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You are > Home > From a great dream right to your dining room table
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Thursday, June 05, 2003
From a great dream right to your dining room table
With Donal Hickey
THE orange juice you might have had for breakfast, followed by rashers and sausages; the biscuit, or bun, you had for you elevenses; the sandwich you had for lunch: the beef casserole, or chicken, you had for your dinner and the ice cream for dessert, may have one thing in common.
All could have come from the Kerry Group.
Listening to managing director, Hugh Friel, deliver his report to the group's AGM, the other day, the clear impression was that, yes, the group can now cater for almost everyone's food needs. Terms like ''world number one'' and ''brand leader'' tripped from his lips without any big wonder being made it by the 200 plus attendance, mainly farmer shareholders, in the Brandon Hotel conference centre.
Now the world leader in specific food ingredients, the group is also the leading supplier of chilled foods in the Irish and British markets.
Top brands such as Denny, Golden Vale, Walls, Richmond, Mattesons and Northern Foods are all now owned by the group. According to Hugh Friel, the market for prepared meals and snacks continues double-digit growth, clearly a response to a changing society with more people working outside the home and having less time to cook meals for themselves.
Denis Brosnan and his team were quick to respond to such emerging changes, years back. Denny, for instance, has extended its brand position in the ''traditional'' meals sector with the launch of a range including chicken casserole, Irish stew and beef casserole.
Then you have Denny baked lasange and Italian-style meals carrying the long-established Tralee brand.
By the way, group chairman Denis Brosnan presided at his last AGM in typical, low-key style. Many people were surprised earlier this year when he announced he would be cutting his ties, as they had expected him to stay on as chairman for many years.
He said he would be slipping away quietly in the next three, or four, months, and Listowel farmer and current vice-chairman, Denis Buckley, will take over the reins in 2004. He deserves a rest, no doubt, but it's hard to see a man like Brosnan staying idle.
He says he wants to spend more time on his farm in Co Limerick, to pursue other interests. Guaranteed – we'll be seeing more of him in new roles, certainly in horse racing.
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