Business

Glenisk wins Local Enterprise of the Year at Irish Times awards

Judges cite company’s resilience in bouncing back from factory fire last year

Mark Foley, chief executive of Eirgrid, presents the award for Local Enterprise of the Year to Vincent Cleary, managing director of Glenisk at the The Irish Times Business Awards 2021. Photograph: Conor McCabe.

Thu Apr 21 2022 - 19:59

Offaly-based yoghurt maker Glenisk has won the Local Enterprise of the Year award at the fourth Irish Times Business Awards. The award is sponsored by Eirgrid, a State-owned company that develops and operates the national electricity grid.

Glenisk suffered a devastating fire last September at its factory near Tullamore. Demonstrating remarkable resilience, the State’s largest yoghurt maker resumed production earlier this year in a move that restored many of its popular range of products to supermarket shelves.

The judges felt the company’s resilience in bouncing back so strongly from this devastating event, and the speed at which it was able to restore production in February of this year, gave it the edge over the other shortlisted candidates.

The business traces its roots back 30 years, when the Cleary family began producing yogurt at the family farm in Killeigh, Co Offaly. The business, which is led by managing director Vincent Cleary, produces a range of popular organic yoghurt products and says it accounts for 90 per cent of all the organic milk produced on the island of Ireland.

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The award was presented to Glenisk by Eirgrid’s chief executive Mark Foley at a ceremony in Dublin on Thursday night.

The other shortlisted companies for the award were Buymie, the Shed Distillery and the Layden Group.

Other awards being distributed at the awards ceremony on Thursday include Business Person of the Year, Company of the Year, Local Enterprise of the Year and Distinguished Leader in Business.

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