IT’S SPUD Saturday this weekend, or National Potato Day as it is known, with Keogh’s Farm repeating its 2011 bid to halt declining sales of the vegetable by cooking up a potato PR blitz.
A slew of anti-carbohydrate diets, combined with the increasing popularity of pasta and rice, has led to a fall of about 50 per cent in fresh potato sales in Ireland – a pattern of decline so embedded in Ireland’s food culture it has sent the north Co Dublin- based Keogh family into crisp- manufacturing game.
“I’d love to see the sales figures begin to increase,” says Tom Keogh. “I’m considered a young farmer at 33 and all I’ve seen since I’ve come into the business is declining sales.”
The potato has an image problem with younger consumers, he believes, but the sales trend “can definitely be reversed” – if potato sales in Britain could enjoy an uplift four years ago, there’s no reason why it can’t happen in Ireland, he says.
Keogh’s Farm is setting up a potato marquee at Dublin’s Tall Ships festival on Saturday, where it will cook some of its produce, give out recipes and stage games such as spud-and-spoon races, “weather-permitting”.
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