Yes, it’s that time a year again….
#GetStarted19
Get Started dealt with three topics
- Women in Enterprise
- Family Business
- Scaling up.
Each topic had a host of well renowned and qualified speakers ranging from tech wizards to potato growers!
For my final blog post I have decided to focus on the topic of Family Business.
I have chosen this theme as I am an employee of Dunnes Stores, which is a family run business. 75% of Irish firms are family owned. This is a huge proportion of the market managed by families. Even the most successful brands across the globe are family based e.g. Walmart, the company has a market cap of $241 Billion, which is owned and still ran by the Walton Family (Business Insider, 2019). Other famous brands include Nike, founded by the Knight family and a home grown success Barry’s Tea.
Dr. Eric Clinton from DCU introduced the keynote speaker for family business
Mr Ross Keogh.
Director and Sales & Production manager at Keogh’s Crisps.
Keogh’s crisps is a 200 year old family business. It is based in North County Dublin, where all its potatoes are planted and grown. It began as a family farm growing potatoes, moving into tomato industry then heading to Australia for inspiration, finally back to Ireland with their potatoes and their light bulb venture crisps !!
Ross Keogh talked about how decisions affect the family. It isn’t just a business decision it involves the family. The motto they live by was his granddad’s, Peter Keogh’s favourite saying
“Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten”
However, it turned out to be Sir Henry Royce’s and the Gucci family’s motto. Anyway the motto remains ingrained in the family business. Decisions come with added pressure when dealing with family businesses. There is no escape from the business but when conflict arises everyone has their own space they can control i.e Ross and the production end. This allows the family to trust each other in their decisions as each of them are the controllers of certain areas.
In my opinion I found this very intriguing as there are always going to be periods of conflict but how Keogh’s deal with this conflict shows why they are so successful today. Ross highlights how family relationships are forgotten when doing the business end of things. They carry on as business partners but at the end of the day they are back to being family.
Innovation and growth
Ross began to discuss how they grew the domestic business to an international business. It started off with them brainstorming and figuring out what they wanted to achieve. This took several years visiting countless factories seeing what machines do what. Finally they found out there was a niche in Ireland for premium crisps and launched in 2011 in the heart of the recession.
But how is it going so well for Keogh’s ?
Simple answer, they meet the customers. They take great pride in seeing the customers first hand. Keogh’s crisps take part in every show including ‘Bloom’, ‘Taste of Dublin’ and ‘The National Ploughing Championships’. Keogh’s crisps even partake in foreign food festivals e.g. ‘Dubai Food Festival’. They aren’t afraid to hang back, they meet with the shop visual managers across Ireland to see how they can make their brand stand out.
Source: https://customwooddesigns.ie/pages/keoghs-crisps
As we can see, their branding and displays are most effective and innovative. It draws the consumer in and persuades them to try the product and then hopefully purchase them! This huge success has also landed them a business deal with Emirates. This is a major step up for the Irish family business. As it shows the smaller domestic market doesn’t limit the taste and quality of the product.
I am in awe of how successful their family business has become. It highlights to all Irish families and students that there are success stories to follow and dream to be like. I am amazed by the amount of help out their for companies who want to expand. There are opportunities for everyone.
KPMG have set up services in order to help family businesses from Ireland grow. They have multiple contact details to get you in touch with the right people. They have published articles and reports outlining facts and figures of the market situations in today’s world. Their soul aim is to teach other companies the positive and negatives of international markets. KPMG are fully focused on giving family businesses the chance to grow. They have set up “Family Business Barometer” and the “Family Business Dynamics” which outline key steps to success but also results from previous years trading of family business around the EU. (KPMG International Cooperative,2019.)
source: https://home.kpmg/ie/en/home/services/enterprise/family-business.html
Personally, I found Ross Keogh’s speech eye opening and motivating. My opening quote is taken from his speech. To me, it sums up the whole idea of family business and ‘getting started’. “Grow what you do, love what you do”. It is all about passion. With passion comes success. Family businesses can thrive, they aren’t a failing project. Work isn’t work if you love what you do. Growing the potatoes and going into business with his family is what Ross finds enjoyable. It isn’t considered time consuming or painful. Blending his farming culture with his visions helped the Keogh’s creating the international business they are today.
The Panel
Next Dr Eric Clinton introduced the panel for the topic Family Business. These included
Ross Keogh, Keogh’s Crisps
Orla Stafford, Jackford Spirits
Rosy Temple, Magee1866
Each panelist is part of a very successful family business. Ranging from suits to spirits and back to potatoes!
Dr.Eric Clinton discussed many topics giving each person time to discuss their opinions and experiences.
Working outside the Family Business- Good/ Bad ?
- Rosy Temple: Rosy has vast experience working outside the family business. She wanted time to develop as a person but also as an employee. She wanted to find out the basics without being told from her father or uncles. She believed in seeing how other companies worked, what their organisational set up was like but also how they delivered their day-to-day errands. The plan for her was always to go back to her family business but she wanted the best chance to develop and create her own values. As a result, Rosy has worked with Rebel’s Kitchen in London controlling the Sales for UK& Ireland.
