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Bord Bia

Change is Constant

August 17th 2020

Zuilmah Wallis, Insight & Brand Building Specialist, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board

Loughnanes is a West of Ireland family business of butchers, going back 4 generations to 1934. They have always been unafraid of change, adapting and growing the business in response to opportunity as consumers and markets evolve. In 1975,  Sean Loughnane undertook the first big leap and opened a shop in Galway which quickly grew to be one of the best known butcher shops in the country. It developed into an award winning specialist fresh food hall that was known for quality of products and ultimately customer satisfaction.

 

By 2001, the business recognised the opportunity to innovate further and made the decision to move into manufacturing. Since then, the business has grown to be one of Irelands largest sausage and pudding producers for food service and retail, in both Irish and international markets.  Products are manufactured using a combination of traditional recipes from as far back as the 1970s and newer recipes to suit the needs and taste of the modern day consumer. As the next generation of the family entered the business they noted the changes in that modern day consumer. More specifically, they could see two key trends that were being identified and explored in Bord Bia reports. First was the shift to Responsible Living with consumers wanting to “have a positive impact on society and the environment and take pride in a sustainable way of living” (Consumer Lifestyle Trends 2018). 

The second was the rapidly growing Vegan and Vegetarian market with 4.3% of Irish consumers and 5.7% of UK consumers identified as Vegetarians and a further 4.1%  of Irish consumers and 3.6% of UK consumers  identified as Dietary Vegans (Dietary Lifestyles Report 2018). Loughnanes noted that although this was a market it in rapid growth,  product choice was limited. Yet again they made a big leap, deciding to broaden the business and use their expertise to develop a brand that would expand their footprint into this rapidly growing market.

In 2018 they approached the Brand Development Team at Bord Bia to help bring their ambitions to life. We undertook a comprehensive global review of both established and new vegetarian and vegan brands analysing positioning, naming, branding, tone-of-voice and key consumer messaging. We leveraged Bord Bia trends and insight studies alongside GNPD, Mintel and Euromonitor reports. Through a series of workshops, we identified a clear strategy to differentiate our new brand and create a robust and distinctive new market entrant. With pressure to hit a 2019 Veganuary launch date,  we undertook an intensive 6 month process where we developed the brand from inception to completion. In January 2019 the new Glas brand was launched with a positioning based around the idea of ‘Honest Goodness’. With a range of vegan and vegetarian burgers it immediately gained listings in Tesco (UK and Ireland) Dunnes and Supervalu. Since then the brand has continued to grow, developing new product variants and inspiring the Loughnanes team to explore more opportunities in the plant based market. Watch this space…

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