New butter home for best loved Irish dairy brand
In 1962, the Kerrygold brand name was chosen by An Bord Bainne from 60 suggestions, when the brand was launched, not in Ireland, but in the UK.
The export emphasis continued, with markets such as Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Middle East, Gulf States, the Canary Islands, the Caribbean and Asia quickly accessed.
From 1973, Kerrygold was exported to EEC member states, including Germany, where it became the No 1 butter brand.
That was the same year Kerrygold went on sale in Ireland, 11 years after launching in the UK and around the globe.
In 1979, Kerrygold Regato Classic was launched in Greece. Today, nearly 4,000 metric tonnes of Kerrygold Regato are sold in Greece each year.
In 1989, Kerrygold became a proud title sponsor of the Dublin Horse Show.
Two years later, Bord Bainne expanded its range of Kerrygold cheese and butter products in the US. In 1994, Bord Bainne became the Irish Dairy Board, and the ‘Who’s taking the horse to France? ad became a TV classic.
Kerrygold milk powder in South Africa (1995), Dubliner cheese launching in the US (1998), and a German street being named Kerrygoldstrasse (2005), continued the brand’s progress. The logo you see today arrived in 2010, and 2014 was marked by planning approval for Kerrygold Park in Mitchelstown.
Two years ago, Kerrygold broke into a new category, launching an Irish Cream Liqueur in the US.
Under the new 2015 Ornua name for the Irish Dairy Board, Kerrygold’s march continued with a new milk powder packing facility in Nigeria, and the launch of Kerrygold Yogurts in Germany earlier this year.