- Orla Stafford Orla is a past graduate of DCU. She too agreed with Rosy as working outside the family business gives you a whole different outlook. Orla only graduated in 2016. They both agreed that she needed experience from other companies before she dived into the family business. She gained experience in hospitality, shop assistance and finally marketing & communications before joining the family business as marketing manager. Orla is very grateful for her opportunities and is glad she experienced other companies before her family business. This gave Orla the right amount of time to see what she enjoyed and what she didn’t. And finally deciding to join the family business.
Challenges of International Marketing
Ross Keogh: Ross admits that there are many challenges taking the family brand to an international level. It takes a lot of market research finding out what countries suit your brand and what adjustments needs to be made. Keogh’s takes from HSBC’s lines “think local act local” They find out the do’s and don’ts of the country and gets down on the ground to see what the countries market is like. i.e Keogh’s crisps are known as the “Irish crisps” in Germany so Keogh’s adjusted their packaging to say Irish crisps for the Germans. This shows the close attention that needs to be applied. We see the added success in the smaller details people may glance over. Getting to know the cultures are just as important as perfecting your product.
What you face when trying to building a brand
- Rosy Temple: You need to build the brand. It will take time but that’s what it takes to “shift from a product to a brand”. Magee 1866 is known for its suits and jackets but their aim is to become a brand. They have begun to bring out a collections to set up their brand development. This is growing slowly with the help of their own retail stores and supplying to over 400 independent retailers. The growing demand for e-commerce has given Magee1866 a platform to express their brand. They are shifting their image into a well known brand, by giving the end consumer something to rave about.
- Orla Stafford: Branding was the key for setting up the Stafford’s business. The idea came three years before their launch in 2018. The family took time to trial many types of gin – But How Do They Differentiate To Others ? The family grow and use their own potatoes for their gin. The family element runs right through the branding. The gin tells the story of their family venture thus, becoming their USP which many businesses can’t avail of. The idea of family working and using family produced goods is a unique and stand out difference between the large companies already in the market. The potato based gin took many trials to create the perfect mixture and the bottle is crafted to stand out on the shelf. Orla describes how outsourcing to a branding company was highly successful to help create a growing brand.
In my opinion these companies are very successful in the branding and development of their products. They look for help where they can i.e. branding companies. The firms that look for other opinions are the ones that will go far. These family businesses have become international success stories as they listen to what the market is saying but also what the experts are saying. I believe if other businesses follow in the footsteps of these start ups many new domestic businesses will succeed.
Conflict – The Family Dynamic
Conflict is just another word for passion. Family businesses will always have their moments they still area functional business. But the difference is that everyone is related to each other. There are no superficial relationships they are all family based. However, in the words of Ross Keogh “all have the same end goals”. The heated arguments are just wanting the business to grow. “9 times out of 10 we want to go in the same direction, but it’s that 1” that raises the temperatures! (Ross Keogh)
Innovation
VITAL to stay alive. If the company wants to reach international standards it has to keep creating new lines of clothes or new brand designs or even new flavours. Once the business can adjust to the market trends they will keep expanding.
For example keogh’s time line of products have spread dramatically.
1) They begun with potatoes. Diversified into different types of potatoes ranging from baked to baby to selena and organic potatoes. They accounted for everyone and multiplying their market size opportunities as a result.
2) They took a big step into creating their crisps, bringing many flavours to the market. They created “shamrock and sour-cream” and “chorizo and cherry tomato”. These unique flavours open a niche market for the brand.
3) Now, with the success of their crisps, Keogh’s have brought out popcorn. These flavours once again included new and original flavours including “honey and sea salt”
These market diversification are exactly what other businesses should be looking at and trying to implement in their businesses. The initiative used to take the risk and multiply their brand is how businesses keep surviving. If i was a business owner I would try follow in these foot steps and have certain time frame based plans, which will hopefully lead to success.
The Wrap Up
To conclude, #GetStarted2019 was a huge success. We were giving a huge opportunity to learn from some of Ireland’s top entrepreneurs and companies. In my opinion it has lit a spark within that suggests going into business with family is an idea. Once you hold the passion to get your product to market.
Overall, I found Get Started the most rewarding. It shows the power women are slowly gaining in society and showcasing their skills at the top levels, It shows how business ideas aren’t always profit drive i.e. GiveBack Chrome extension. (which I recommend you download it only takes 8 seconds) This project helps to fight homelessness as 9753 people including 3559 children are currently homeless in Ireland. (Focus,2019) We also got to experience how brands went global and are in all corners of the earth now but also seeing families grow and produce an international project.
Sadly all good things must come to an end, which also applies to this blog. Get Started was our final conference to blog about. I hope you all enjoyed reading and took some pointers to help grow your business idea.
Just before you go…..
Poll: Become a Family business ?
The answer is No! 
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