News

Glen Tender come out on top at awards
By Peter Young

Three Northern farmers, Andy Bryan from Co Down, Ivan McMullan from Co Antrim and Harry McGaffin from Co Armagh have won the 2009 JFC innovation awards. They carry away the top prize fund worth €15,000.

The trio came together in 2007 to set up Glen Tender Ltd, a premium beef brand. Passion for beef is the biggest common thread between the three, who firmly believed that a premium branded beef could work in Northern Ireland. The judges were impressed by how they had researched the market and committed €15,000 each to start up the venture.

They started by focusing on the breed they intended to use to develop what they believed would be a superior tasting beef. Through a newly created society they are introducing specified bloodlines from the Limousin breed into the Angus breed, and have started using Igenity 'gene marker' testing on all new-born calves to identify cattle that have markers for tenderness.

The next step was going to one of the few smaller abattoirs in the North to get them to contract the butcher and hip hang the cattle for three weeks. At this stage they all trained in butchering skills. They began by selling to the restaurants in the area. Keen to develop other routes to market they launched a home delivery scheme in December 2007, providing premium packs of beef direct to customer's doors. About 140 customers now take delivery every four weeks of beef boxes worth anything from €20 to €200 per box. They plan to grow this route across Northern Ireland and maybe further afield. As part of that growth, they developed processing facilities at Harry McGaffins farm. Their efforts on producing quality were rewarded with two gold stars from the Guild of Fine Foods Great Taste awards.

In October 2008, they opened a farm shop allowing people to drop out to buy beef. In its first year, the business turned over €100,000 and they plan to hit €300,000 in the second year. What impressed the judges was that the three owners did all the work part time, while still holding down their full time jobs.

They all have specific roles in the business. Ivan is responsible for managing the finishing process, keeping detail records for traceability and payment. Part of his focus is keeping the supply chain short, which ensures that farmers they buy off get a better price for their beef.
Andy has overall responsibility for sales and marketing. Harry does all the financial administration.

He manages the development of the small processing facility and as soon as circumstances allow will become the first full-time employee of the group. In the long term, they plan to create employment and maybe all work full-time in the business to really drive it forward.