Supermacs - "Your Country Needs You!"

cson

I'm sure most of you will have seen many billboards and advertising with Pat McDonagh [founder] urging us that our country needs us to presumably support Irish businesses, i.e. his Supermacs restaurants.

All well and good. Imagine however my surprise when I was in an outlet last week where an employee pulled out a bag of chips from which I caught a glimpse of were provided by Lamb Weston. To elaborate; Lamb Weston are a division of US conglomerate ConAgra.

I've tried to research this to the best of my ability/patience [in other words, I've googled it a few times] but to the best of my knowledge Lamb Weston doesn't have an Irish division. Now I may be wrong but for all intents and purposes it would appear those Supermac's chips we all go crazy for at 2am of a Saturday night are made from Idaho potatoes.

So much for "Your Country Needs You".

murphaph

cson wrote: »

I'm sure most of you will have seen many billboards and advertising with Pat McDonagh [founder] urging us that our country needs us to presumably support Irish businesses, i.e. his Supermacs restaurants.

All well and good. Imagine however my surprise when I was in an outlet last week where an employee pulled out a bag of chips from which I caught a glimpse of were provided by Lamb Weston. To elaborate; Lamb Weston are a division of US conglomerate ConAgra.

I've tried to research this to the best of my ability/patience [in other words, I've googled it a few times] but to the best of my knowledge Lamb Weston doesn't have an Irish division. Now I may be wrong but for all intents and purposes it would appear those Supermac's chips we all go crazy for at 2am of a Saturday night are made from Idaho potatoes.

So much for "Your Country Needs You".

Why not contact Mr. MacDonagh directly and ask him? There may be a genuine reason but if you're right and he's buying US frozen chips when we make our own here and at the same time urging people to buy Irish, then that indeed would be hypocrisy of the highest order.

iMax

A letter to the times might be in order, but have the facts right first. Request a list of suppliers from them. The supplier of the fries may be Irish.

Although in Ireland of all places, you'd expect the fries to be Irish spuds

cson

murphaph wrote: »

Why not contact Mr. MacDonagh directly and ask him? There may be a genuine reason but if you're right and he's buying US frozen chips when we make our own here and at the same time urging people to buy Irish, then that indeed would be hypocrisy of the highest order.

Yeah I'm planning to research this a bit more thoroughly, shoot an email and letter off to Supermacs Corporate and unless I get a satisfactory reply I'll be contacting the Irish Times and possibly making my first appearance on LiveLine if I can stomach it :pac:

All jokes aside; it's very disingenuous and disrespectful to the Irish people if it proves to be the case.

mikemac

Be sure to send that letter.
Emails get ignored, a letter shows you are serious

Finnbar01

The whole idea of 'buying Irish' just for the sake of it, is a load of sh-i-te.

murphaph

Finnbar01 wrote: »

The whole idea of 'buying Irish' just for the sake of it, is a load of sh-i-te.

You are buying Irish to help protect (often fragile) Irish jobs I suppose. I would not expect anyone to buy Irish goods produced by a company that was not doing its utmost to be competitive however!

Blatter

Fúck off Supermacs.

People in this country are fat enough as it is.

Finnbar01

murphaph wrote: »

You are buying Irish to help protect (often fragile) Irish jobs I suppose. I would not expect anyone to buy Irish goods produced by a company that was not doing its utmost to be competitive however!

Buying irish for the sake of it does not help the economy or protect Irish jobs. In fact, it may do the opposite.

whiskeyman

Seems they only advertise the beef as 100% Irish.
The chicken mightn't be Irish either, along with many other supplies they use!!

not yet

Finnbar01 wrote: »

The whole idea of 'buying Irish' just for the sake of it, is a load of sh-i-te.

Yeah nice......

nursextreme

cson wrote: »

I'm sure most of you will have seen many billboards and advertising with Pat McDonagh [founder] urging us that our country needs us to presumably support Irish businesses, i.e. his Supermacs restaurants.

All well and good. Imagine however my surprise when I was in an outlet last week where an employee pulled out a bag of chips from which I caught a glimpse of were provided by Lamb Weston. To elaborate; Lamb Weston are a division of US conglomerate ConAgra.

I've tried to research this to the best of my ability/patience [in other words, I've googled it a few times] but to the best of my knowledge Lamb Weston doesn't have an Irish division. Now I may be wrong but for all intents and purposes it would appear those Supermac's chips we all go crazy for at 2am of a Saturday night are made from Idaho potatoes.

