Kerry’s Food Waste Estimator, announced to mark the UN International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste Reduction, allows consumers and manufacturers to quantify and understand the financial and environmental impact of reducing food waste either in the food chain or in the home.  

With the UN estimating that a third of all food is wasted, the combined effort of consumers and manufacturers to reduce food waste can have a significant impact on creating a more sustainable food ecosystem and will be critical in solving the increasing global challenge of food security.

Using just a few simple inputs, Kerry’s innovative new estimator is designed to inform users about the impact that reducing food waste can have on our planet.

It provides information on the number of additional people that could be fed, as well as the amount of carbon dioxide and water that would be saved by making simple changes to reduce food waste. Too Good to Go, the world’s largest food saving app, provides useful food waste reduction tips for consumers within the estimator.

In addition, the estimator enables food manufacturers to determine the impact they can have in reducing global food waste by using shelf-life extension technology across their portfolios. Research has shown that approximately 50% of consumer waste could be prevented via shelf-life extension technologies – a saving which would meaningfully reduce world hunger.

Bert de Vegt, Global VP for Food Protection & Preservation at Kerry said: “Today is a reminder of the precarious global situation of food security. We all need to act and as an industry we must take immediate action in eradicating food waste within the food system through new technology and innovating together.  

While Kerry partners with manufacturers to extend the shelf-life of products, it is important to remember that individual actions at home can also have a big impact. If the world reversed the current trend of food loss and waste, we could protect enough resources to feed three times the amount of undernourished people on the planet today. Our new tool provides simple but actionable insights for both consumers and the food industry and shows the real impact that shelf-life extension technology can have on food products.”

Solutions

 As the market leader in conventional and clean label preservation, Kerry understands shelf-life protection and extension to be the most actionable method in managing food waste both in the home and throughout the supply chains It has pioneered breakthroughs in the highest food waste categories of bakery and meat, including patented plant-based curing agents and nitrite-free solutions for listeria inhibition, innovative vinegar-based solutions for clean taste in low pH bread applications as well as solutions for process and heat treatment replacement in beverages. With the broadest portfolio of preservation technologies in the industry, each year Kerry extends the shelf-life of over 34.5 billion loaves of bread and 43.5 billion servings of meat globally.

Kerry’s technologies support the reduction of food waste through fermentation, vinegar-based ingredients, plant extracts and enzymes, alongside conventional organic acid-based preservatives like propionates and acetates. Taking a holistic approach, the company also supports manufacturers in creating a more circular flow of resources, repurposing products that would otherwise have ended up as waste. For example, spent coffee grounds being used for authentic coffee flavours and proteins being converted into biofertilizers through fermentation.

The food waste estimator can be accessed here.

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Ray and Brendan Lee were flying high after taking home the ultimate gong from the IFCR Awards in 2019 – and so was the business.

“Lee’s Centra was trading exceptionally well at the time, prior to the pandemic,” says Ray Lee.

“It was ticking all the boxes, and then of course first lockdown hit, and that was a hugely scary time for us.”

At the time, the company owned two stores, the Lee’s Centra in the Main Street of Charleville and the newer Lee’s Centra Applegreen Charleville on the outskirts of the town on the main Cork to Limerick road, which had just undergone a major redevelopment.

Hardest hit

It was the latter that was hardest hit in the first stage of the pandemic, thanks to the tight restrictions on travel.

“Once we got through the first lockdown, we found as we were going into the summer of 2020, we actually had a very good summer,” Ray says.

“Business seemed to come back very quickly – I suppose you had a lot of people that were traditionally travelling out of the country were all staycationing. Certainly, staycationing over the last two summers would have significantly driven our business.

“So once we got through the shock of the first lockdown, we just adapted and I think it was a turning point for us personally and for our business in that it probably made us become more resilient.

“Probably like all retailers in Ireland we’ve had to adapt and become more resilient and be able to react quickly to big changes in our macro environment, so it really made us step back and say ‘OK, in the midst of all these challenges, where are the opportunities for our business’?”

Spotting potential

A former general manager with SuperValu in west Cork and Kerry, Ray spotted the potential of the Centra store in the heart of his home-town of Charleville and bought it in 2004.

“Then in 2005, my brother Brendan joined the business and an opportunity came up to acquire a forecourt on the main Cork to Limerick road, just on the outskirts of Charleville,” he says.

“There was a very small forecourt shop and a lot of untapped potential because at the time forecourts were starting to evolve into destinations.  We could see the opportunity because at the time, if you travelled from Cork to Limerick and onto Galway there were very few good forecourts on that road, so we saw a huge opportunity there to become a destination for consumers on the N20.

