SPECIAL FEATURE Around 250 people are employed by Breffni Mushrooms
FORMER CAVAN FOOTBALLER BOOSTING THE ECONOMY
As the driving force behind Breffni Mushrooms in Kilnaleck, former Ballymachugh and Cavan footballer Eugene Kiernan is one of Cavan’s largest employers. We met up with Eugene to discuss the amazing success story of the family business to date as well as his love of Cavan GAA.
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ugene Kiernan established Breffni Mushrooms in conjunction with his brothers Pat, Thomas and John twelve years ago. Breffni Mushrooms was set up as a marketing company to promote the three family-owned mushroom growing farms, with the Kiernan family having been synonymous with this industry since 1981. All based in County Cavan, these three farms supply their produce exclusively into Breffni Mushrooms. Eugene, who runs his own farm in Kilnaleck, notes: “It’s a family company. We basically have three family-owned farms which supply directly into Breffni Mushrooms, which does the marketing. We decided to set the company up when we saw a niche in the market; we explored it; went ahead; and have grown ever since.” To say that Breffni Mushrooms has been a resounding success story would be an exercise in understatement. Operating out of the rural heartland of Cavan, close to Kilnaleck, the company has blossomed to its current status where it has a turnover of approximately €23million per year. 95% of produce is exported into the UK market with multiples such as Lidl, Aldi, Tesco and Iceland counted amongst the expansive list of customers. Here in Ireland, meanwhile, customers include Lidl and some local Tesco outlets as well as a few markets in Dublin. Providing gainful employment to a staff of around 250 people, Breffni Mushrooms is not just one of the largest employers in the locality but one of the biggest in the entire county. As such, the company is worth its weight in gold to the people of the Breffni County in these recessionary times… Of course, it’s all fine and well having a large turnover but this is pretty meaningless if a nice profit isn’t being realised. How difficult is it to get the books to balance? “It’s tough but you have to keep on top of things and become more efficient by the day,” says Eugene. “You have to be as cost-effective as possible. We run a very modern operation and that is crucial in this line of work.” The following statement gives an indication of the sheer scope of the operation: “We send four 40-foot loads to the UK every day – seven days a week, 365 days a year. Morgan Transport handles all our transport and distribution and we concentrate on what we do best – producing the mushrooms. “We also acquired a fourth farm in Scotland in November of last year, which gives us a base in the UK and enables us to satisfy customers in the UK who insist on local produce.” Still, 90% of Breffni Mushrooms’ employees are based in Cavan and Eugene is proud to be one of the largest employers
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