Sterling efforts by The Jelly Bean Factory as firm is radically overhauled

By Joe Dermody

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

CONFECTIONERY manufacturer The Jelly Bean Factory has implemented a raft of changes since sterling began showing signs of weakening at the end of 2008.

Heavily dependent on the British market, the gourmet sweet company switched to a lot of British-based suppliers, reduced some pack sizes, froze staff wages and implemented a small number of redundancies.

The company radically overhauled its cost base and, perhaps most importantly, expanded into new markets.

Peter Cullen, joint managing director of The Jelly Bean Factory, along with his son Richard, said: "We have had a tough time from the end of last year through the first half of this year.

"We have been switching purchases like packaging into sterling materials, which has given us an advantage and have reduced the content in some pack sizes, so that we can continue to sell those products at the same price.

"We have put a huge emphasis on selling outside of the UK. We recruited a person to develop new markets in the Eurozone, Canada, USA and Australia. Though the dollar is also weak, there is more room to manoeuvre than in the UK," he said.

"Packing staff in the factory has also been reduced a little and we have also sped up our packing lines. Stocks have been reduced considerably, and we used the revenues gained to run our business more efficiently. Our suppliers were asked to share the hurt, so they gave us a discount on overheads," Mr Cullen said.

"We asked our staff to take a pay freeze, but not a pay cut enabling us to weather the storm, but not without taking on some water. Our profits have been hit," he said.

The Jelly Bean Factory left no stone unturned in its bid to cut costs and boost margins.

While an immediate intervention by the state would help protect jobs, the longer term solution lies in a multi-facted reorganisation by each individual company.

"There is no one easy answer to this problem," he says.

"You have to talk to your wholesalers and distributors, reduce costs and look at your own efficiencies," Mr Cullen concluded.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, October 14, 2009