22 | theceomagazine.com
“From the late 90s, we invested heavily
in our own farming and production of fruits
including strawberries, apples, cherries and
blueberries – a growth strategy driven by
my brother David.
“I also saw the opportunity to open up
new customer channels and drive more
volume through our food service business.
Opening this channel in Ireland was critical;
we then focused on driving and expanding
the business in the UK and Europe,” she says.
As if her hands weren’t full running
a widespread international business, Caroline
also finds time to be a board member for
Bord Bia, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, the
Ifrah Foundation, and the National
Maternity Hospital Foundation.
She is also a member of
Ireland’s Export Trade
Council, and the
Chair of two
organisations:
the Horticultural
Board (Bord
Bia) and
the Dublin
Regional Action
Plan for Jobs
Implementation
Committee. These
efforts earned
her the IMAGE
Businesswoman of the
Year Award in 2013.
Caroline was recognised for her
commitment to enriching the family
business and her female leadership in a highly
male-dominated industry.
Since she took the helm in 2006, the
firm’s turnover has increased by more than
50 per cent. It has also expanded to include
five divisions – Keelings Retail, Keelings
Farm Fresh, Keelings Market, Keelings
International, and Keelings Solutions. With
operations around Ireland, and in the UK,
Europe and Asia, Keelings has a team of
more than 2,000 people and annual sales
exceeding €300 million.
Keelings Retail and Market divisions
account for more than 60 per cent of total
sales. “We only launched the brand in 2010.
Start with a believable
and challenging goal.Get the right team in place.
Create an inspiring operational
roadmap to get there.3
tips^ for (^) a
succe
ssful strateg
y
It’s already outperforming our expectations,
particularly in terms of brand health scores,”
explains Caroline. She adds that extensive
consumer research revealed Irish customers
wanted a local brand they could trust.
Today, the Keelings brand is synonymous
with fresh, quality produce, and it was
recently ranked number 17 in Kantar
Worldpanel’s Top 100 Fast-Moving Consumer
Goods brands in Ireland.
As well as its punnets range, the company
has released a variety of innovative products
including the family platter, the twin pack
and the popular on-the-go Snack Pot range,
which earned Keelings a nomination for the
2016 Irish Food Awards. Caroline
soon realised that this desire
for fresh, local produce
was not limited to
Irish customers
and that its
strawberry
quality was
recognised as
far away as
Hong Kong.
As with
nearly every
other business
around the world,
the 2008 global
financial crisis created
a tough operating
environment for Keelings.
“Our leadership team worked
together to develop a plan that would see
us through this difficult period, and I think
the key to our success was engaging the
entire business in the delivery of this plan.
We worked with each person to identify how
they could contribute to make the business
better. We called this initiative ‘Stepping Up
Together’, because if we didn’t do it together,
Keelings wasn’t going to survive. This laid
the foundation for us to become a much
stronger business with wider engagement
among our people.”
In line with Keelings’ brand promise, ‘love
to grow’, the company prides itself on a
strong set of values that encourages staff to
develop their full potential and deliver »
INSPIRE | Interview