Business Roots

The National Food & Drink Business Conference and Exhibition is Ireland’s premier trade event for the food and drink processing, retail, food service and hospitality sectors. It’s the largest gathering of food industry professionals on the island of Ireland so it’s a great event to attend if your business is involved with businesses in this sector directly or indirectly. 2019 was the sixth year of the event which attracted over 3,000 attendees across Ireland.

Brings Everyone To the Table

Bradley Brand & Design were just one of these companies attending, we’ve been ardent supporters of this event since it began as we work with so many Irish food-related companies at all different stages of their business. We support and recognise the need for companies across the sector to engage and participate in a range of conferences, seminars and panel discussions highlighting the most pressing issues facing the industry.

The Lions’ Stare

Our involvement with the expo includes our management of Lion’s Den event. This was our fourth year organising the event and we’re delighted to watch it grow year on year with industrious food entrepreneurs staking their claims and braving Irish business Lions! If you’re not familiar with the event, it targets young Irish food companies who are ready to start exporting. With a concept similar to
the Dragon’s Den TV programme, the shortlisted Irish food companies pitch their business and product to the Lions (experienced Irish food and drink business owners), who then followed up with a short ʻQ and A’ panel. The finalists compete to win a free exhibition stand at the International Food Exhibition (IFE) 2019 in London and relevant supports. Valued at over €5,000 the prize offers the Irish start-up a chance to promote their food business to a global audience. 2019’s Lion’s Den winner was Shane Ryan of Fiid , with his nourishing and convenient vegan meals, available in-store and by subscription online.

Hot Takes

This year during the event we started ʻBradley Conversations’ where we filmed our short conversations with several Lion’s Den judges and Colm Murphy (founder of the expo) so we could share their hot takes and insights with interested audiences. You can view these short films on our YouTube channel and read our synopsis below.

Denise Doyle, Managing Director & Owner, Retail Republic
Sustainability: Consumer wants responsible living, consumers looking to the retail trade to present themselves with more opportunity to live responsibly and to make those small changes in the home that will have a great impact. Important to consider sustainability in your branding efforts. Health and Wellness lifestyle angle; increase in consuming on the go and healthy snacking. Consumers are ahead of the curve, will spend time researching products, can buy from around the world and get it on their doorstep.

Holly White, Vegan Food Blogger
Climate change is driving creativity and innovation: Compostable solutions, avoiding single-use plastic, making cans cool again, reinvigorating the freezer section. Our behaviour and how we shop is changing. It is an exciting time in terms of food, with more awareness raised because of digital media and increased travelling. The typical Irish diet has changed; people are discerning and are prioritising taste, growing the industry in vegan ready meals.

Ian Mullin, Head of Innovation, Freshways Food Co 
Food on the move is in huge growth: Freshways Food Co has doubled in size in the last six years. Food has to stand up against marketing, create the best product rooted in consumer research and put the packet around it. Communicate flavour to customers, experiment with spices and herbs. Vegan and vegetarian are becoming a lifestyle rather than a trend. Vegan alternatives rather than substitutes, so, not vegan steaks or burgers, people want creativity and innovation to find new ways to naturally have an alternative to meat e.g Chickpea tikka masala. Find new ways and new ingredients, places you never even thought to look.

James Burke, Owner, James Burke & Associates
Sustainable packaging: Big challenge, the packaging industry is lagging. Consumer ahead of suppliers. Consumer behaviour: Change now condensed into a much shorter period of time, previously what could have taken a decade for step-change could probably now be achieved in two years. People more receptive to change for the right reasons.
Radical transformations in the health area: More health influences, related to lifestyles. Health vs. indulgence? Valid market for both sides doesn’t see everything migrating in one direction. Food start-ups: Not as many as in recent years, very challenging space. If you can get through two years and be profitable, should be able to take a wage out of it. Those who kill the things that are not working quickest are the ones most likely to survive. Trends: Restaurant businesses; now looking to supply into third parties e.g retail or other sectors. Different channels; selling online, not setting up websites, serious traction with the likes of Amazon, a credible channel.

Colum O Sullivan, Co-founder Cully & Sully
Advice: Hold on to your equity. Keep your quality and im- prove it. The food industry is a very traditional industry. Expos like this (National Food & Drink Business Conference and Exhibition) are vital to get out there from behind your desks, get feedback, listen to feedback. The amount of effort and raw energy that is required of you is phenomenal so use your experience and network to get credibility within the industry.

Shane Ryan, Founder, Fiid, (Winner of Lions Den 2019)
Background: Started off as a plant-based lunchtime meal delivery and grew into a retail lunch pot. The business has grown quickly, originally starting as a fresh brand, fresh supply chain isn’t conducive to growing a small brand, doesn’t solve customers problem as well as ambient. Eliminated all food waste from their supply chain by going ambient. Outsourced manufacturing to someone who knows how to do it well. Early success is good for driving business forward and motivation.
Future: Focused on new product development since launch, looking at bigger format, i.e. dinner. Have lots of new ideas and ways of doing things. Three years time want the brand to touch as many people in as many countries as possible. A brand that delivers real value and has an impact beyond serving food to people and making money. Social impact of the business is really important and grows as the company grows. Personally feels that business owners and entrepreneurs have a responsibility to make an impact, if they can, beyond making a profit, because it is the right thing to do.

Joan Mulvihill, Digitalisation Lead, Siemens
Smart factories and food manufacturing: Technology and data can help to transform organisations. Show transparency about traceability, ingredients and formulations of food, efficiency, food and energy waste. Companies may have the data already but not the computational power and algorithms. User experience within a factory or industrial setting is not so good, focus on that UX experience to meet and match the needs of employees now and also in the future.

Colin Murphy, CEO Premier Publishing and Events Founder of Food & Drink expo 6 years
Smart factories and food manufacturing: Technology and data can help to transform organisations. Show transparency about traceability, ingredients and formulations of food, efficiency, food and energy waste. Companies may have the data already but not the computational power and algorithms. User experience within a factory or industrial setting is not so good, focus on that UX experience to meet and match the needs of employees now and also in the future.