Flatbread on the rise
From its base in Co Offaly, Simpli-Baked is a people-centred business successfully selling tortillas into the UK and mainland Europe
O n January 6, 2015, Kieran Walsh, managing director of Irish flatbread manufacturer Simpli-Baked, had a particularly tough day at the office. An accidental fire in the company’s premises in Clara, Co Offaly saw the entire facility burn to the ground. It was a day that put all the other challenges any small business faces in perspective, but Walsh held his nerve.
“Luckily no one was hurt; we just had to deal with the rest of it. It was stressful at the time, but we came back from it stronger,” he says.
Despite this setback the company managed to keep all of its customers supplied and a new factory was built within 12 months. This necessitated a move from Clara to Tullamore. Of the 24 employed in the original factory, 21 came with the company to its new location.
Having grown up in a traditional, five-generation family bakery in Limerick, Walsh was no newcomer to baking. He worked for Irish Pride and Kerry Group after leaving school but had wanted to work for himself since he was very young. He took the plunge in 2009, starting with pizza bases with a view to producing flour tortillas.
Eight years later, and Simpli-Baked runs the only tortilla factory in Ireland, exporting extensively to the UK and mainland Europe.
“We started in the middle of a currency crisis, which was fairly stressful, but we went from strength to strength,” says Walsh.
Turnover jumped from €1.5m to €3m between the first and second year of its operation, and it has grown every year since – with the exception of 2015 for obvious reasons.
The company currently employs 34 people and operates 24 hours a day, five days a week. It produces close to 70 million tortillas a year, which it sells here at home but mainly to the UK, Greece, Bulgaria, France and the Netherlands.
Its customers in the UK are predominantly food service companies, but they also sell to retail brands that in turn sell to supermarkets. The demand for gluten-free foods led to Simpli-Baked launching a gluten-free tortilla, which has helped service what is a rapidly growing market sector.
Looking to the future, Walsh intends to invest in growing the business again and improving its facilities. He says every single person at the company will be a key part of its future growth.
“While I get a lot of the credit, there’s no ‘I’ here. It’s a people business; you have to build relationships both inside and outside to continue growing. Brexit will be a stress but we will deal with it.”
“We started in the middle of a currency crisis, which was fairly stressful, but we went from strength to strength”