthy eating. It conducted research studies to better understand consumers. Using the results, it mapped out a 12-month digital media strategy focused on Facebook, its website and e-zine. Combined with an above the line campaign, brand awareness increased. COMPANY: BRITVIC IRELAND – CLUB ORANGE Britvic Ireland is the number two soft drinks company by volume in Ireland. It is owned by Britvic plc, which also has market leading operations in Britain and France. DIGITAL STRATEGY Britvic has been shortlisted for this award based on its Club Orange #BestBits online campaign. Following consumer research, the campaign was created to tap into themes of Irishness, nostalgia and colloquial humour. Through targeted partnerships with key online influencers, bloggers and vloggers, the #BestBits campaign created highly engaging content at a very low cost. The campaign organically reached over 5.3 million influencers through online/ PR mentions, while more than 350,000 consumers viewed the video content online. COMPANY: TAYTO - LARGO FOODS Tayto has engaged with consumers through numerous campaign activations and more recently they have focussed on social media. The MrTayto Facebook page is the Number 1 FMCG brand on Facebook in Ireland, with over 270,000 fans. DIGITAL STRATEGY Largo Foods has been shortlisted based on its 'Tayto - More than Just a Crisp' online campaign. The objective was to introduce the new Tayto brand positioning to over 2 million Irish adults across all media platforms nationwide. The objective of the digital marketing campaign was to drive appeal to a younger audience whilst not alienating the traditional core Tayto audience. SUSTAINABILITY AWARD COMPANY: ABP FOOD GROUP ABP specialises in beef processing, deboning and retail packing at 20 sites in Ireland, Britain and Poland. STRATEGY ABP Food Group's sustainability campaign outlines a significant number of corporate targets to reduce resource consumption by 2020. These include a 30 per cent cut in CO2 emissions, 40 per cent cut in electricity consumption, 30 per cent drop in primary energy consumption and 50 per cent cut in water usage. It has achieved zero waste to landfill. To reach the targets, ABP has divided its operations into business units with performance indicators set with respect to electricity, water, waste and resource inputs.

COMPANY: BOORTMALT Boortmalt is the largest malt producer in Ireland. The maltings was established in Athy in 1847. Boortmalt originated in Belgium and is a fully-owned subsidiary of the agricultural and agribusiness co-operative Axereal. STRATEGY Through its "grain to glass" approach to sustainability, Boortmalt has increased malting output and yield, while decreasing water, gas and energy usage. It is also a fully verified member of Bord Bia's Origin Green programme and believe it has been a key factor in winning new business. A stringent sustainability reporting process is monitored by the senior management team on a monthly basis and all results achieved are reported annually.

COMPANY: DAWN MEATS Dawn Meats, established in 1980, is a second-generation family-owned firm. Employing more than 3,300 people and with 24 operations across 10 countries, it has established its credentials as a sustainable business, marketing quality Irish beef and lamb. STRATEGY The company formulated a group sustainability plan in 2009-10 to complement membership of Bord Bia's Origin Green programme. In 2013, Dawn Meats doubled its sustainability targets on the success of the initial phase. By 2020 Dawn Meats now aims to reduce water use by 40 per cent, reduce energy consumption by 40 per cent and reduce direct carbon footprint by 50 per cent.

COMPANY: GLANBIA Glanbia Ingredients Ireland (GII) is a dairy ingredients processor operating since 1967. It is owned 40 per cent by Glanbia plc and 60 per cent by Glanbia Co- op. STRATEGY GII makes a variety of energy-intensive casein, whey and lactose protein powders for the beverage, sports nutrition and clinical nutrition industries as well as cheese, butter and cream for the retail, confectionary and liqueur industries. As part of its Origin Green membership, GII is committed to auditing its milk-supply base. It aims to reduce carbon emissions by 10 per cent by 2020, and have zero waste to landfill in 2015.

COMPANY: ISLAND SEAFOODS LTD Island Seafoods Ltd of Killybegs is a family business established in 1986. Its products range from mackerel to herring and sprat. STRATEGY Technology has given Island Seafoods the ability to track the kWh consumed per tonne of fish processed so energy data has become critical business information. In April 2014, Island Seafoods became a verified member of Origin Green, Bord Bia's sustainability programme for the food and drink industry. It is working to reduce overall operational electricity usage, energy consumption of ice machines by 33 per cent by 2016 and water consumption by 15 per cent by next year.

COMPANY: MEADE POTATO Co. For over 30 years, Meade Potato Co. has been growing, packing and distributing fresh produce from the family farm in Lobinstown, Co Meath. Employing more than 240 people, it offers different lines of vegetables, fruit and salads. STRATEGY Meade's sustainable practices include using local resources where possible; employing sound agricultural practice on their own farmland and that of their growers to encourage crop rotation; recycling materials and a strict zero food waste policy; numerous local community social sustainability initiatives; installation of heat exchangers, inverters, skylights, energy efficient lighting, and occupancy sensors throughout the business and a 300kW wind turbine which helps to power operations.