“Back then it was very much a trial store for a new forecourt format for Centra – it was one of the early Centra forecourt stores to have a sit-down area. So we put a huge emphasis on sit-down, on deli, and on coffee – which at the time was starting to become a big part of the business so we really focussed on getting the offer right in these key categories.”

Flush with success

Another area where the Lees set themselves apart was in the provision of the humble WC.

“We put a lot of money into developing really top standard customer toilets because again we could see that any forecourt you went into back then, it was a walk around to the side door where you found a dingy old toilet – whereas we saw an opportunity, because of the amount of female consumers that were on the road, in particular, that weren’t stopping at forecourts because of the toilet facilities,” Ray says.

“We had seen in the UK where 67% of UK female consumers at the time chose their forecourt based on toilet facilities and we saw a huge opportunity to really tap into that. It became a destination stop and then we had a good deli offer, we had a good sit-down area, we had a good coffee offer and we had customer friendly toilet facilities. Nowadays you expect that in every forecourt but back then it wasn’t such a luxury.”

Evolving situation

In the meantime, the store has undergone three refurbishments, plus the addition of the Applegreen brand in 2018 which Ray describes as a “significant development”.

“The biggest and most recent development would have been in 2018 when we completely redeveloped the store, adopted the Centra Live Every Day brand positioning and brought the best of what Centra had to offer into that store and further enhanced our deli and sit down areas,” he says.

“We brought in the Applegreen brand also in 2018 and that was a big positive for our forecourt business.

“We added two additional pump islands so we went up to six pump islands – that would have led to growth in our fuel sales prior to Covid of probably 20-25% volume.”

Varied customers

The forecourt attracts a varied customer base, primarily transient customers passing along the main road, he says.

“You’re on the main N20, one of the busiest national roads in the country, whereas the store on the main street would be primarily local customers.”

As the first shock of the pandemic wore off and lockdown lifted, the brothers began to look at how they could further innovate within their business.

“We started to really innovate within our business, so for example we have our own bakery and it produces an entire range of both chilled and ambient bakery products, all branded Lee’s. We produce them from our store on the main street and it supplies the other two stores as well,” Ray says.

Catering at home

“At the time we saw opportunities in areas such as catering at home, all these occasions that people still wished to celebrate when the whole hospitality industry was locked down. We took on a head chef in November 2019 and we set about creating a whole at-home dining offer, ranging from everything from one-off occasions, like cheeseboards, meal kits, pizza kits and afternoon tea.

“Our head chef Declan has really upped our food credentials. He has developed a whole range of at-home dining solutions so we have a full range of restaurant quality chef-prepared meals, that are made from an in-store production kitchen using only the best local natural ingredients. That has done exceptionally well and has given us a point of difference over our competitors with a full range of these “Lee’s” branded ready meals to take home from our stores.

“We had also established a bakery prior to the pandemic and we do a lot in terms of occasion cakes and birthday cakes. So during the pandemic we needed to find a way to get to the market a bit better so we developed an online solution, lovelees.ie.

Marking the occasion

“Before, if you wanted an occasions cake, you had to come into the store, so we took the opportunity to look at how we could make this easier for our customers. Now you can go online on your phone, and build your cake to your requirements, upload a picture you want on the cake, pay and then collect two days later.

“We took advantage of the opportunities that the pandemic presented and we also used it as an opportunity to focus on improving the customer experience. We were always strong on areas such as the customer experience, but now we certainly are much stronger than we would have been prior to the pandemic.”

During the pandemic, the business also offered deliveries focusing on the more vulnerable in the community and working closely with community organisations such as the GAA to support people.

Seeking value

Ray admits the business is operating in a particularly challenging environment post-Covid with relentless inflation ultimately fuelled by the unfortunate crisis in Ukraine.

“The focus is back on value for money where it might not have been for the last few years, given the significant challenges around inflationary pressures,” he says.

“But we’ll work through these challenges, we’ve been through similar challenges in the recent past such as the financial crisis, and we believe that ultimately, we’ll get through the current challenges by working closely with our brand partners.”

Another focus for the business has been on sustainability, a journey which has been ongoing for the past five years for Lee’s.

Green journey

“It was something that we could see in our own locality and from talking to the younger generation in particular that sustainability was going to become a big issue,” Ray says.

“So we had been doing a lot of work on that – we had introduced segregated sustainability bins into our stores to try to encourage customers to think before they threw stuff in the bin on the forecourt. We were on a journey already encouraging consumers to think more about what they’re wasting in packaging and bins.

