Seven in 10 (71%) Irish food businesses are planning to launch new products or services in the next 12 months, the 2024 Food Barometer Survey from Love Irish Food and Bank of Ireland has found.
A further 80% of the 106 Irish food and drink SMEs that took part in the study are confident in their businesses and are predicting growth for the year ahead for reasons such as business innovations (25%), the attraction of new customers (21%) and the development of new products (21%).
Six in 10 respondents plan to invest in enhanced brand awareness measures and cutting-edge commercial digital strategies while more than half reported production automation and operational efficiencies as key investment areas.
However, despite their optimistic outlook, 85% of companies cited rising input costs and inflationary pressures as the biggest threats to growth alongside wage inflation (66%) and labour availability (55%) due to a lack of appropriate skills and high accommodation costs.
Retaining staff remains a key priority for food businesses, and 59% of them have adopted a fully onsite model, but 91% of those employing a hybrid/remote working model want to keep it.
More than half of companies surveyed are considering making changes to their training and development programmes, and almost half are considering introducing more wellbeing benefits and granting their staff pay rises.
Finally, three-quarters of businesses reported to have embedded sustainability into their practises in areas such as reduced energy consumption (84%) and the introduction of sustainable packaging (82%).
Key business benefits from embedding sustainability solutions include product innovation (64%), process efficiencies (64%) and increased revenue (61%).
Kieran Rumley, executive director of Love Irish Food, said it was “promising” to see such confidence among Irish food businesses despite their challenges.
“There have been noticeable developments since last year with businesses investing in sustainability measures positively impacting on input costs, such as reducing energy consumption, reduced packaging and water consumption.
“It is heartening to see this confidence continue as investment extends through other areas of their businesses,” he continued.
Lucy Ryan, head of food & beverage sector at Bank of Ireland, said: “Whilst there are ongoing challenges being faced in the sector it is encouraging to see such positivity amongst Irish food producers in the survey responses.
“Product innovation, developing new markets and enhanced staff retention practises are clearly priority areas, and I am also delighted to see companies placing an emphasis on implementing targeted sustainability measures.
“Irish food producers are keenly aware of both the environmental benefits and to their own bottom line by implementing ongoing sustainability measures, and we will continue to provide them with meaningful supports to help them thrive in this area,” she added.
(Pic: Jason Clarke)
