Fully focused on the consistent, efficient and sustainable production of high-quality produce, Breffni Mushrooms is an exceptional, family-run mushroom harvesting, packing and distribution company headquartered in County Cavan. We spoke to director John Kiernan and his nephew Barry Kiernan to find out more about a wonderful family tradition dating back more than four decades.
Nestling in the heart of mushroom country, Breffni Mushrooms is one of Ireland’s premier mushroom production, packing and distribution enterprises. Fronted by brothers and founders Pat, Thomas, Eugene and John Kiernan and with the second generation of the family also very much involved, the genesis of the company dates back almost 20 years, although the Kiernans have been growing mushrooms since the early 1980s.
Specialising in supplying high-quality mushrooms to the Irish and UK markets, Breffni Mushrooms is the packing, marketing and distribution arm of the Kiernan family’s mushroom-growing business, which currently comprises three mushroom farms.
The state-of-the-art, ultra-efficient and increasingly-sustainable packhouse is located adjacent to the original Sheelin Mushrooms farm in Kilnaleck (incorporated as a limited company in 1993), while the Kiernans also own and oversee Kildorough Mushrooms in Ballyjamesduff and a third farm in Stirling, Scotland, which they took over in 2010.
Having started out from humble beginnings – initially producing 2,500kg of mushrooms per week in Kilnaleck – Breffni Mushrooms today produces a staggering 150,000kg per week between all three farms, generating direct employment for a team of more than 200, the main customers for its delicious range of nutritious closed cup, large flat, chestnut, Portobello, and button mushrooms being Dunnes Stores in Ireland and Lidl and Aldi in the UK, with a sizeable percentage of produce going into the export market.
“We’d be one of the main suppliers to Dunnes Stores and we enjoy a very good relationship with them. They are an excellent customer to have,” says Barry, one of six members of the second generation of Kiernans taking on the mantle at Breffni Mushrooms. “We run a self-sufficient operation, producing high-quality mushrooms all year around, constantly tapping into new efficiencies and finding more sustainable methods of production, packing and distributing.”
Massive ongoing investment ensures that the company remains up to date with all the latest technology, processes and sustainability practices. To this end, Breffni Mushrooms have recently installed solar PV panels at their modern packhouse in Kilnaleck.
Barry takes the story up: “We have been proactively making significant improvements to our operations for many years – it’s great to be taking another step on our sustainability journey and using home-grown electricity at our packing facility, contributing to the generation of renewable energy. All of the power generated by the 100kWp installation will be used onsite, helping to reduce site reliance on the grid, whilst also mitigating our exposure to the volatile energy market.
“Meanwhile, our 25-tunnel mushroom farm at Kildorough, Ballyjamesduff is heated through our biomass boiler. Biomass technology takes a renewable source of fuel and, through combustion, converts that into a usable form of clean energy. It has been of extreme benefit to the farm and has dramatically reduced our reliance on fossil fuels.”
The biomass boiler not only generates heat for the mushroom tunnels but also produces steam for the sterilisation of the houses once a crop is finished.
“In addition, we are always on the look-out for more sustainable packaging solutions, using recycled materials and also ensuring that our own packaging is 100% recyclable. Sustainability is a massive consideration now and we take it very seriously. Things have changed a lot in the market and we find that customers demand this now and we are very happy to go down that road and play our part in helping the environment whilst becoming more efficient at the same time.”
While producing and supplying to market high-quality mushrooms in as sustainable and cost-effective a way as possible is Breffni Mushroom’s main priority, mushroom production remains hugely labour-intensive and the fact that this outstanding business also provides local employment to more than 200 people, including ten immediate family members, is no small bonus.
John admits that generating so much employment in the local community is a source of great pride and pays tribute to the dependability and loyalty of the team: “They are an invaluable part of our business. We have looked after our people so the turnover of staff has been well below average for the sector. At Breffni Mushrooms, we believe that if you look after people, they in turn will look after the business.
“We have invested a lot in our staff over the past 20 years and that is really paying dividends for us now. They are all great people and without them we wouldn’t have anything.”
While terrific strides have been made in improving efficiencies and sustainability, many difficulties caused by outside factors have presented themselves in recent years, from Brexit and Covid to the latest global crisis of soaring energy costs – a huge worry as energy constitutes a massive overhead in mushroom production:
“The price of electricity has become a big problem,” John laments. “Our annual electricity bill has already trebled, which is a serious additional cost. But we are talking to our customers weekly and have good relationships with them.”
Barry continues: “The last few years have taught us many lessons in how to run the business more efficiently and cutting out unnecessary costs. We were knocked on the head by Brexit, then Covid and now the energy crisis.
“We adapted and came through Covid very well. By the nature of our business, we rely on good ventilation and we have a high turnover of air in our growing rooms, while the packhouse was sufficiently spaced out and ventilated to allow work to continue. We did introduce split shifts but overall we weren’t impacted upon too badly. We took the proper precautions and made sure we were safe during that time and thankfully, with the cooperation of our staff, we got through it safely.”
Long-time members of Commercial Mushroom Producers (CMP), Breffni Mushrooms’ aim is in the coming years is to continue to grow and develop the business, whilst making their processes more sustainable and lowering their carbon footprint. “Going forward, we will continue to try to make the business more efficient,” Barry confirms. “For example, we have a number of projects in the pipeline for 2023 which will make us more sustainable.”
In the short-to-medium-term future, will the goal be growth or consolidation? “A bit of both,” John concludes. “These are difficult times in food production and in retail but we have to embrace the challenges and keep moving with the times. Continuing strong relationships with our customers is paramount, not least through consistently producing quality mushrooms. Alongside that, we will always strive to grow the business and to become more sustainable.”
Breffni Mushrooms,
Kilnaleck,
County Cavan.
Tel: 049 4336824
Mobile: 087 2566027
Email: [email protected]
Web: breffnimushrooms.com
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 1 No 1, Winter 2022
