After nine generations of farming, Wexford-based Nicholas and Judith Dunne pivoted to making yoghurt and cream cheese and in doing so have built a formidable food business called Killowen Farm that is making an impact in Ireland and overseas.
There are not many families that can claim being prominent farmers in their region for more than 200 years. Today, three of the nine generations of the Dunne family still farm the land near Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.
A lot has changed in those 200 years in Ireland. But for the Dunne family the biggest transformation has happened in the past 20 years.
“In a sense, on every farm, everything gets reinvested back into it. Unless you’re reinvesting all the time you stand still”
With steady support from Bank of Ireland over the past 20 years, owners Nicholas and Judith Dunne took over one of Ireland’s oldest farmhouse yogurt businesses, Killowen Farm, in 2004. In 2005 they moved the yogurt production the short distance to their own dairy farm in Courtnacuddy.
In 2022, the business revealed a €4m expansion that will see the dairy producer’s workforce almost double with the addition of 25 new jobs. It will also enable the business to grow its cream cheese production through the development of a new production line.
A breakthrough deal in Germany opened the door for the business to export to Europe and today Killowen exports to international markets including Dubai, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore and North America.
Earlier this year Killowen won the Local Business category of the Irish Times Business Awards, sponsored by Bank of Ireland.
Generation reinvention
“We’ve grown this grass. We milk these cows, so the milk goes into the factory in the morning, and by the evening, you have our yogurt coming out, packaged in and ready for delivery the next day”
Looking back on his family’s 200-year history in Cournacuddy, Nicholas ventures that the history of the farm family extends possibly even further but it was a tradition of hard work that kept the family together through the centuries. “My father transitioned the farm from a bit of everything – sheep, tillage, livestock – to a solely dairy-focused farm and we grew that to 200 cows by the 1990s. We found, however, that we worked incredibly hard but weren’t getting a lot of return from it.
“In a sense, on every farm, everything gets reinvested back into it. Unless you’re reinvesting all the time you stand still. If you stand still a decline can happen and within a period of time everything can be dilapidated. Every farmer knows this. You have to reinvest. Or you have to change direction. We were working every hour of the day and we needed a new direction.”
That change of direction came from an unexpected source. “I became aware of a yoghurt business called Killowen. We had been looking at doing something like frozen yoghurt or farmhouse cheese. And one day someone told me that Killowen’s owner had closed the business. So I went down to meet him and by the time I had left I had agreed to rent the place for a year or two to see how it went.”
It was around this time that Dunne started working with Bank of Ireland. “They had a better grasp than anybody else on business at the time and that’s why we stayed with them ever since.”
Three of the nine generations of the Dunne family still farm the land and today spearhead a thriving yoghurt business
The early days of the business were difficult but by the second year Killowen started winning business with Supervalu and some local hotels in Wexford as well as Dublin.
Nicholas said a greater focus on retail led to winning deals with foodservice player Pallas as well as retailers Dunnes Stores and Tesco. “The day we shipped our first pallet of yoghurt – before that it was just cases – to Pallas Foods was a major turning point.”
A hard-fought premium private label contract with Superquinn (now owned by Supervalu) gave the Dunnes a valuable education and propelled the family in a new direction.
In 2008 Dunne pitched a private label deal to European retail giant Aldi. “It was in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis and it was a difficult time. They were reluctant and said it probably wasn’t a good time to be launching a premium product. I said ‘Lads, if there’s only one time to launch a premium product it is in a downturn. You are offering a premium product at a discounted price. Of course it will work.” We convinced them to do it and it absolutely flew.”
The transition from farming to being a business with a brand selling directly into retail giants goes well beyond the reinvestment Dunne initially envisaged. But having a banking partner in Bank of Ireland that understood what they were trying to accomplish was critical.
Striking gold
The first real test for Killowen came in the wake of Brexit, with the departure of a UK customer which cost costing the company 70% ca. half of its business overnight.
“You learn to pick yourself up. We found new markets and we expanded our Killowen Farm brand here in Ireland. Six or eight months out and we had recouped that. It was our toughest time and we got through it.
“We’ve always had Bank of Ireland’s support. We’ve always had their help. They are our partners. That’s the best thing about it. They’ve always fully understood what Killowen is about. Killowen is about people and it’s about the people we work with. And as long as Killowen maintains and looks after those relationships, Killowen will always have a very, very bright future.”
As well as doubling down in Ireland, Killowen looked to Europe.
“We realised that Irish brands like Kerrygold do very well in Germany and we decided that’s what we’ll do too. So we went to Kerrygold with the intention of creating a private labelled yoghurt brand for them in Germany.”
However, while they were pitching Kerrygold in Germany they were told that the managing Director of the Germany business wanted to sit in on the meeting. He made it clear to the Dunnes that Kerrygold already had a yoghurt business. But what he said next was transformational. What he really was interested in was a cream cheese product to complement Kerrygold’s highly successful butter business. And he wanted samples.
This turned out to be one of the biggest ever strokes of fortune strategic opportunities for the Killowen business team. Dunne acted fast and won the business. With the support of Bank of Ireland, Killowen invested in transforming its processes to accommodate exports to Europe.
“Today a large proportion of our turnover from here goes to Kerrygold in Germany.”
The future of Killowen Farm is all about sustainability and, working with Bank of Ireland, the business is on a mission to reduce its carbon footprint to zero, beginning with renewable energy sources like solar and LED lighting as well as implementing digester systems that will turn waste into gas to produce heat.
All of the milk and cream that goes into Killowen’s products come directly from the 200-year old family farm.
“We’re always willing to take on new ways of making everything more efficient and sustainable. As a single origin dairy, we are producing the yogurt from our own milk on the farm. You can see the cows are behind us in our own field. We’ve grown this grass. We milk these cows, so the milk goes into the factory in the morning, and by the evening, you have our yogurt coming out, packaged in and ready for delivery the next day.”
Dunne concluded that innovation in sustainability will drive Killowen’s future.
“We don’t want to just get to net zero, we’d like to get to sub-zero. This will impact everything from how we heat and manufacture to our packaging. The future is low carbon and it is also very much European in terms of exports.”
Speaking with Ian Mernagh, Head of Business Banking Wexford, “We are delighted to partner with such an innovative and ambitious business and it is truly admirable to see them grow from what was a small business into an international food business. There haven’t been too many food businesses in the South East that have scaled to the extent the Dunnes’ have brought Killowen to and it is a real testament to them and their proud family history. Their journey has had plenty of challenges along the way but their resilience, determination and dedication has served them well.”
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