A career move from hammer to crunch

FUTURE PROOF PaddyO's Granola:Paddy O'Connell came across granola in Hawaii, while studying auctioneering at DIT, and his heart was set on creating a healthy breakfast business

IF YOU’RE READING this article, chances are you’ve already seen one of the many outdoor advertisements on billboards around the country inviting you to sample PaddyO’s Granola.

The Irish-made product was the winner of advertising company Bravo Outdoor’s “Make Me Famous” competition, which set out to find the Irish small-to-medium-sized business that would deliver the best return from a free outdoor advertising campaign. The prize was a free €150,000 ad campaign which began last month.

While the prize was undoubtedly a welcome shot in the arm for a young company trying to build a brand, the development of PaddyO’s Granola from a nascent idea to a viable business, is a salutary one for anyone looking to start a business in tough economic times.

PaddyO’s Granola is the brainchild of Laois native Paddy O’Connell. After spending a summer in Maui, Hawaii, while studying in DIT Bolton Street, Paddy had the idea to bring his version of granola to Ireland.

“Granola is hugely popular in the US but not as well known in Ireland, particularly considering the fact that Ireland is one of the biggest consumers of breakfast cereal in the world.”

On returning to Ireland for his final year in college, O’Connell began producing granola at weekends in his mother’s kitchen in Cullahill in Co Laois.

He also did a three-month course at Ballymaloe Cookery School, run by his aunt, Darina Allen. He first sold the product at Stillorgan farmers’ market.

“The first week I brought 60 bags, with handwritten stickers, and sold them all.”

His foray into the food business also coincided with the economic downturn but that did not put him off. He had studied auctioneering at Bolton Street but, after working in the industry for a year, he decided to follow his passion and to produce granola full-time.

“I think one of the key things is that from an early stage I identified what my strengths were, and that was selling.

“I realised that it made more sense for me to sell the product, and to get people in to produce it.”

Having produced his granola in the kitchen above the family pub in Cullahill for around four to five months, O’Connell began to look at how to expand.

“The question was, how was I going to get big, how was the business going to grow? ”

O’Connell came up with the idea of approaching bakeries, particularly those which may not be used at the weekends.

Eventually he landed on McCloskey’s in Drogheda.

“They had the expertise to produce the granola,” he says. “The oats have to be toasted just right, and yet no one bag is really the same.”

Having started with small orders, in 2010 O’Connell began to focus on growing the business even further.

“Basically I was in the car selling, selling, selling. I started out in independent stores, doing tastings three or four times a week.

“It was much easier when I didn’t have the pressure of having to be in the kitchen all the time, and instead could be out and about selling.”

His major transition came when he met a buyer from Tesco at the Bord Bia Bloom festival in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, two years ago. “I didn’t hear from her in six months then out of the blue I got an email asking if I would like to come in and present.”

Armed with samples of his product, still in a cellophane bag and a hand-produced sticker, Paddy presented to Tesco.

While they were impressed, he was told to up the game on packaging and, after talks with a bag manufacturer, came up with new packaging design.

One year later he was selling in 10 Tesco stores, followed by listings in Superquinn, Dunnes and SuperValu.

This summer he is launching in 60 Tesco stores – a huge step for O’Connell, who will continue to use McCloskey’s to manufacture the product. The Drogheda bakery is now employing six extra people at weekends to cope with the increase in demand.

One of the interesting features about the emergence of the PaddyO’s granola has been its positioning at a relatively high price point.

Was it difficult to sustain this pricing level at a time when value propositions and private-brand, rather than branded goods, have been driving the consumer agenda?

“While price is always a challenge, the product itself is a high-quality product which is going down really well with customers. We use Irish oat flakes from Kilmacthomas in Waterford which cost about €17 for 25 kilos. You can get oats for €7 if you want, but that’s not what the product is about.

“The quality is there, and the preparation process means that the product is totally natural. At the end of the day, that’s what matters to consumers.”