Irish food firm ‘could double workforce’ to launch UK ‘meal solutions’

A spokeswoman for the firm told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “We could potentially require almost double the workforce we have in place.”​

The manufacturer will be working in partnership with Musgrave Retail Group to launch its first range of ready meals in the UK. They will appear on the shelves of Budgens in “the coming weeks”​.

The firm is also preparing to launch new product lines with the Irish supermarket Supervalu, which took over its rival Superquinn last month.

“We don’t like to call them ready meals,” ​the spokeswoman told FoodManufacture.co.uk. “We call them meal solutions.”​

Growth areas within the prepared meals category​

Ballymaguire Foods’ research has identified growth areas within the prepared meals category.

These are: one- and two-person raw meals; gourmet recipes instead of traditional ready meals; sides and accompaniments for meal preparation rather than complete meals; and more innovative and transparent packaging formats.

Sales of traditional ready meals such as cottage pies and lasagnas had fallen with consumer trust in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, Ballymaguire Foods claimed.

But it said demand for convenience food was growing in other areas, as consumers just wanted to be able to see what they’re getting.

“Convenience foods are certainly in growth,”​ said the Ballymaguire Foods’ spokeswoman. “Cottage pies and lasagnas are in decline and have become something of a stale offering.​

“Horsemeat was flagged up for the first time in lasagna, which took an awful hammering, along with some of the other beef meals.”​

She said lasagna sales were now climbing back up slowly but the real growth was in ‘raw meals’ – pre-prepared seasoned meat and veg dishes such as roast dinners that customers could put straight into the oven and cook.

For success, they needed to be able to offer consumers the convenience factor and transparency – in its most literal sense, she added.

Visibility of the product in the packaging is very important ​

“The visibility of the product in the packaging is very important. People want to see what they’re getting. They want to see this really nice piece of meat and fresh vegetables. They want to see that it’s good food and they can see exactly what they’re getting.​

“We did our research around packaging following the beef scare to find out how traceable consumers wanted a product to be.​

“The findings of our research indicated that putting a photograph of what’s inside the box on the front is not enough: the more of the product a consumer can see, the more likely they are to buy it.”​

Meals presented as one-person servings were also a “huge growth area”​, she said.

Ballymaguire Foods was established by the Hoey family, which founded Country Crest fresh produce processors in County Dublin, Ireland.

It established Country Crest to grow and pre-pack fresh potatoes for the retail sector. Today the company is one of the biggest suppliers of potatoes and onions to the major multiples, including Tesco and Marks & Spencer.