“Centra have been very proactive in this space in terms of starting to introduce initiatives such as compostable cups and compostable shopping bags etc. From the point of view of the actual stores we have introduced full LED lighting to our stores in recent years along with highly efficient refrigeration.

“But no doubt it’s going to become a bigger issue into the future and it’s something we all have a responsibility, I believe, to get behind and ensure that we leave the world in a better place for the next generations coming along.”

Branching out

One long-held ambition for Ray and Brendan – to bring more stores into the fold – has just come to fruition with the acquisition of the Centra / Circle K at Pallasgreen, Co Limerick on the N24 Limerick to Waterford road in March of this year.

“Certainly we have ambitions to grow the business further, so I suppose a lot of the work we have been doing over the past few years has been focussed on putting the resources and skillsets in place to allow us to scale the business, when suitable opportunities arise,” Ray says.

“Again, we’re really focused on the things that make us different from our competitors, so the likes of our production kitchen for meals, our chef-prepared ranges, and our bakery is a huge contributor to our business, so we want to continue to innovate with new products and customer solutions, and ultimately roll those out to new store locations.”

Ray is quick to point out that huge credit is due to their teams in their stores to whom they owe all their success to date.

“Myself and Brendan are very fortunate to have great people working in our business, and they have embraced all the challenges the last few years have presented us and they have been instrumental in ensuring our business continues to thrive in challenging times,” he says.

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Paul Allen, Tayto Group chief executive has purchased McErlain’s Bakery in Magherafelt, which produces the Genesis Crafty range as well as private label cakes and breads for several high-street stores.

In a shake up to the bakery industry throughout NI McErlain’s Bakery, who experienced trading difficulties in the past year, called in Andrew Dolliver and Luke Charleton of EY as administrators to the company.

This may seem like a detrimental time for the Genesis Craft Bakery, but all parties involved are optimistic for the future of the brand under new leadership, and thankful for minimal damage to the occupation and economic factors.

M&S, Tesco, Waitrose and Brake confirmed that their contracts will continue as normal and Genesis Crafty will continue trading from the plant for the meantime.

However, the news may come as a shock to many throughout the industry, due to Genesis Crafty creating 47 new jobs last September, investing £6m on new equipment and having further investment from Invest NI of £485,000.

Ernst and Young LLP explained that these issues came from a period of trading difficulties, but are yet to comment on what sent the bakery into liquidation. They approached Paul Allen to invest in the company and save both the brand and jobs.

We are still awaiting comment on EY about the overall affect this will have on current creditors involved with McErlain’s Bakery and the Genesis Crafty range.

Andrew Dolliver of Ernst and Young LLP, also explained that their priority lay with McErlain’s and they aimed to “achieve a better result for the company’s creditors as a whole and to identify a buyer who would bring the business back to a position of stability where it could continue to trade, and importantly, where its employees were protected.”

He also expressed great hope for the future due to the success and experiences that Paul Allen has accumulated throughout his career in the retail sector.

Paul spoke about the matter with confidence for substantial, managed, successful growth: “I’m hoping that in my non-executive role with the company, I will be able to use my experience in the industry to help guide the growth of both the Genesis Crafty brand and the overall business.”

Paul went on to speak about the fact that this deal was also sentimental, due to it being “a private investment by me and my family.” He praised the McErlain family, stating they “have built a great business, with excellent products.”

Not only was the chief executive happy to save a family business, he was delighted to be saving the jobs of somewhat 260 employees: “I’m delighted that the jobs at the factory have been secured and that Brian McErlain will be staying on as managing director.”

The move will see five of the six McErlain brothers, who have been running the bakery for the family, leaving following Mr Allen’s purchase.

Hopeful to turn the business around, Paul alluded to what their business model will look like going forwarding, it would appear the Tayto boss is set to implement a model that brings the success of his crisp and snack brand.

Brian McErlain, commented: “This is obviously a time of mixed emotions; sadness that it is now a different family who own the business but hope for the future and the growth of the Genesis Crafty brand.

Paul Allen’s ability is very well respected in the business community, not just in Northern Ireland but further afield and I believe that his involvement will be a real benefit to the company. I’d like to pay tribute to all our staff, customers and suppliers, who have been through some difficult times with us and whose support we have really appreciated.”

This move had many within the industry commenting, including Glyn Roberts, chief executive of Retail NI, who has a special connection to the bakery: “This is very welcome news. Genesis Crafty is a long standing member of Retail NI and enjoys an excellent relationship with the independent retail sector in Northern Ireland. I have no doubt that the business will have a very secure future with its new owner.”

Whilst it is uncertain how this will play out and who will be affected overall, Paul Allen, and others, would appear to be confident in his abilities in being able to turn the company around.

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