Eye on Agri Food
Linden Tastes Export Success In Germany Sam Butler talked to Elaine Willis, head of Innovation and Business Development at Linden Foods in Dungannon, about the company’s new drive to accelerate the growth of its business in Europe.
E
laine Willis is used to travelling the world in search of new business opportunities and product ideas for Linden Foods in Dungannon, now among our most successful and innovative meat processors. She’s the head of innovation and business development at Linden and a key player in the team of marketers and chefs behind the creation of an eyecatching brand of premium meats, including an extensive portfolio of quality burgers, exclusively for Germany and other parts of Europe. The Germans have a huge appetite for the type of quality grass-fed beef that Linden is marketing under the innovative Turf & Clover – Honest Irish Meat - brand. It’s also a brand with the type of environmental credentials that Germans demand. Linden’s Green Track is the company’s certified and accountable promise to farmers, people and customers that it is focused on delivering a sustainable future. Part of Armagh’s Fane Valley Group, Linden launched the brand successfully at the recent Anuga food show in Cologne, the biggest event in its type in the food calendar this year. Linden is now fielding a host of inquiries from potential buyers. The company, as Elaine points out, already has significant sales in Germany through Kettyle Irish Foods in Lisnaskea, a group specialist in richly flavoured dry-aged beef.
104
“What we are doing is building on the experience and knowledge of Maurice Kettyle, Kettyle’s managing director, to expand business throughout Germany,” she says. “We see Germany as a key market and as a platform for growth in other European regions. Grass-fed beef from Ireland has also become extremely popular with German consumers. We are seeking to develop this by offering an exceptional range of meats with provenance, wholesomeness and outstanding taste from our totally integrated supply chain.” Linden has developed a range of premium beef, lamb, poultry and pork within the Turf and Clover brand. The company is also unique in offering customers total traceability from feed produced for animals, through support for its network of farmers to processing operations in stateof-the-art manufacturing plants. “We are very excited about our new brand and strategically chose Anuga, with a record 160,000 trade visitors from over 192 countries, as the ideal venue to launch our concept and gauge industry reaction,” Elaine continues. “Trade buyers were quick to identify with the messages underpinning the new range. Turf & Clover came about from our love of all things Irish – the rain, the rich soil, the green grass in lush pastures and our respect for the land and the dedicated people who nurture it. From our family of thousands
of farmers and their honest and sustainable approach to land and beast, we bring customers the best cuts of beef, lamb, pork and chicken – Irish born and bred and matured on our beautiful land. “The fact that our beef comes from exceptional breeding farms in Ireland with a supply base which is the best in the world generated huge interest for our extensive range of over 30 gourmet burgers and cut portion control steaks.” Elaine, a native of Pomeroy, has vast experience in food processing. She leads a talented team of chefs and marketers also charged with the responsibility of developing dishes for qualityfocused UK and Irish retailers such as Marks and Spencer and Lidl. The team’s job is to stay ahead of competitors by providing original foods that will appeal to shoppers across the UK and Ireland, now stretching into other parts of Europe. “We have extremely skilled, hugely experienced and knowledgeable staff who are
constantly innovating and researching consumer trends and eating behaviours,” Elaine adds. “We are continually talking to our customers about their business, their market profiles and their specific requirements.” And it is a process that’s now being extended to Germany and other European markets. “We succeed in a fast moving and demanding marketplace by doing the simple very well and always bear in mind that everything we produce goes to retailers who demand that it appeals to shoppers,” she adds.