Local bakery brand, Genesis Crafty has taken on a brand new look. Produced by family-owned McErlain’s Bakery, the Genesis Crafty range of bread, pancakes, scones, farls, rolls and cakes has relaunched with a complete packaging redesign.
The six McErlain brothers – Brian, Adrian, John, Paul, Seamus and Damian – run the family-owned business in Magherafelt and are set to take a bigger slice of the bakery market following the brand refresh. Brian McErlain, Managing Director of McErlain’s Bakery said: “The bakery was started in 1968 by our parents with a focus on baking using age old recipes, traditional methods and high quality ingredients to bake award winning products. As we enter our 45th year of making quality homemade products, we feel the time is right for us to give the Genesis Crafty brand a complete refresh.
“All six of us have a role to play in the day-to-day running of the bakery, whether its business development, dispatch, operations, bakery management or new product development and it was important for us to get this across to customers.
“Following some soul searching, we decided there was a big opportunity to develop the branding in such a way that would really accentuate our core attributes – passionately handmade so a better taste for the consumer. The end result is summed up nicely in our new strapline, ‘Six Brothers Making Baking Amazing’.”
Launched in stores last month, the new packs also feature clear information for each product in the range, explaining to customers how it’s made and why this makes it taste so good.
Brian continued: “For us, baking is the perfect mix of creativity and science and we take great pride in baking the truly traditional way. We felt it was important that our new packaging reflects our commitment to handcrafting every product, so we’ve explained how we bake everything in small batches and that we still knead every roll, flip every pancake and chaff every scone by hand.
“We’re still producing the same great products, with the same great taste – just with a brand new look. The relaunch will be supported by an up-weighted marketing campaign in NI and the UK to encourage more shoppers to try the range as once they buy; they keep coming back for more!”
The bakery has had cause to celebrate recently having won three accolades in the Great Taste Awards 2013. They scooped gold stars for their Genesis Crafty branded Oven Wheaten, Honey and Yogurt Wheaten and Madeira Cake.
Described as the ‘Oscars’ of the food world, the Awards bring together a 400-strong panel of fine food retailers, chefs, restaurant critics and food writers who judge almost 10,000 products in blind tasting sessions.
The judges particularly complimented the ‘lovely mix of flavours from the oats’ in the Genesis Crafty Honey and Yogurt Wheaten, the ‘beautifully risen loaf with a moist crumb’ of the Madeira Cake, and the ‘good buttery flavour’ of the Oven Wheaten.
Brian McErlain commented: “We are absolutely delighted to be recognised at the Great Taste Awards and with such a rigorous judging procedure, it’s a real achievement for three of our products to receive such high praise.”
With a real desire to innovate and grow, the Magherafelt based business is going from strength to strength having recently announced plans to invest £1.4 million to help drive sales in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
The firm has been supported by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), under its EU processing and marketing grant scheme and by Invest NI to support its new marketing strategy. The expansion will see the bakery support production and expand new product development for existing and new markets.
The investment, assisted by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Invest Northern Ireland, will also see the creation of 100 new jobs, bringing the firm’s total workforce to 285. The company is recruiting a brand manager and an account manager to help boost sales and awareness of the Genesis Crafty brand across the UK and Ireland.
Brian continued: “We recognise the need to further expand our sales beyond Northern Ireland and have focused on developing new innovative products and enhancing our branding, sales and marketing in a bid to secure new business both here and throughout the UK.
“Support from DARD and Invest NI is helping us enhance our production and marketing capabilities to meet the demand of new customers and cement our position within the highly competitive bakery industry.”
Genesis Crafty
Tel: 028 7963 2465
email: hello@genesiscrafty.com
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