Irwin’s bread on the rise

Irwin’s bread on the rise

Irwin’s chief executive Michael Murphy

Step into any bread aisle in Northern Ireland and there will be a loaf undergoing a delicate pressure test for freshness between the fingers and thumb of a fastidious customer – we are serious about bread.

And we should be. It has sustained the rise of civilisation, no less. Evidence of its production can be traced back as far as 30,000 years ago, while its consumption has become entwined with the foundation of culture, religion, and of course, nutrition.

Attitudes to the noble loaf, however, are changing, and bakers have found themselves having to defend their daily bread from the ongoing onslaught from fad diet followers.

It’s an issue that sparks a passionate response from Michael Murphy, WD Irwin & Sons’ new chief executive, whose belief in the value of bread – economically and nutritionally – is unshakable.

“Bread has a bad press,” Michael told Neighbourhood Retailer. “We need people to fall back in love with it for all the right reasons.

“It’s packed with nutrients – calcium, fibre, iron, potassium, protein, vitamins –it’s naturally low in fat and sugar, and salt levels in Irwin’s bread has been falling for years.

“Bread flour has been fortified at the request of Government for decades.

“We all grew up with it, and it didn’t make us unwell – it’s a good, healthy food. When making dietary choices, I think people need to take a step back and look again at bread.

“It’s eaten in 99% of NI households, and at the minute it’s also fantastic value. You can buy a loaf for around a pound, compared to say a Mars Bar at up to 90p.”

Irwin’s is the only remaining indigenous plant bakery in Northern Ireland. Employing over 400 staff, the family-run company is into its fourth generation.

Michael, who has been in the company for some 15 years, was appointed to the newly created position of chief executive in March, and his passion for the product matches that for the lineage of the company.

However, he is aware there are bread and butter issues he cannot afford to ignore in his new role.

“Being a local baker is very important to customers like Tesco and Sainsbury’s, who are concerned about their consumers’ focus on local products,” he said.

“We provide brands tailored to local markets, and have responded to local health trends, such as  Northern Ireland’s level of coronary heart disease, and have been reducing salt levels in our products following our 2010 Health Strategy document.

“Irwin’s is also very important to the local economy. Where possible, our ingredients are sourced locally. We buy two million litres of butter milk from a local supplier each year; a large portion of our flour is bought from a firm in Belfast, and even our packaging comes from a company in Portadown.

“None of our bread is imported, it’s all made fresh locally.”

Nutty Krust 800gm Brandbank

 

The Irwin’s brand is widely recognised among local shoppers, with products like Nutty Krust, a staple buy for many NI consumers, but Michael refuses to be complacent about the brand’s power.

“The power of branding is through an emotional connection with it,” he said. “There is no doubting our history, but we’re also increasingly part of Northern Irish community.

“Nutty Krust has been a sponsor of an Under 18 rugby tournament for over 30 years, and the Irish FA’s Holiday Soccer Camp for kids.

“We’re also involved at a local level with at least one GAA club in every county in Northern Ireland. Bread is a big part of family life, and we want to part of that.”

Irwin’s also supports a number of charities, chosen by their staff. This year’s selected good cause is Helping Hands, which supports families at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.

“We have fantastic employees that do a lot of great things outside of work – clubs, churches, volunteering – and we try to support them as best we can,” he said.

“We think it’s important to give the decision of which charity to support to the staff. We don’t just pick one we think best benefits the brand – it’s driven by the staff and supported by the company.

Michael has over 20 years’ experience in the FMCG sector, working for Ranks Hovis McDougall (RHM) and Kerry Foods in England before joining Irwin’s.

His extensive experience in the sector has given the new chief executive a wide overview of the market, but Michael remains strongly in touch with what consumers want.

“Northern Irish people are very particular about their bread, and it has to be fresh – we all squeeze a loaf before we buy it.

“So we are baking in the morning and receiving orders throughout the day, and the product is on the shelf the next day.

“Many of our orders are predicted, and you just have to get it right on the day.

“In terms of FMCG, bread is one of the fastest products out there. I’ve heard it said that after blood and quick-drying concrete, no product moves faster than bread.”

Looking ahead, Michael knows no product can stand still in the current marketplace, and Irwin’s is rising to those challenges.

“A lot of people think ‘bread is bread’, but there’s room for innovation,” he told us. “A lot of the time we haven’t even noticed we’re innovating, with packaging changes and alterations, such as our focus on health.

“Our core competency is bread and baking, and that’s about freshness and flavour, which is achieved through bulk fermentation and sponge dough techniques.

“But we are looking at a lot of other products.

“Packaging sizes are increasingly important, with smaller families becoming increasingly common. There is also a rising emphasis on health, and we are responding to those changes.”

Michael said he believes that the next two years will see the artificially low price for bread continue, as it has been successfully used by retailers to get consumers through the door.

He also predicted a resurgence in the popularity of high-fibre foods, and thinks the aversion to sugar will also continue.

“That should all be in our favour,” Michael said. “Most bread doesn’t have added sugar, apart from sweetened breads like pancakes or brioche.  There’s always that balance between health and indulgence, and health is very much at the core for us.”

Based in Portadown, only half of Irwin’s sales are in the Northern Ireland market, with a third of its focus going to GB and 15 per cent to the Republic.

The remaining five per cent is pointed at the Middle and Far East, where Michael himself will be heading later this month as the company explores opportunities in new markets.

“We’re very excited about working in global markets,” Michael said. “There are a lot of ex-pats in China, but it’s the scale of that market that is hard to get your head around.

“A lot of people see the USA as one entity, but as a business opportunity, it’s better to look at it as 50 distinct countries, with their own laws and trends.

“It’s the same in China. You could be famous in one part of China, but totally anonymous in the rest of it. The opportunity there is colossal, and we’re very keen to drive toward opening up markets in the Far East.

“But we’re not so naïve to think that we can just lift a Northern Irish product and it will fly off the shelves there. We’re facilitating focus groups on packaging and want to make sure we have the research before approaching a new market.

“We have high hopes.”

Michael’s positivity is not solely pinned on getting a slice of the economic superpower. He believes bread is set for a resurgence, as its reputation begins to turn full circle.

“The industry needs to do a better job of getting across the benefits of bread, and we’re starting to do that,” he said.

“It’ll be considered a superfood over the next couple years, wait and see.”