My job: The proof is in the pudding as Colette’s brand Clics

AS the 2011 recipient of the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award, Colette Twomey joins a distinguished gallery of Ireland’s most esteemed and admired entrepreneurs.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary in Ireland this year, the Veuve Clicquot Award has recognised and rewarded women around the globe who have succeeded in the business world and who personify the characteristics of Madame Clicquot, founder of the great champagne house.

In her professional career, Colette was judged to have shown entrepreneurial spirit and innovation, as well as leadership, vision, courage and charisma, and was a unanimous choice of this year’s panel.

“I am honoured to accept the award, alongside many of Ireland’s leading business women who have been past recipients,” she said. “Now, more than ever, it is important to recognise the work carried out by Irish business women both at home and abroad and it is with awards such as this that makes it possible.”

In her capacity as the award recipient, she will become a brand ambassador for Veuve Clicquot and will attend the International Business Woman Award International Forum, taking place in France in October in the company of the winners from the other 20 nations who take part. Beyond the personal satisfaction, she underlines the obvious benefits such an award will bring to the Clonakilty firm. “We have always been a very personalised family company, and this award underlines the effort of everyone who works here,” she adds. “It cannot but bring a greater product awareness, which in turn must translate into positive commercial attention.”

Clonakilty Black pudding employs 42 staff in production, sales and administration, who produce the famous black and white puddings alongside pork sausages, gluten-free sausages and rashers. In the late 1880s, Philip Harrington began the production of black pudding in Clonakilty, with the business passing to Patrick McSweeny in 1976. He in turn sold the shop and the secret recipe to his nephew Edward Twomey, Colette’s late husband. While the original butcher’s shop continues to trade on the town’s Pearse St, the brand has now become the leading pudding in Ireland. “We are finding trading conditions so far in 2011 quite good, despite the obvious difficulties being experienced all over the country,” she says. “But it is a constant struggle dealing with the multiples who are always anxious to squeeze our margins. That said, people are demanding value for money like never before, and we constantly strive to deliver that.”

Cutting costs and examining every aspect of the company’s operation over the past three years has resulted in greater efficiencies and focus to cope with the ongoing economic reality, she adds.

“Standing still is going backwards in this business, and we are well advanced along the road to securing a multiple listing in the UK,” she says. “We have had Clonakilty products available for some time in the UK, but mostly in specific ex-pat locations. With the help of Bord Bia, we are now looking at a potentially much bigger picture and are already meeting with buyers for the bigger supermarket chains.” A different market requires a different approach and presentation: “In terms of packaging, things are very different in the UK as people are not as familiar with the brand at this point. Black pudding in itself is not as well-known, and white pudding is practically unheard of there. It’s been a case of taking small steps so far,” she says. Winning contracts for British multiples will involve not just a revamp in the overall packaging of the product, but also the criteria by which it is made.

“This kind of step is huge for us, no question, and has taken many hours just to get to this point,” she adds. “But the potential commercial rewards of getting into such a huge market compared to Ireland would have enormous potential for us.” The prospect of expanding the current workforce would follow directly from any toehold in our neighbouring island. “We are prepared for whatever logistical changes needed at the plant,” she says. “We would look to move from our present single shift to double or treble as needed, and would also have increased storage capacity standing by. We are ready to adjust the current operation to cope with whatever might come along, but we are not quite at that point just yet.”

Though the prospect of entry to the British marketplace, allied to her award this week as Business Woman of the Year, will doubtless keep Colette Twomey familiar with plane schedules throughout 2011.

She remains the only keeper of the secret Clonakilty black pudding recipe. “Absolutely I am, and only lately put it safely under lock and key with the company solicitor. I mix the spices on a weekly basis, and if I’m away for any extended period of time I’ll make sure that enough is ready for that period’s production.”

Describing the family firm as “a small company with a big image”, Colette remains firmly committed to all the daily tasks required in its smooth running. “Being there at any expansion negotiations and overseeing any possible changes to how the product is made and branded are very much part of my weekly schedule, and obviously this potential move into the UK market has absorbed a great deal of advance work on our part,” she says.

“We are constantly looking to build on the success so far, and that will continue to be the ethos driving us.” Though the wider picture for Ireland Inc may be challenging at present, she remains optimistic: “Business people are generally optimistic because you have to believe in yourself,” she concludes.

“We certainly face some difficult times ahead getting the country back to its core values, and nobody wants the artificiality of the boom years anyway. Irish people are still the same genuine people they always were, and we need to remember the many wonderful things we still have here and believe in ourselves and the future.”

Name: Colette Twomey

Occupation: Managing Director of Clonakilty Black Pudding

Background: Announced this week as winner of the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award 2011. Has helped build the Clonakilty-based business to its current standing as the premier provider of pudding in Ireland. She is also the sole keeper of the pudding’s secret recipe and still the only person who mixes the spices for every batch of pudding.

Picture: Kieran Harnett