The ups and downs of Covid and Brexit for a small but ambitious food and catering enterprise

Three Men in a Trailer create range of uniquely flavoured, Irish artisan ketchups that are the ideal complement to burgers, sandwiches and fries...

JK Walshe, Eamonn Crowe, and JJ Healy, say that their food business was hugely impacted by Covid-19 and the subsequent restrictions, but Brexit has provided them with new opportunities. File Picture. 

Three Men in a Trailer is a new business venture born from the passion of three Co Tipperary friends -- a chef, a butcher, and a farmer who wanted to supply quality foods.

The mens’ aim was a friendly and efficient service to provide food offerings of the highest quality using the finest ingredients.

And JK Walshe, Eamonn Crowe, and JJ Healy have created something very special indeed - a range of uniquely flavoured, Irish artisan ketchups that are gluten-free, with less sugar than competitors, and are an ideal complement to that favourite burger, sandwich, or fries.

The ketchups include the Artisan Irish Original Ketchup; the Artisan Irish Smoked Ketchup; and the Artisan Irish Spicy Ketchup.

It’s all a far cry from 2016 when the friends set out with their catering trailer to supply quality meat dishes at community events, special occasions, festivals, and corporate gatherings.

The ketchups produced by Co Tipperary company Three Men in a Trailer include a great taste award in their accolades. File Picture.  

Their ‘pig-on-a-spit’ business gathered momentum as time went on.

But it was a growing interest by consumers in the ketchup they were using to accompany their dishes that garnered the most interest.

“We were at Bloom with our gourmet sausage rolls which were one of our signature dishes at that time that people loved,” Eamonn told the Irish Examiner.

“People began to remark about how nice the ketchup that was an accompaniment to the sausage rolls was.

“They wanted to know if they could buy the ketchup as well as the sausage rolls.

“We saw an opportunity in that, so we parked up the trailer and began developing our ketchup and selling it as a gourmet product.

“Now, we just concentrate on selling ketchup.

“It’s not a full-time job, but we do sell into retail and speciality shops in Ireland.”

When it comes to sourcing the ingredients, the tomatoes are imported from Italy. It’s a tinned tomato that Three Men in a Trailer use, they say the quantity needed can’t be sourced in Ireland.

The tomatoes provide the ketchup with a good base and this is crucial, added Eamonn.

“There are no added sugars in our product, and the sweeteners come in natural form, such as the onions that we use,” he said.

“Production is outsourced, we don’t make it ourselves, but it’s like every business, we have to be able to change and diversify.

“For us, the trailer and catering side of things was hugely labour intensive, and while the ketchup is labour intensive, it’s not as taxing.

“We are currently supplying SuperValu and we also supplied Lidl under a Kick Start programme.”

Meanwhile, Covid-19 had a negative impact on Three Men in a Trailer’s business, even though by the time the pandemic struck, the lads had already moved into the production of their gourmet ketchup.

“We were hugely impacted by Covid-19 and the subsequent restrictions,” said Eamonn.

“At the time, we were doing a lot of catering buckets, and unfortunately for us, that went out the window with the restrictions and closures of businesses.

“So, our business went down by 75% because of Covid-19 and that has had a huge financial impact on us.

“We are hopeful that when the markets open up again, we can make up for that loss, but at the moment, it’s not looking very pretty, to say the least.

“Hopefully there will be a future there when everything gets back on track.”

But Brexit, it seems, has provided them with new opportunities.

“We do feel that there is a huge opportunity currently, particularly in terms of Brexit, to increase the visibility of Irish ketchups on the market, as opposed to relying on more internationally known brands,” said Eamonn.

“We do experience a particular demand on our ketchup around barbecue season.

“We also receive positive feedback relating to the gluten-free and reduced sugar aspects of our ketchup, from the health and fitness-conscious consumer base.

“Our family of ketchups include original, smoked and spicy flavours, We are increasingly seeing demand for our smoked and spicy ketchups.

“It’s more difficult for the supermarkets to source UK-based ketchup and relishes that they may have traditionally sourced, and in Ireland, we have just as good products as what was available in the UK. We have the chance now to prove ourselves.

“We have already had interest in our product from Dubai, and we recently sent our first couple of cases to Belgium, so that’s great for us, and makes us believe that our product will grow. “

Three Men in a Trailer Ketchup has already received a Great Taste Award, and also emerged victorious from its first-time entry to the British Taste Awards in 2016 for its Artisan Tomato Ketchup.

“It has been mentioned to us that our products are ketchups for grown ups,” said Eamonn.