Cornering the Irish tortilla market

The winner of the Best New Idea Award in the 2014 Best Young Entrepreneur competition, Philip Martin of Blanco Niño in Tipperary is working to turn his dream into a reality.

The idea, formed in 2012, was to be the first in Europe to produce authentic Mexican style corn tortillas.

The realisation has involved leasing a 19,000 sq ft premises in Clonmel, ordering specialised equipment from the US and using crowdfunding to raise capital.

“Now we are preparing to start production in March,” reveals Mr Martin. “In the region of 1,300 restaurants and hotels have already registered their interest in sampling Blanco Niño products.

“Some are in Ireland but most are in the UK and Europe. In the first six months we plan to sell tortillas and tortilla chips to the food service industry in Ireland, the UK and Luxembourg by the end of the year into the retail market.”

His original idea was to set up a taco bar in Dublin — but he couldn’t source authentic corn tortillas to make tacos. Instead he set up a burrito bar on Dawson Street in Dublin called Little Ass Burrito and followed it with a second in Rathmines. He decided that he would first concentrate on getting his burrito business up and running successfully and then embark on a tortilla manufacturing venture.

By then Mr Martin was ready to start visiting corn farms, corn mills and tortilla factories in the US and Mexico looking at everything from street stalls to large manufacturers. Working out what he wanted to do and the equipment he needed for this, he launched a crowdfunding appeal.

“Our target when we started in March 2014 was to raise £60,000 sterling but by June we finished with £124,000 which came from 88 people. This was Ireland’s most successful crowdfunding campaign yet,” he says.

Setting up the company in late 2013, the company also secured bank funding as well as support from Tipperary Local Enterprise Office. Crowdfunding wasn’t just a means of raising money, it’s main purpose was to raise our profile in order to recruit staff and build a customer base, he explains. The former CEO of Dawn Fresh Gerry Raftery came on board as chief operations officer and co-founder of Love Irish Food and former CFO of Valeo foods, Aidan O’Byrne became a non-executive director. Towards the end of the year Mr Martin entered the Best Young Entrepreneur competition winning €10,000 in the Tipperary round as well as €20,000 for taking the overall Best New Idea award.

Assisted by Tipperary Local Enterprise Office, Mr Martin locating a food production facility in the Carrigeen Business Park in Clonmel last November, and has over the last few months been working on sourcing equipment in California. A delay in its arrival has resulted in a delay in the production schedule, but he is expecting it to arrive in March. Once production starts the company plans to recruit seven staff. Now in discussions with a number of distributors in Ireland and the UK, it is currently seeking some additional funding.

Mr Martin is optimistic about Blanco Niño’s future. He sees huge opportunities in Europe for corn tortillas saying they will appeal especially to anyone who has ever eaten real tortillas in the US or Mexico.

The company will start by importing corn from the US but in the long term Mr Martin will be encouraging Irish farmers to grow maize to supply Blanco Niño. Plans for 2015 include opening a third Little Ass Burrito Bar in Dublin and making a name for Blanco Niño tortillas. Company: Blanco Niño Location: Clonmel Founder: Philip Martin Staff: 2 Product: Corn tortillas and nachos Website: blanco-nino. com

Last year’s winner of the Best New Idea award is working to make his dream a reality, writes Trish Dromey

This was Ireland’s most successful crowdfunding campaign yet