Irish seafood processor eyes retail growth with ‘ready-to-eat’ lines

Fresh from signing a €21 million ($22.6 million) contract with retail giant Tesco, Ireland’s largest seafood processor is planning several new product launches at home and abroad in the next few weeks.

Jason Whooley, head of business development at family-run Keohane Seafoods, told IntraFish on Tuesday the company’s newly opened factory in Bantry, County Cork, provides the capacity needed to expand into new retail markets.

The company’s third factory, said Whooley, is the result of a “significant investment” by the Keohane family and started operating within the last month.

“It is focused exclusively on the ready-to-eat market, where we believe there is a big opportunity moving forward,” Whooley said in an interview.

Keohane Seafoods, which operates a second plant in Bantry as well as a factory in Cork, already enjoys a strong relationship with the Irish arm of British supermarket chain Tesco, supplying approximately 30 fish products to the retailer in both private label and Keohane-branded ranges.

Under the extended partnership, announced earlier on Tuesday, the seafood processor will roll out a further 22 products, all ready-to-eat, over the next five weeks.

“Ready-to-eat is a new departure for us,” said Whooley.

The new factory will focus on hot- and cold-smoked salmon, warmwater and coldwater shrimp and an array of products such as shrimp cocktails.

“It is a nice mix of options available to consumers and we are very excited about the potential the factory will offer – not just to Irish consumers, but to international retailers and consumers,” Whooley said.

Whooley said he believes the company now had an opportunity to partner with more big retailers in product development.

“That’s what’s prompted the launch with Tesco,” he said, “and we’re certainly expecting more launches like this in the coming weeks.”

‘All they have to do is consume it’

Research of the Irish market has found that, as with many markets, there is a historical reluctance among consumers to prepare seafood.

Consumers intuitively know seafood is good for them and know they should be eating more, said Whooley, but the preparation of seafood is a barrier to selling more.

“What we’re doing now with the new factory and products is removing that barrier,” he said. “We’re giving consumers literally a ready-to-eat meal opportunity. All they have to do is consume it.”

Based in Cork, Keohane Seafoods was founded by Michael Keohane and his two sons, Colman and Brian, in 2010. The company expanded a contract with discount retail chain Lidl two years ago and already has relationships with all major international retailers operating in Ireland.

“Our ambition is to grow those partnerships with those retailers, not just domestically but also internationally,” said Whooley. “It’s something we’re very active on. Given the fact we have this new facility, it’s certainly something we’ll be exploring.”

Keohane Seafoods is active in most European markets and has some business in the United States, which is “obviously an interesting market,” said Whooley.

“Our ambition is to work with other retailers along similar lines [as Tesco] and become a real innovative partner. We have the plant capacity, we have the ideas, the innovation to help grow the category,” he said.