Eggs-traordinary success for Mullagh-based company
Killian and Kathlleen Farrelly displaying the eye catching pink egg boxes and the all important hens on their farm in Mullagh.
A Mullagh-based free-range egg company has been chosen as a winning exhibit by the world body of professional design. Clonarn Clover, run by husband and wife team Leo and Margaret Farrelly, had their striking new pink O'Egg free-range white egg packaging chosen for the exhibit.
The unique white organic eggs are contained in an innovative pink packaging, which is also branded with the Action Breast Cancer pink ribbon logo. The eggs retail at €2.35 for six and five per cent from the sale of the eggs goes towards the charity.
"We were delighted to hear about the win and get some recognition because a lot of hard work went into creating and launching the O'Egg brand," said Clonarn Clover managing director Margaret Farrelly.
Clonarn Clover was founded in 1988 by the Farrellys on their family farm in Mullagh. Margaret explained that from humble beginnings of 150 hens, they have now expanded to over 120,000 hens, employ 17 people and are among the market leaders in the industry.
"My husband Leo answered an ad in the Celt back then looking for somebody who wanted small free range egg producers and took it from there. There was an opportunity to supplement our family income with small egg farming," recalled Margaret.
Before World War II, Margaret explained that there was a wide variety of hens and eggs in Ireland including white eggs, speckled eggs and coloured eggs but they were phased out in favour of battery farmed brown eggs for mass production.
However, since the 1940s, the Irish egg sector has been dominated by brown eggs, according to Margaret.
"With such a highly contested market we were keen to innovate. That's where the idea for selling white eggs came to me," she said.
However, more recently, the market has changed and consumers are increasingly health conscious and concerned about animal welfare. "There was an opening for free range organic eggs," said Margaret.
The eggs are laid by white hens roaming freely over fresh green Irish fields eating a healthy natural diet.
It took the Farrellys about two years to get the project off the ground. "Initially we had trouble sourcing white hens but last September we got our first batch. There are several breeds out there but they would not have been economically viable. We needed to find a bird that would produce good quality eggs that would be profitable. They are white highline hens, quite alike their brown cousins but more expensive to buy and they produce white eggs instead," she detailed.
While the white hens got busy laying, Margaret and her team at Clonarn Clover began working on the design concept for the O'Egg product with designer Lorraine Carter of 'Personal Design'.
With a plethora of different egg boxes on the market, they needed a unique selling point to set them apart from the rest. It was at this stage they decided on pink.
A marketing guru who saw the pink packaging during a consultation suggested that they get in touch with Action Breast Cancer.
"There is probably not a family out there that has not been affected by cancer. My sister was just 18 when she died after being diagnosed with a brain tumour and two of my aunts have died from it. The idea to link the new packaging with Action Breast Cancer struck me then as a wonderful idea," said Margaret.
Clonarn Clover approached Action Breast Cancer and offered to donate a percentage of profits to the charity, and in return they could use the Action Breast Cancer logo on their packaging. The charity has strict guidelines for what sort of product it will allow its logo on but as the eggs are free-range and organic, they fulfilled the health conscious criteria Margaret explained.
The product was officially launched at last year's Bloom Festival. "Older people remembered the white eggs from when they were children but the younger generation had never seen white eggs before. They were curious to learn more about the breed and the product," said Margaret.
So do the eggs taste all white? (pardon the pun) "They taste beautiful and I have had great feedback since the Bloom festival. A panel of people blind tasted them against other eggs and they came out on top as outright favourites. When baking things such as meringues the white egg whisks up much better," said Margaret who added that the eggs are great for all culinary purposes and dishes.
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EGGS retail at €2.35, with 2.5% of the price going to Action Breast Cancer *****************************
The O'Egg product is available from SuperValu, Spar, Mace, Londis and Tesco. For more information and tips see www.oegg.ie and the official facebook site.
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