So much for "Your Country Needs You".

Used work for Supermacs back in the 90s - they were using "Van den Broeke" chips and "Lamb Weston" even back then. Both are Dutch as far as I know, the potatoes are definitely Dutch.
Supermacs 100% Irish
Owned

shanec1928

nursextreme wrote: »

Used work for Supermacs back in the 90s - they were using "Van den Broeke" chips and "Lamb Weston" even back then. Both are Dutch as far as I know, the potatoes are definitely Dutch.
Supermacs 100% Irish
Owned

the nicest frozen chips going!

Dr Galen

This wouldn't be a politics thread. No issue with it otherwise tbh

Cheers

DrG

dudara

Thread re-opened - please stick to the topic of being Irish. I do not want any comments on obesity or other unrelated issues.

dudara

LLU

Finnbar01 wrote: »

The whole idea of 'buying Irish' just for the sake of it, is a load of sh-i-te.

That doesn't change the fact that it is hypocritical for them to urging the public to support their country by buying from Supermacs if they themselves are not supporting Irish producers.

Fries-With-That

Supermacs like all fast food operations have to be consistent with their product.

They buy huge amounts of chips for their outlets and have to have a standard chip product.

This is the reason people go back again and again.

AFAIK there is not an Irish supplier of frozen chips to the standard/quantities supermacs require.

The chip has to have certain sugar (starch) content and they have to have a certain moisture content to cook within the dictates of their operation.

AFAIK their chicken/beef and packaging are either sourced in Ireland or supplied from an Irish supplier.

Supermacs also have several outlets that use fresh chips these AFAIK are either produced in Ireland or sourced from Irish suppliers.

Don't knock a successful Irish business because they have to source some product from overseas. They pay taxes in Ireland, employ people in Ireland and each and every shop provide invaluable sponsorship to local sports clubs.

The 100% Irish tagline is something hey have used for years.

cson

Fries-With-That wrote: »

Don't knock a successful Irish business because they have to source some product from overseas. They pay taxes in Ireland, employ people in Ireland and each and every shop provide invaluable sponsorship to local sports clubs.

The 100% Irish tagline is something hey have used for years.

Not knocking it, Supermacs is a fantastic example of a successful indigenous business. However I do find it disingenuous to claim "100% Irish" and base an advertising campaign around a "Your Country Needs You" theme [i.e. Buy Supermacs] when the company themselves isn't doing so.

I somehow doubt that there isn't an Irish supplier who could meet the needs of Supermacs. I'd be confident Kerry Group would have something to that effect in their armory whilst I know for a fact Green Isle have major manufacturing plants in Ireland making frozen chips amongst other products.

It's disappointing considering the 100% Irish factor is a niche and branding opportunity for Supermacs to differentiate itself in the large scale fast food retail industry.

Anyway, I'll Supermacs their chance to come up with a credible answer, I'll post the results of that here and if it's not satisfactorily explained I'll be forwarding the issue to various media outlets.

cson

In the outgoing mail on Monday...

Dear Mr McDonagh,

In a recent visit to a Supermac’s Restaurant I happened to notice through the packaging on your chips that they are produced by Lamb Weston. Having prior knowledge of this particular company due to Lamb Weston being part of the ConAgra Corporation I endeavoured to find if they perhaps had an Irish subsidiary. To the best of my knowledge and research, they do not.

The purpose of my letter is thus; in a recent advertising campaign featuring yourself, you implore the consumer that “Your Country needs you”, from which it is natural to infer that one should purchase Supermac’s as a virtue of their Irish origins. Further to this the Supermac’s logo alludes to being 100% Irish – I do wonder what this pertains to? Is it 100% Irish ownership or otherwise? Fundamentally my question is this; how do you reconcile the above with sourcing your chips from a US based supplier? Are the general public aware the chips they are eating may well be made from Idaho potatoes?

I would be obliged if you could clarify your position on the matter. I would think that as well as the consumer being urged use Irish business, said business should surely insofar as is possible try to source their products form Irish suppliers. I eagerly await your thoughts on the above.

Lastly, I wish to congratulate you on your efforts with Supermac’s thus far in creating one of the most successful indigenous companies this country has seen. I sincerely wish you all the best into the future.

Please feel free to contact me at any time should you have any queries about the above.

