Saturday, March 13, 2010 Previous editions
Saturday, November 07, 2009
FLAHAVANS, which supplies 65% of the porridge consumed at our breakfast tables daily, is embarking on a €1.6 million investment in its mill in Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford, home to the business for the past 200 years.
To date, €500,000 has been spent installing a dryer and associated grain handling equipment. This installation dries the grain quicker and is more energy efficient. A further €1.1m investment will be completed over the next month in new storage units at the mill, which can store up to 4,000 tonnes of product.
That unit is specifically for the expanding end of the organic market, which is gaining traction all the time.
It has been in the organic end of the business since the 1990s and, according to John Flahavan, group chairman, that move was a "natural" extension for the group, given its long history in the business.
The group, whose turnover is now over €15m a year, has ambitions beyond the Irish and British markets and is examining its options in the US.
Its entry to that market will be over a three- to five-year time frame, but the group is buoyed by the renewed interest in the "hot oat" option in these recessionary times.
Changing lifestyles forced it to adapt and it has had "quick oats" on the market for some time, an offering that can be microwaved with "no loss of health benefits".
Though not the most glamorous of breakfast options, porridge is again becoming more popular because of the value it offers and its proven health benefits.
The FDA in the US has since 1995 endorsed the fact that the soluble fibre in oats is an antidote to cholesterol, according to Flahavans.
This is one of the largest strategic investment plans undertaken at the mill and secures future employment, which stands at 50.
Organic is a growing sector of the group’s business, accounting for 15% of sales, and that figure is expected to continue to grow. "We are always trying to encourage Irish farmers to grow organic oats for us to meet the increased demand," a spokesman said.
The group now has sales north of €15m in a cereal market that is worth a total of €185m of which oatmeal accounts for about €20m.
It has been operating in Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford, for over 200 years and goes back six generations.
It is one of Ireland’s longest family run businesses and is now the country’s only remaining oat mill.
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