04 July 2024

Quality, traceability and trust – Supermac’s reasons for buying Irish beef

Since the opening of its first location 46 years ago on the Main Street in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, Supermac’s, the company founded by Pat McDonagh, has grown to be a prominent buyer of Irish beef.

Now with over 100 restaurants dotted across Ireland, the founder and Managing Director of Supermac’s gave a beef purchaser’s take on the Irish beef industry as part of the forum titled: ‘Securing your Future in Beef Farming’ at the Teagasc National Beef Open Day, BEEF2024, held in Teagasc Grange Co. Meath, on June 26.

“We’ve had the same supplier for 42 years, Rangeland Meats in Monaghan, and our instructions to them is to use all Irish beef,” Pat McDonagh told the beef farmers and industry stakeholders gathered, before outlining the reasons why:

“First of all, from a common sense point of view, you should always support the people in the area that are your customers. And we are mostly situated to a large degree in rural areas, so therefore our customers are generally farmers, or at least 50% of them would be at any rate.”

Additionally, quality and trust are also key for Pat McDonagh, whose Supermac’s spends €6.5-7 million per annum on burgers, before factoring in the additional spend from the Plaza and Hotel branches of his group.

Affirming his position, he said: “What we look for is quality and there is no better quality than Irish food generally, but Irish beef in particular; it’s grass fed, it’s traceable and that’s what the customer wants.”

Expanding further on the traceability element, he said: “When you have suppliers there for years, you know you can rely on them then it gives you great confidence,” before adding: “the traceability factor is fantastic because if somebody claims there was something wrong, it is great to be able to go back and trace it right back to the farmer that produced it.”

Pat McDonagh pictured with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, T.D., in advance of the forum at BEEF2024

The Supermac’s Managing Director also provided his take on the Irish beef industry at present, highlighting the importance of protecting exports to the UK market, adding: “75% of the beef that is sold in the UK comes from Ireland and that’s a massive amount, and your market is right next door to you so for transport and margins that’s certainly one to look after.”

Also joining the forum and echoing Pat McDonagh’s comments on the importance of the UK market to the Irish beef industry was Ciaran Fitzgerald, a well known agri-food economist, who said:

“I think the future of Irish beef is in the UK market principally. The UK market will always be our next door neighbour; they’re a deficit area.

“There are strong demands and markets in the rest of Europe. At the same time, when you look at the long term demand for beef, European beef demand is probably flat to declining slightly, so there is going to be opportunities in the rest of the world and that’s going to be a challenge.”

Ciaran Fitzgerald also shared how the Irish beef industry has altered its route to market since the 1980s. In the intervening period, it has moved from a supplier of largely frozen beef to markets such as North Africa and the Middle East, to a fresh food business primarily targeting the UK market.

He commented, however, that sustainability will grow to become an even more important route to market, adding: “Currently and in the near future, the route to market is sustainability. There will always be a price element, there clearly has to be a taste element, but the tertiary route to market is going to be sustainability and that means earlier finishing for Irish beef than we have been currently used to.”

To achieve the latter, he pointed to the blueprints developed by Teagasc that will allow for the production of “grass-fed beef that is meeting all the tender and eating requirements, but can increasingly meet the sustainability requirements”.

For more insights from the ‘Securing your Future in Beef Farming’ forum, watch the recording below:

Also read: ‘Top 3 MACC measures’ must be prioritised in beef’s emissions reduction journey