Best regards,

cson

GerardKeating

cson wrote: »

I'm sure most of you will have seen many billboards and advertising with Pat McDonagh [founder] urging us that our country needs us to presumably support Irish businesses, i.e. his Supermacs restaurants.

All well and good. Imagine however my surprise when I was in an outlet last week where an employee pulled out a bag of chips from which I caught a glimpse of were provided by Lamb Weston. To elaborate; Lamb Weston are a division of US conglomerate ConAgra.

I've tried to research this to the best of my ability/patience [in other words, I've googled it a few times] but to the best of my knowledge Lamb Weston doesn't have an Irish division. Now I may be wrong but for all intents and purposes it would appear those Supermac's chips we all go crazy for at 2am of a Saturday night are made from Idaho potatoes.

So much for "Your Country Needs You".

How do you know that they do not import spuds from Ireland, they are mentioned on the Bord Bia site.

Do you know if there is a suitable Irish supplier ?

maxer68

Potatoes grown in ireland are not suitable for chips. It's really as simple as that. - even the chips in your local Italian chipper are neither Italian nor Irish.

All beef and all chicken in supermacs is 100% Irish.

gerrycollins

lamb weston products are used to provide most of the potato products you see in hot food bars etc its distributed through Cuisine de France who have intrests in North America so thats (i think) where the relationship started.

ZENER

maxer68 wrote: »

Potatoes grown in ireland are not suitable for chips. It's really as simple as that. - even the chips in your local Italian chipper are neither Italian nor Irish.

That's not true. I've worked for growers in the past who specifically picked larger potatoes for supplying chip shops.

Ken

dodzy

maxer68 wrote: »

Potatoes grown in ireland are not suitable for chips. It's really as simple as that

it really is not .

Esoteric_

Supermac's is marketed as 100% Irish owned, which it is. Its beef, fish and chicken is all Irish, chips are Dutch/German. Sauces and all that are Irish.

So unless the only thing you buy in Supermac's is chips, no salt, no sauces, no vinegar, then yes, you are buying Irish, at least partially. I'd rather german spuds and an Irish burger than a burger from China like you get in McDonald's! That said, McDonald's burgers taste nicer IMO

tallaghtoutlaws

maxer68 wrote: »

Potatoes grown in ireland are not suitable for chips. It's really as simple as that. - even the chips in your local Italian chipper are neither Italian nor Irish.

All beef and all chicken in supermacs is 100% Irish.

You are right and wrong. There are suitable spuds grown here. The problem is quantity.

OP Lamb Weston have a system setup were anyone Spud farmer in the Europe can sell them spuds. How do you know there isn't any local farmers selling on their big spuds to Lamb Weston. I bet you any money your response will be just that. Lam Weston it seems source their spuds from all over Europe in fact the world.

UglyBolloxFace

cson wrote: »

I'm sure most of you will have seen many billboards and advertising with Pat McDonagh [founder] urging us that our country needs us to presumably support Irish businesses, i.e. his Supermacs restaurants.

All well and good. Imagine however my surprise when I was in an outlet last week where an employee pulled out a bag of chips from which I caught a glimpse of were provided by Lamb Weston. To elaborate; Lamb Weston are a division of US conglomerate ConAgra.

I've tried to research this to the best of my ability/patience [in other words, I've googled it a few times] but to the best of my knowledge Lamb Weston doesn't have an Irish division. Now I may be wrong but for all intents and purposes it would appear those Supermac's chips we all go crazy for at 2am of a Saturday night are made from Idaho potatoes.

So much for "Your Country Needs You".

That's some damn fine detective work there Lou :pac:

senordingdong

In fairness, I'm sure Irish spuds, like all Irish products, are probably hugely over priced, though he is still a hypocrit.

maxer68

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

That's some damn fine detective work there Lou :pac:

ZENER wrote: »

That's not true. I've worked for growers in the past who specifically picked larger potatoes for supplying chip shops.

Ken

Checked this out again. There are some potatoes grown here for fresh chips - Maris pipers, but water content is too high for frozen chips. The main varieties grown here are not the best for chips.
Varieties grown in Belgium and Holland are most suitable for frozen chips.

BTW - the beef for mc donalds burgers in Ireland and much of their uk .operation. is Irish. The main farm supplying the beef is just outside portlaoise.

And finally lamb Weston have 2 large frozen chip plants in Netherlands and one at wisbech in UK.