Award-winning Irish beef snack benefits from Northern Ireland expertise

Rucksnacks, an award-winning Irish beef snack product, has benefited from expertise from Northern Ireland.

Based at Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, Rucksnacks, a startup business, turned to Part-Two consultancy in Belfast for branding and marketing guidance and to the Food Innovation Centre at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise in Cookstown, county Tyrone for help with product development, nutritional information and shelf-life.

Rucksnacks, a ready-to-eat snack, is the brainchild of Colm Connolly, a mechanical engineer, and wife Gemma, a food nutritionist, who met while studying at Queen's University in Belfast. Colm comes from a beef farming background in county Monaghan and became interested in healthy snacks while backpacking around the world with Gemma in 2014.

The couple's interest in snack foods led to his decision to launch a small business specialising in air-dried beef snacks in 2016 and last year won a Blas na hEireann Irish National Food award.

The tasty and healthy product, which has a strong beef flavour, is now on sale in Ireland through Musgrave Group stores. The original product is based on beef with cracked black pepper and cider vinegar.

"I approached Ian Bennington at Part-Two in Belfast for help in developing a strong brand for the snack. I had worked with Ian on a project while at Queen's. During our travels we had tasted lots of ethnic food and saw a gap in the Irish market for a locally produced dried beef snack. While I'd originally thought about calling the product 'Moo Bites', Ian came up with the much more appealing 'Rucksnacks - Packed with Protein' and an eye-catching support branding based on our story about travelling the globe. This became an interesting back story for our marketing.

"The Food Innovation Centre was also immensely important in helping us to perfect the product and essential packaging information. The support from both was invaluable. Our packaging is also being printed in Northern Ireland. Rucksnacks is genuinely a great example of cross-border enterprise," he adds.

Rucksnacks is aimed at health conscious 18-40 year-olds seeking a nutritious, natural and tasty, Irish beef snack. Only natural ingredients and 100 percent Irish beef are used in the snacks which are high in protein, iron and vitamins while gluten and dairy free. "It's a locally produced, pasture to packet snack," he says.

Rucksnacks contains 16g of protein and is high in iron and vitamins. The product has no added sugar and is low in fat. Rucksnacks is available in handy 30g packs at £2. In addition to the original snack, the small company has recently added sweet chilli and honey roast varieties.

Mr Connolly adds that the product owes much to the family heritage in beef farming. "Irish farms are ranked amongst the best in the world, a reputation deeply rooted in our farming heritage, passion and the unique landscape of lush green pastures.
Our beef is pasture-fed 365 days per year and is 100 percent Bord Bia Quality Assured".