Reilly Mushrooms Ltd in Walderstown, Athlone is an award-winning family business which is recognised as one of Ireland’s foremost mushroom growers.
Established in 1988, the company produces over 60,000kg of high-quality mushrooms per week which are supplied to both the Irish and UK markets. The mushrooms are supplied directly to the retail, food service, wholesale and hospitality sectors. Once they are harvested, they are on supermarket shelves and in shops, restaurants and hotels within 24 hours.
Despite facing many challenges in recent years, not least from Brexit and Covid-19, Reilly Mushrooms continues to go from strength to strength under the direction of founders Gerry and Mary Reilly, and their sons Joe and Kevin. The Westmeath producer employs 70 people directly at its state-of-the-art packing and growing facilities, and is a member of the Farm Fresh Produce Cooperative Society (FFP) whose mission is to showcase, promote and celebrate authentic Irish food brands to the Irish shopper. All FFP members are Bord Bia-certified.
“We’ve come a long way in 36 years,” Joe Reilly acknowledges.
“We started out producing 2,000kg of mushrooms per week in three small growing rooms. We’re now growing over 60,000kg per week or 3,200 tonnes per annum in 16 large growing rooms. The key to our growth has been a quality product and a fantastic team. Our people are, without doubt, our greatest asset. It’s very important to look after them and keep our staff turnover to a minimum.
“Like nearly every other sector, we’ve experienced rising costs both directly and indirectly. Every business has suffered the impact of inflation. To counteract this, we’ve tried to increase our efficiency and make savings where possible. We’re always open and transparent with our customers and suppliers.”
One of Reilly Mushrooms’ biggest clients is Lidl. The family business supplies a variety of its mushroom range, including sliced, button, closed cup and large flats (both white and brown chestnut), to the German discount chain who it has enjoyed an excellent relationship with for a number of years. Indeed, Reilly Mushrooms was recently honoured with the Packaging Innovation Award by Lidl as part of their Better Tomorrow Programme. The award was in recognition of the company’s commitment to sustainability, with a focused move to recyclable and recycled materials, and reducing plastic waste.
In addition to supplying to the retail sector, Reilly Mushrooms also supplies to the food service / catering industry through distributors.
One of Reilly Mushrooms’ core aims is to practice responsible and sustainable farming. Down through the years, the grower has invested heavily in the latest technology and processes that ensure it produces mushrooms with as little impact as possible on the environment. The Reillys now have 800 PV panels which generate 180kwh renewable energy from the sun’s radiation to help power their farm.
“We aim in the coming years to continue to grow and develop the business, whilst making the processes more sustainable and lowering our carbon footprint. We are continually striving to make the business more efficient and looking at ways to stay ahead of the competition through innovation and investment,” Joe adds.
Reilly Mushrooms also supplies home growing kits which allows you to grow your own fresh white cup and large flat mushrooms. The kits come with instructions, are fun for all ages and are ideal for home, school, creche and college use.
Mushrooms really are magic. The whole life cycle of a mushroom is very fast, from when they begin growing, they grow at around 1mm per hour so they pretty much double in size every day. They are handpicked and packed, graded and on shelves within 24 hours. Mushrooms are grown indoors so they are grown all year round in Ireland. They are very versatile and can be added to lots of recipes (you can check out Reilly Mushrooms’ Facebook or Instagram pages for ideas and suggestions).
Mushrooms are also very good for you. They contain virtually no fat, salt, sugar or carbs and are a great source of dietary fibre. Just 80g of mushrooms serves as one of your 5 a day (4 large cups, 1 large flat) and that serving has only about 20 calories.
They are also a good source of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and are the only source of vitamin D in the produce aisle, which is something most of us in Ireland don’t get enough of.
Passionate about growing mushrooms, Reilly Mushrooms would like to take this opportunity to thank its customers and suppliers for their continued support as well as its hard-working team in Walderstown for their dedication and expertise.
Reilly Mushrooms Ltd
Walderstown,
Athlone,
Co. Westmeath.
Phone: +353 861630433 / +353 868788858
Email: [email protected]
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 3 No 1, Summer 2024
