Case Study - The Burren Smokehouse, Clare

The Burren Smokehouse was established by Peter Curtin, a native of Lisdoonvarna and his Swedish wife Birgitta in 1989. The Smokehouse produces and sells a wide variety of smoked fish from its purpose built facility in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare.

The business has grown from using a small kiln smoking just 20 fish at a time, to a full scale operation smoking 1.3 tonnes per day, more than half of which is exported. Initially, the Burren Smokehouse sold to local pubs and restaurants in the west Clare region, positioning itself at the top end of the market from the outset. Since then it has built up an extensive business via gourmet shops.

Commenting on the business progress, Peter said “In the mid-1990s, we entered into a new market by constructing a visitor centre in Lisdoonvarna. It incorporates a gourmet store and caters for 40,000 tourists a year. We get direct sales via the visitor centre, as well as our online direct marketing business which targets individuals and the corporate market. We now have a substantial export business. About 60% of our smoked fish sales are exported and our proximity to Shannon Airport has been a significant advantage in growing this export business.” On balance, the company believes that its operational costs are much the same as that of businesses in more urban areas.

In 1997, the company had six staff; it now has 15 permanent workers and a further ten employed at peak times. Employees come from Ireland and overseas and all live either in Lisdoonvarna or within a 20 mile radius. Peter said “It is not always easy to get the staff we need but those who have made the move from Dublin love it. The quality of life is the biggest draw for them”.

The management team all have third level qualifications to diploma or degree level and ongoing upskilling of staff is important for the business. The Burren Smokehouse has accessed extensive training through the Government funded Skillnets Programme. Undergraduates from the University of Limerick have also worked with them on market research projects.

The company has received funding from various agencies over the years, and funding is an ongoing requirement as the business seeks to expand and innovate technically to remain competitive. Sources of state funding have included Leader and Shannon Development.

Speaking about development, Peter said, “We have innovated extensively over the years, particularly in the area of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and in 2002 we undertook an extensive reorganisation and computerisation of our systems. The new systems greatly improved the efficiency of the business, and the volumes that could be handled.”

The company’s database of customer contacts and sales trends was also underexploited. The new system provided software tools to better interrogate the database and organise sales campaigns. “This has greatly improved our success in direct marketing,” Peter commented. “We can now take a fresh order and have the product and supporting documentation ready for shipping in 30 minutes.”

The Burren Smokehouse’s strategy for the future is to focus on the direct marketing of high value products.