Blas winners get more ingredients for success

Podcast Ep 246: Bank of Ireland held a Mentorship Day for some of the best newcomers at Blas na hEireann in areas such as sales, marketing and sustainability.

In recent weeks a number of winners of various Blas na hEireann awards, including recipients of the best newcomer awards in the last few years, benefited from a Mentorship Day organised by Bank of Ireland as part of its sponsorship of the Backyard at Blas event every year.

The was opened by Artie Clifford, chair of Blas, who shared some of his experience, the reasons for starting Blas and how Backyard at Blas started in association with (John Doyle ) and Bank of Ireland. Now in its 18th year, Blas na hÉireann last October saw another strong year from across all categories along with many new producers entering the awards for the first time this year.

During the judging, which took place over June and July, over 3,000 entries were judged. Products from every county in Ireland were entered to win bronze, silver or gold awards in over 170 food and drink categories, as well as key awards like Supreme Champion and Best Artisan Producer.

At the recent Mentorship Day, three modules covering commercial, marketing and sustainability/ESG were provided to the owners of businesses such as Killadoon Milk, Second Street Bakeshop, Rivesci, Temptation Chocs and All About Kombucha.

We caught up with Lucy Ryan, head of Food Sector at Bank of Ireland, and John Doyle from Bank of Ireland Retail Wealth Management and a long-serving Blas judge, to discuss the recent event and get a taste of how the Irish indigenous food sector is doing.

Bringing that passion from the field to the plate

“This came about really in an effort to use some of our own in-house expertise and pass on a little bit of knowledge that we have in Bank of Ireland with the Blas Network,” Ryan explained. “We all recognise that being a start-up is amazing in one way – you win an award and you have great products or one that has been blind-tasted and won from a taste point of view, but do you have the background or support to run a business and be successful? So we were trying to impart some of the information that we have but also in areas like sustainability and marketing as well. We were also trying to provide a framework for the attendees to network and learn from each other and really open up the discussion to help people glean from each other based on their different experiences.

“It can be a pretty lonely place for a sole operator, working away on making great products, but not necessarily knowing how to be successful from a commercial and wider point of view.”

While there is a great sense of momentum around entrepreneurship in Ireland at present, the realties of start-up life don’t often equate with the less glamorous realities.

“I think any food producer is brave in terms of making that step from their idea, whether it be at the kitchen table, all the way to market, to let that product that they spent a lot of time on into the retailers to sell it on their behalf,” said John Doyle.

“Our best start-up award is a fundamental award at Blas because it’s really the first time that someone would have entered a competition, have taken that brave move or step on their journey and to recognise that their peers have judged the product and recognised the product as one of the best start-ups in the year.

“So the purpose of the Mentorship Day was to bring in the winning start-ups over the last number of years and to learn from their journeys and that was invaluable for all the other participants, because they are all at different stages and it is mainly in the last three or four years since they went into business. There was a lot of shared learnings on the day and it was great and really inspiring to see it in the room.”

As we’ve discussed with Lucy Ryan before, Irish food – and in particular the quality of Irish ingredients – is going through something of a renaissance.

The key to what’s happening, she explains, is the sheer variety on offer. “It’s always fascinating just to see the types of products that are there, things you wouldn’t have imagined. Some of them might be straightforward, like chocolate, that we all love, but when you get into the condiments space or the different types of drinks, such as kombuchas, they are hugely innovative.”

Often she said producers are trying to innovate by creating new textures as well as flavours. “They are all trying to bring something a bit different. A couple of attendees run cafes alongside their production businesses, so its really about turning ordinary food into something much more extraordinary – whether it’s healthier in the case of kombucha or quality in the case of confectionary. It’s something that is different or unique or certainly, hopefully, worth paying more for from the consumers’ point of view.”

As a 10-year veteran judge at Blas, Doyle has seen the awards evolve to include more businesses and more products. “It really captures the vibrancy within the food community in Ireland, from a small number of entries 17 years ago to more than 3,500 entries last year.

“The categories in food in Ireland has grown, through culture, diet and through various needs in terms of allergens. We’re up on 140-plus categories within Blas now. So it’s really dynamic and in fairness the retailers have embraced this. Whether it is Aldi, Lidle, Dunnes or Super-Valu, they all have programmes where they are supporting Irish and giving that platform to small, medium and large artisan Irish producers to showcase their products.

“So it’s a vibrant time within the Irish food community. When I’m going around stores now I’m seeing products pop up and I’m curious to know who’s making products for who in terms of the retailers and their own products are being showcased as well. It’s a super time, it’s really come on because the consumer is now investing in Irish food as well. Even though it might be a bit more expensive because it’s deemed to be artisan and the ingredients are maybe that little bit better in quality terms. The Irish economy has really gotten behind food producers and that is testament to all the work that the producers have done. But also witness the support that retailers are working with them in terms of incubation centres to make the products consumer-friendly and affordable to the consumers.”

The challenge is often down to marketing, Doyle explained. Unlike the big marketing departments at retail giants, often the artisan food producers are making the best use out of social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to spread the word and whet appetites.

“One of our topics was marketing and that was very well received and relevant to the businesses because the food producers are spending all of their time working on the business. The challenge, when trying to compete on a global or national scale, is to promote your product through social media or brand awareness. It’s a balancing act for artisan producers. Often packaging can look quite rustic or not the fanciest packaging. There’s a balance between quality and packaging and I suppose investment as well. It all depends on what stage of the journey the food producers are at. Retailers have done great work in bringing them along in terms of the product’s look and feel and taste.”

Lucy Ryan said that the truth behind many artisan producers is that they often come from a farm, not just a passion. “Many have been created from figuring out how to bring in extra revenue to the farm, or the next generation deciding that something different needs to be done if they’re going to support the wider family or a new generational of farmers. Consumer research, in advance, is really key. It’s one thing to produce a great product, which many people do either commercially or in their own kitchen, but it’s really about trying to figure out what is your competitive set and can you make this work from a costings point of view.

“You really need to establish if there’s a definite gap or are you bringing something that’s different in terms of offering.

“There are lots of great supports out there but it’s not always easy to figure out where those supports are. The likes of the Local Enterprise Office do give great supports, but you need to be already clear that your business model stacks up. You need to be really, really convinced. And that can be down to everything from store visits to crunching the numbers, figuring out what competition is out there and where your product lies in the market.

“One of the comments on the Mentorship Day was that sometimes the supplier needs to suggest uses for their product because sometimes that might not always be obvious, particularly in the area of condiments or things that wouldn’t be an obvious choice compared to typical ketchup or mayonnaise, for example.

“So it’s really about trying to envisage all of that and be clear about how you’re ultimately going to be able to turn a profit hopefully at the end of it all,” Ryan said.