Sweet taste of success

GLENILEN FARM:'M ILKING COWS is thirsty work," says Alan Kingston of West Cork-based dairy products company, Glenilen Farm, by way of explaining the company's diversification into lemonade. "My wife, Val, used to make lemonade for the family and it suddenly struck us that, as we were already squeezing lemons for our existing products (such as cheesecakes), we could squeeze them for lemonade as well. It's a very natural cordial using pure lemon juice, sugar and water from our own spring.

“The beauty of a small company is that you can react very quickly if you see an opportunity,” Kingston adds.

“We think innovation is very important, not just for our bottom line and for our customers, but also because it creates a great buzz within the business and staff really enjoy the excitement of it all.”

There is a perception that being innovative is expensive – but Kingston disagrees.

“The lemonade was something completely different for us but it did not require a lot of money to get it up and running. The investment was around €3,000, which is very manageable for a small business.”

The Kingstons put the lemonade into selected outlets last year to see how it would be received by customers. The feedback was very positive and the product will now be rolled out to more stores.

In coming weeks, Glenilen will be adding a further five products to its range, including a lemon posset dessert and passion fruit and mango yogurt.

Glenilen employs 32 people between full- and part-time staff and has a turnover in the order of €3.2 million. The company is just over 10 years old and started in the Kingston’s kitchen before the couple built a production unit on their farm in 2002. Since its formation over €1.5 million has been invested in capital and research costs associated with new product development.

Glenilen is already looking forward to its next product which is likely to be a whey-based drink. This will allow the company to put one of the main by-products of its cheese and yogurt making to commercial use.

“At the moment, we spread the whey on our fields but we think there is definitely an opportunity to use it in the field of health enhancing drinks,” says Kingston.