Kerrygold aims to become Ireland's first €2billion food brand as it opens €40m facility in Cork

A NEW €40m development at the home of Kerrygold, Ireland’s most successful food export, has been unveiled on Wednesday at Ornua’s flagship butter production facility in Mitchelstown.

The new development at the Mitchelstown facility, an expansion which is aimed at underpinning the company’s plans to become Ireland’s first €2bn food brand, was officially opened by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney TD.

The two ministers were joined at the early morning event at Kerrygold Park, the name of the campus, by Enterprise Ireland Executive director Jenny Melia, and Ornua Co-operative chair, Aidan O’Driscoll.

The development at Kerrygold Park is home to what is described as a ‘world leading butter production facility, with cutting-edge processing technology and infrastructure, including two state-of-the-art butter churns and 10 packing lines for a range of over 50 different product formats available across over 60 markets globally’.

The investment in the facility has seen Kerrygold Park’s total cream processing capacity grow significantly, enabling increased production of up to 80,000 tonnes of butter per year, which equates to over 1 million packs per day. It has also led to a 20% in employment numbers and there are now 180 full-time employees in the Ornua workforce at Kerrygold Park.

The opening of the facility was described as a ‘significant milestone in the long and successful Kerrygold story and, indeed, the story of Irish dairy’ by Mr McConalogue.

“Irish dairy farming families work tirelessly to produce the world-class milk which makes Kerrygold a world-famous dairy brand,” said Mr McConalogue.

“This strategic investment, supported by Government’s Capital Investment Scheme, ensures Kerrygold has the world-leading processing capabilities needed to continue to grow the brand and generate value for the community of Irish dairy farming families which it represents.” 

Mr Coveney said the ‘global growth of the Kerrygold brand’ demonstrated the ‘vitality of Ireland’s agri-food sector and dairy industry eco-system’.

“Critically, the brand supports the lives and livelihoods of hard-working Irish farming families throughout rural communities,” he said.

Aidan O’Driscoll, the chair of Ornua Co-operative, the owners of the Kerrygold brand, said the company was proud to have been bringing ‘the unique taste of Irish grass-fed dairy to the world for the past 60-years' and paid tribute to the 14,000 day farming families represented by the co-operative.

“Our strategic development of Kerrygold Park is central to this ambition and will support the next phase of growth for Kerrygold on its journey to become Ireland’s first €2 billion food brand,” said Mr O'Driscoll.

 Enterprise Ireland Executive Director Jenny Melia said the agency was committed to supporting companies like Ornua to ‘increase their level of innovation, improve their competitiveness and expand their global footprint with the ultimate goal of delivering export growth for Ireland’.