Nominee for Best Emerging Business

The Sibly Food Company

Sponsored By

Matthew Collins did a €147 food shop and from his kitchen in Ballydesmond, he baked some products for a stall at Kanturk Christmas Market. From the success of that day, The Sibly Food Company was born. At the time, Matthew was 21 and a full time student in University of Limerick studying PE and English. He professes to always have had an interest in food - “it developed further once moving out of home and having to become self sufficient in college. I began cooking for housemates and making snacks to bring to lectures, before being persuaded by friends and family to give a Christmas market a go.”

Initially, his customers were friends and family. His mission was to ‘feed as many people as possible, with food to make them smile.’ His reputation for quality products gradually grew amongst the Duhallow Community where more and more people contacted him directly for his range of products. Matthew began supplying multiple health food stores, markets, and shops across West Cork and Killarney. Now his wide range of products features his renowned energy balls to mouth watering cheesecakes, which are stocked in over 300 shops, cafés and gyms. His most recent accolade was winning the Grow with Aldi 2022 which means that Sibly products are now be stocked in all 151 Aldi stores nationwide. Sibly prides itself on a sense of Social Responsibility. In January 2022 they initiated a deal in which they donated 150 desserts per week to Cork Penny Dinners.

The company also sponsors their local football team. Supporting local is extremely important to Matthew. He strives to support local producers, such as Kerry farmers; he purchases all of the fresh cream from Lee Strand Dairy, all the cream cheese in the cheesecakes hails from County Tipperary, and only Irish butter is used in all their products. Each individual Sibly Energy Ball is made using Flahavan’s Irish Oats, coming straight from Waterford. All the packaging is produced locally and the transport undertaken by a Cork company, so it’s a true Munster affair!

Matthew has a clear growth plan for the future, and already in the short time since Sibly was established, he has 12 people employed. The company has a strong social media presence and you can check them out on facebook or visit www.thesibly.ie