Silver Pail Dairies upbeat as it celebrates 30 years in business

IRELAND’S largest manufacturer of ice cream, Silver Pail Dairies, celebrates its 30th birthday next week.

The Fermoy-based, family owned dairy was started by Michael Murphy in 1979 and is now managed by his daughter Thea.

It produces over 20 million litres of ice cream each year along with frozen ice cream and frozen desserts.

It uses the traditional method to produce its products from fresh dairy ingredients with a weekly intake of over 80,000 litres of cream and milk from local farms.

Silver Pail produces Corrin Hill Ice Cream, a full dairy ice cream that was developed by Thea Murphy in 2004 to offer an Irish option in the ice cream market which is dominated here by multinational brands.

Silver Pail also produces ice cream and frozen desserts for the food service industry in Ireland and Britain.

Three years ago it won the contract to produce Baskin Robbins Ice Cream for Britain, Europe and the Middle East.

Over 60 people are employed at Silver Pail Dairy.

Its state-of-the-art production facility can produce up to 80 million litres of ice cream a year in over a 100 flavours.

Most of the recipes used at the dairy were developed by its in-house team of chefs.

This year it secured three Gold Star Great Taste Awards and has won multiple Great Taste Awards for Corrin Hill Ice Cream and its food service products.

One of the unique features of its plant is its capability to produce elaborate ice cream cakes and individually portioned frozen desserts.

“We are delighted that our family business has reached this important milestone and is now 30 years old”, said Thea Murphy. “The past five years have been particularly successful for us and we have grown the company significantly.

“However, indigenous Irish brands are facing a particularly difficult challenge this year as the price war in the main supermarket chains continues.

“Many Irish brands are under threat of de-list by stores, not because Irish consumers do not want them, but because of the discounts and scale of distribution offered by international brands.

“Corrin Hill Ice Cream, the brand we developed to compete with the international brands in the mid-price, family ice cream sector faces the fear of becoming one of these “brands.

“Our key focus for this year will be to compete in this new turbulent environment,” she said.