Ireland’s industry-leading third-generation family bakery, Comerford Brothers, hits the sweet spot across all key variables – tradition, quality, value, taste, variety, innovation, service and customer satisfaction. As they approach their 70th anniversary in rude health, sales director Aidan Comerford took time out to talk to Grocery & Retail Ireland.
Baking up a storm since 1956, Comerford Brothers produce a vast range of exquisite cakes and buns which can be found on shop shelves across Ireland and the UK. From humble beginnings, this third-generation family business has developed into one of the largest employers in Newbridge, County Kildare, with the emphasis always on producing quality cakes at a competitive price.
The genesis of Comerford Brothers goes back 68 years to when founder Dan Comerford opened up a bakery in Two Mile House, Kildare. After moving to Naas in 1964, Comerfords relocated to Newbridge in 1988 and have gone from strength to strength since building a new 30,000 sq ft factory there in 2007.
The third generation comprises sales director Aidan, operations director John and production director Fintan, three brothers following in the footsteps of their father Aidan Snr. and uncles Peter and Danny. Aidan agrees that producing quality products has always been at the very core of everything Comerford Brothers do:
“Quality products – and hard work and graft,” he replies when pressed on the secret to Comerford Cakes’ success. “As well as quality, value for money is also very important. At the end of the day, it all boils down to value and when you are producing at a large scale, you have to make sure shoppers can afford to buy the products.”
In the early days, Comerfords baked bread but the focus gradually switched to cakes and bread production eventually stopped altogether. Today, they are synonymous with a mouth-watering range of loaf cakes, celebration cakes, swiss rolls, buns and tarts, with a vast variety of offerings available within each of these categories, amounting to up to 50 different products.
These tasty treats can be found in the ambient cakes section of supermarkets, which means they have a shelf life of eight to twelve weeks. In one way, shape or form, Comerford Brothers supply all the main retailers in Ireland and also have a significant presence in the UK market. All products are baked in-house at the state-of-the-art purpose-built manufacturing facility in Newbridge.
Full-time employment is generated directly for a team of more than 140. “As we produce large quantities, we are quite heavily automated,” Aidan notes. “It varies from week to week and is a little but seasonal, but in general we’d produce between 350,000 and 400,000 items per week.”
This is a staggering number that puts some perspective on the logistic, consistency and quality control standards that must be implemented to continuously produce cakes and buns that satisfy both the taste buds and pockets of a discerning public.
To get their freshly-baked products onto shop shelves in a fast and efficient manner, Comerford Brothers have distribution partners in Ireland and the UK, while they also own and operate their own fleet of trucks and vans.
Aidan agrees that the success Comerford Brothers have enjoyed down through the decades would not be possible without the input of their wonderful team: “Absolutely, the staff are key to the successful running of the place. We have plenty of staff who have remained with us long term and some of them are multi-generational. There are people here whose fathers would have worked for my grandfather and there are a couple of lads here who joined the business as teenagers and are now in their 50s. We look after our staff and we appreciate the loyalty they show us as you can’t beat experience in any workplace.”
Looking to the future, Aidan foresees a concerted emphasis on export growth. “At the same time, we’ll be strongly focused on new product development,” he continues. “You are always trying to design and create products that will fill a gap in the market and bring excitement into that category.
“Producing at our scale, product development takes a long time, from concept through to testing and engineering the product, figuring out how to make it and what machinery is required to manufacture it in large volumes, then sourcing partners to work alongside to create a product line, launch the product, find a route to market and then finally get it on the shelves. It can take years but we try to introduce one new product every four or five years.
“Once you have launched a new core product, there will be some economies of scale in that you can create variations of it and cater for changing tastes. So, once you have the nuts and bolts in place for – let’s say, a new line of muffins – you’ve done all the research and groundwork and can continue to produce endless variations of that product.”
Comerford Brothers have come a long way in just shy of seven decades and the future for this stellar family business looks every bit as bright as their illustrious past and distinguished present. “We’re always looking to the future and we will continue to push the business forward, both in terms of constant improvement of our existing products and methods as well as identifying and producing new product lines,” Aidan concludes.
“I have a football team of nephews coming along and they are already showing big interest in the business, which is great to see. I’ve no doubt the fourth generation will follow through and take Comerford Brothers to the next level when the time comes.”
Comerford Brothers Ltd.,
IDA Newbridge Business Park,
Green Road,
Newbridge,
County Kildare, W12 HK20, Republic of Ireland
Tel: 045 431770
Fax: 045 432618
Email: info@comerfordcakes.com
Web: comerfordcakes.com
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 4 No 1, Spring 2025
