Northern Irish red meat processor grows sales in Germany

Kettyle Irish Foods, the Northern Irish meat processor specialising in dry-aged beef, lamb and bacon, has seen sales in Germany triple over the past six months.

The company, based at Lisnaskea in county Fermanagh, is growing its business in Germany through a network of six distributors and is benefiting from increasing demand in the market from consumers seeking beef that it ages from between 25-40 days.

The growth in sales has also been boosted by the launch of innovative products including a unique bone-marrow melt burger, a beef patty covered with a bone marrow butter, a product that gained the company a three-star UK Great Taste Award and a listing in the Top 50 Foods in 2012/13.

Maurice Kettyle, managing director of Kettyle Irish Foods, commenting on the growth in the German market, says: "The success is the result of our focus on developing a network of distributors there and on the development of premium and tasty meats that appeal particularly to German consumers.

"We've been working to grow sales in this hugely important European market over the past four years and it's likely to be worth more than £2 million to the company in the year ahead. Our meat is pitched at the premium end of the market and consumers prepared to pay a bit more for outstanding taste and consistently high quality products.

"We've invested time and other resources on building trust among consumers and distributors there. They know they can count of us to deliver quality meat from the traceability and provenance that Northern Ireland provides from its focus on grass-fed animals and safe processing," he adds.

Kettyle Irish Foods currently employs around 45 people in its dry-ageing and processing operations in a modern factory in Northern Ireland's largely pollution-free lakelands.

In addition to Germany, the company's most important market on mainland Europe, Kettyle Irish Foods sells beef, lamb and bacon to 15 markets. Customers include major retail chains. In the UK, the company supplies Tesco as well as foodservice organisations.