Monday, October 20, 2008- By Trish Dromney (Irish Examiner)
A recent winning spree has nested Limerick Smoothie Company Wild Orchard medals at Britain’s Great Taste Awards, the newly inaugurated Blas ns hEireann awards and a nomination for the National Enterprise Awards.
Set up in 2000, the company was one of the first in Ireland to identify the smoothie wave sweeping from the US, and is now the largest manufacturer of pre-bottled smoothies in the country with a staff of over ten and a turnover of over 1.5million.
The company’s best selling product, the mango and passion fruit smoothie, took gold at the UK Great Taste Awards in September, while this month Wild Orchard also won bronze and a silver medal at Blas na hEireann, a new national food award organised by food producers.
Meanwhile, Limerick Country Enterprise Board has named Wild Orchard as its company of the year for 2008 and puts its name forward for the National Enterprise Awards. Set up at a time when many people in Ireland didn’t know what a smoothie was. Wild Orchard now faces the challenge of maintaining growth at a time when disposable income available for smoothies isn’t what it once was.
But despite the recession, company founder and directors Diarmuid Crowley and John O’ Keeffe are confident that smoothies are here to stay. The selling point has always been the health benefits and consumers will continue to look for healthy options, says Mr. Crowley explaining that the company is now achieving growth by selling to schools, colleges and canteens in addition to sandwich bars, cafes and convenience stores.
Developing sales at the early stages was difficult. “When we started out selling freshly squeezed juices and smoothies we had to explain the health benefits and that they were more expensive because they contained fresh ingredients” said Mr. Crowley.
Working as the juice business manager in Europe and Asia for Pepsi in the 1990’s he had observed a decline in the sales of carbonated drinks and growth in demand for healthier options. While working on setting up a new smoothie company his accountant introduced him to John O’ Keeffe who had worked for a dairy company in the Middle East.
“He had Sales experience and marketing experience and I had an operational and logistical background- there was synergy” observes Mr. Crowley. In November 2000, the Radical Fruit Company Trading as Absolutely Pure set up a 1,100 sq ft food unit at Hospital Business Park in Limerick.
Both Mr. O’ Keeffe and Mr. Crowley with the other staff members worked on producing fresh orange juice and a range of four smoothies. Difficulties arose because the name was similar to those already in use and the company re-branded as Wild Orchard in 2002. “During 2002 we were asked to produce own label smoothies by a large retailer. This was a major boost and allowed us to increase production considerably. It boosted our buying power and plant efficiency” said Mr. Crowley.
By 2004, everyone knew what smoothies were and they were becoming widely available. By this time Wild Orchard had a staff of five and a turnover of 500,000 euro. The company was then asked to produce own branded smoothies for a large Irish food company.
“By 2005 we have five of our own smoothies and three juices and were making four products for the retailer and three for the food company” says Mr. Crowley. He estimates that growth for 2006 and 2007 was in the region of 30% to 35%.
In 2007 the Yummie Food Company which supplied sandwich bars in the UK, approached Wild Orchard and requested it to product six products under contract. “This was another major boost to sales. During 2007 we made over two million smoothies, worked two shifts and had a turnover of 1.5 m” says Mr. Crowley, adding that the company now has a staff of ten and occupies a 4000 sq ft premises at Hospital Business Park. Own brand sales of Wild Orchard now account of a third of turnover.
The company experienced a set back when the Yummie Food Company closed early this year and brought an end to Wild Orchard’s exports. But there has been an increase in sales in Ireland during the year and Mr. Crowley says turnover is likely to stay the same level as last year.
For the future the company will be investigating the possibility of funding another contract customer in the UK market. Other aims are to increase sales to schools and Wild Orchard is now entering a partnership with Carambolakidz a company which supplies school lunches.
In the face of reduced spending by consumers, Mr. Crowley says Wild Orchard will not compromise on product quality but will investigate the possibility of cutting packaging costs. He says the recently won awards are a welcome boost that will assist the company establish brand identity.
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