'Things come out of the blue and suddenly everything is chaotic - like foot and mouth'
As part of our How My Business Works series, we profile Silver Pail Dairy.
IMAGINE GROWING UP in a family where ice cream was the main talking point at the dinner table – that’s what life was like for Thea Murphy when she was a young girl.
Murphy’s father Michael had been a dairy scientist for the Irish Dairy Board, now called Ornua, before deciding that he wanted to have his own ice cream production company. In 1978, he set up Silver Pail Dairy in Fermoy, Co Cork.
“I was four or five when the business started so definitely it would have been quite exciting,” Murphy tells Fora.
“Over the years, when we were in primary school, we would have occasionally brought our friends into the factory to show them around or do ice cream taste tests.”
Thea Murphy
Growing up, Murphy says that she was “always somewhat involved” in the business, and decided early on that she would eventually follow in her father’s footsteps.
“When I finished school I did a degree in food technology, so I would have come very much from a science background,” she says.
Murphy initially worked for Kerry Group after college, before returning to Silver Pail a few years later, entering the research and development side of the business.
However, as the years went on, she began to take on more senior roles and has since succeeded her father as managing director.
Murphy says that there was no grand handover and the transition happened gradually: “Being a family business, it’s something that evolved … Over time more and more responsibility passes your way.”
In spite of the leadership change, it remains a family affair. Murphy’s father is still involved in the outfit, while her brother is working in research and development.
Business development
After 40 years in business, Silver Pail Dairy has become one of Ireland’s largest ice cream producers and now employs around 100 people, all based in Fermoy.
The company manufactures ice cream and desserts for the retail and food service sectors, creating products for German discount supermarket Aldi and desserts brand Baskin-Robbins, as well as under its own moniker, Glenown Farm.
Silver Pail has also been manufacturing cream liqueur for other companies since the early 1980s, but last year rolled out its own, Cremór.
To help facilitate this expansion, Murphy set up a sister outfit, Avondhu Liqueur Company, which is based out of the same plant in Fermoy.
“We felt for a number of years that there was a market opportunity for cream liqueur as the whole idea of craft spirits became more popular,” Murphy says.
“We had been working on various technologies and different types of cream liqueur, but it was always focused on doing that work for other people, for our customers. So I think it just came to a point where we said we really should be looking at this for ourselves.”
Cremór is stocked in several SuperValu and Centra outlets across the country, and Silver Pail has just signed a new distribution deal with Cork outfit Classic Drinks, which will bring the beverage to 2,000 bars nationwide.
Although this market has stiff competition – drinks colossus Baileys is synonymous with Irish cream liqueur – Murphy says that there’s room for something new.
“I think across the board people are looking for something from smaller companies, with more of a personal attachment, rather than something from the big international companies.
“You see it with craft beer and with gin, and I think that’s growing in other spirits categories as well.”
Peaks and troughs
As managing director, Murphy now oversees the entire business, which she describes as a bit of a “balancing act”.
She’s seen many changes in her time at the company, but says that her biggest achievement is helping to keep Silver Pail going throughout the years.
“I think it’s really about being able to deal with the challenges as they arrive. In any business there are peaks and troughs – there are great years and there are more challenging years.
“It’s really about finding a way to continuously improve the business and keep going.”
In particular, Murphy says that competition is a constant challenge for Silver Pail.
“It’s a competitive market – you’ve always got to find a way to be better and more efficient. For us, we need to provide a service that customers really want, so that we stand out from the crowd and customers stay with us.”
But outside of day-to-day concerns, Murphy adds that there have been several larger issues that “completely blindsided” the company.
“Over the years there have been things that come out of the blue and you think, ‘Jeepers where did that come from?’ And all of a sudden everything is chaotic.”
She mentions the foot and mouth crisis in 2001, which put stringent measures on Ireland’s agriculture sector, affecting the supply of one of Silver Pail’s main ingredients – cream.
More recently, it was the economic downturn that squeezed business.
“The recession was certainly challenging as people’s wallets were tightened, so our customers put pressure on us,” Murphy says.
“We needed to be more efficient and be able to make more with less. But thankfully we seem to have come out the other side.”
Although business has recovered, Murphy adds that “each year brings its own challenges”.
“Things are fairly positive at the moment, but cream prices are high this year and that’s a fairly significant input cost for us,” she says.
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“And we had a major shortage of vanilla last year – prices went up about tenfold – so there’s always things that come along. I suppose it’s about trying to balance them all and maintain an even keel.”
Planning ahead
Although she declined to comment on the company’s finances, Murphy says that business is progressing well and Silver Pail is on track for a profitable year.
“But now you’ve got Brexit coming on – nobody seems to know what will happen yet, so that certainly makes it difficult to plan ahead,” she adds.
Nearly three-quarters of Silver Pail’s production is exported to 20 markets, with the UK taking the biggest share.
“From our perspective it make us think we need to start growing, lessening our reliance on the UK market and broadening our horizons,” Murphy says.
“I suppose it’s like what most Irish businesses are saying – the UK is great but we need to look beyond that.”
Brexit uncertainties aside, Murphy says that her plan for the future is to continue building on the existing business.
“I would say we’re focused on ice cream, desserts and cream liqueurs – that’ll certainly keep us going. But we’re always looking for new developments, new customers and new markets.
“We’d be aiming for good, stable growth year-on-year and maintaining profitability, but it needs to be something that’s manageable and controllable.”
In spite of its growth and expansion over the last 40 years, Murphy is pleased that Silver Pail Dairy still feels “very much like a family business”.
The only downside of this? “You tend to talk about work all the time,” she says.
This article is part of our weekly series examining the nuts and bolts of businesses. If you would like to see your company featured please email news@fora.ie.
