Gone are the days of faceless multinational enterprises with no accountability, transparency, or public presence. In the modern age where the consumer's needs and wants are exhaustively researched, polled, and explored in detail, corporations are more than ever aware and embracing their customer base in a way that has never been done before.
Kerry is a large public food company with a keen eye on the needs of the consumer, striving to develop products that not only sell well, but deserve to flourish in a global market place.
Who Is Kerry?
Headquartered in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, Kerry Group and its subsidiaries employs 23,000 people in various departments and roles across all six continents. Kerry was started in 1972 by the Dairy Disposal Company, Erie Casein Company Inc., and a group of farmer co-operatives. In 2004, Kerry acquired Quest Food Ingredients Group, followed by Noon Products in 2005, Cargill Flavor System in 2011, and in 2015, Rollover, Red Arrow Products, Island Oasis, and Wellmune, all impressive and well established brands of their own right.
What started as a small private dairy company in southwest Ireland is now traded on the Dublin ISEQ, and London stock exchanges, reportedly generating €6.104 billion in 2015. Kerry Group is present in several business areas, primarily, flavor and ingredients, agribusiness, and food stuffs. It has also expanded into health and nutrition with the Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute, and medical technology with Sheffield Bioscience.
Kerry is headed by Gerry Behan, the President and CEO, Michael O'Neill, President and CEO of Kerry North America, Malcolm Sheil, Interim President and CEO of Kerry EMEA, Edmond Scanlon, President and CEO of Kerry Asia Pacific, John Cahalane, President and CEO of Kerry LATAM, Sharon Whitehead, Global Vice President of Human Resources, Khaled Zitoun, the Chief Technology Officer, Albert McQuaid, Chief Innovation Officer, Marie Tanner, the Global Chief Food Safety and QHSE Officer, Andy Royston, Global Chief Marketing Officer, and Brenda L'Estrange, Global Chief Information and Process Officer.
Each a long held asset and well accredited individual helping Kerry in its goal to bring the customer's needs to the forefront of the marketplace.
What Sets Kerry Apart?
Not content to be just another food manufacturer, supplier, or developer, the people at Kerry pride themselves on being champions of taste and nutrition. Kerry is constantly trying to understand what its customers want, and the broader base of consumers are inclined towards. Kerry works with food and sense scientists around the world to deepen their knowledge on how a person's experience goes far beyond the traditional understanding. In this way Kerry is able to pass on this knowledge and advise their customers, the creators of varied and well established brands.
Kerry understands that consumers are not only interested in the sensory aspect of food, but are more and more becoming health conscious and involved with making their own decisions on not only what goes into their body, but what goes into their food. In appreciation of this, Kerry is working with its staff for a broad range of ingredients and recipes to gravitate towards more natural, simple components of its wares.
Kerry strives to address food allergies, and offer lower or absent lactose and gluten. It also optimizes taste and allows its customers choices in their consumption, while being able to simultaneously reduce sugar, salt, and fat.
Kerry's innovative methods and research into market desires and needs can only be considered trail blazing, but it is not only its obsession with taste and quality, but a process that is as entwined in a superior operation. Kerry is partnered with DCU, Food For Health Ireland, Maastricht University, NIZO, CEAGASC, UCD Dublin, and the University of Reading for research, development, and testing.
Kerry's Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Department is Kerry's in house quality and food safety assurance, and maintains Kerry's reputation as one of the leaders of the industry by ensuring that all local and international restrictions on products and ingredients are adhered to, expediting customer concerns, constantly keeping up with the industry and scientific demands, and further advising its developmental departments on regulation and research backed proposals.
The understanding of its place as a large and influential organization on the world stage is not lost to Kerry, and it has taken it upon itself to commit to a sustainable future. While other less scrupulous companies may benefit at the expense of employees, local populations, or regions of their production, Kerry is firmly sworn to a demonstrating its understanding of its responsibility to the earth and its population.
On top of a detailed environmental plan for the future, recently, Kerry has made great strides towards this end. In 2015, Kerry Group was able to reduce water consumption and waste by 4.7% and 10.7% respectively, reduce emissions by 1.6%, on top of a 13.4% reduction in the previous 4 years, and receive an ISO 14001 certification for all but 1% of its sites.
What Products Does Kerry Offer?
First and foremost, Kerry is and has been a supplier of food ingredients, and food solutions. Kerry has expanded since its earliest days, to cover a broad range of products, and this includes appetizers, bakery products, cereals and bars, dairy, confectionery, ice cream and desserts, prepared meals, fresh and frozen, savory snacks, soups, sauces, and dressings, meat, poultry, and seafood.
These are hosted by a a varied and well reputed range of brands and manufacturers, and likewise, Kerry has a range of beverages including alcohol, coffee and tea, dairy beverages, soft drinks, nutritional beverages, and alternatives to traditional dairy beverages. To offer products that appeal to more specific and demanding demographics, Kerry offers “Targeted Nutrition Solutions”, including dieting supplements, work out nutrition products, infant and toddler formulas and foods, and health care nutrition.
Kerry Group has expanded to offer, beyond traditional food and beverage, solutions for animal and pet food and nourishment, they have grown into pharmaceuticals and bio-medical technology, and even hosts an institute named the Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute, for the further study and understanding of the needs of the human body, and the wants of the human mind.
Kerry Overview
Kerry is a multifaceted enterprise with an over 40 year history. They started from a small co-operative group in Ireland, and now employ 23,000 people across the world, and work to provide solutions to companies and brand so diverse that you are likely to have at least one of them in your home right now.
Kerry supplies over 15,000 products to consumers in more than 140 countries world wide, and with such a focus on quality, safety, and sustainability, not only in its goods, but its employees, the environment, and its customer base, the company's ever expanding reach is guaranteed to not only benefit those connected to it, but the market in general.
