Andy found the perfect recipe for his successful business in West Cork

The Southern Star and Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Farming Awards Hall of Fame winner is Andy Mahon, founder of Bandon Vale

SAY cheese!

That’s probably something that Andy Mahon hears a lot, having built his career spanning half a century on the stuff.

Andy is the powerhouse who set up Bandon Vale, starting out in a production unit in the town’s Watergate Street, before expanding to a €2m purpose built facility in Lauragh, before being acquired by Bandon Co-op.

Recently retired, Andy is originally from Monasterevin in Co Kildare, where he grew up on a dairy and tillage farm.

He was the eldest of five but wasn’t tempted to take over running the farm. Instead he opted to study dairy science in UCC.

‘This was the late 60s and there was a big focus on EEC, which was to become the EC and then the EU which attracted me towards going down the academic route, and pursuing a career in the business side of things,’ he recalls.

Graduating in 1970, Andy joined Carbery.

‘The dairy industry was very much based in Munster at that time. All the opportunities were in the south of the country, so I started work with Carbery as a production manager,’ he said.

Andy recalls it as a ‘busy and exciting period’ in Irish agriculture.

‘This was the period before the introduction of quotas so there was significant expan- sion in milk production and associated manufacturing ca- pacity,’ he said.

It was also a time of innovation with the production of whey-based ingredients, added value products and alcohol at Carbery, all of which Andy was involved in.

Andy, who married Margaret from Ballingurteen, near Clonakilty, stayed in Ballineen until 1980 before taking up a role with the group in Vermont, USA.

‘I was the general manager of a newly set-up whey processing plant. That was a really exciting time. It was a great opportunity as there were so many new developments in the industry. It was a three-year assignment but we ended up staying there for seven years.

Farming Awards recipient Andy Mahon. (Photo: Andy Gibson)

‘We deliberated a lot about returning but at that stage our girls, Máirín and Eilís, were aged five and three and we were thinking about school and all that so we came home and around that time our son Andrew was also born. That was in the late 80s and I went back to Carbery as group marketing director for a range of dairy products.’

Andy found himself at a crossroads when Carbery was acquired by the four West Cork co-operatives in the early 90s.

With his vast experience and business acumen, he would have continued to play an important role.

But instead he seized the opportunity to branch out on his own.

‘For quite a long time I’d been thinking about the prospect of starting my own business. The food service business was developing at a rapid rate at the time and so were the deli counters and the idea of ‘food on the go’ and I knew that cheese for these markets was being imported at that time,’ he said.

He launched Bandon Vale in 1995, successfully catering to both markets.

Andy also saw another big gap in the market he could fill and that was in the retail packaging of cheese.

‘Bulk products were being sent from here to the UK at the time for packing, before being returned for sale here, so we started to pack for other manufacturers and eventually got to the position that we were packing for all the major multiples,’ he said.

The move from Watergate Street to a €2m purpose-built factory in Lauragh in 2003 facilitated this expansion with a team of around 70 working across three shifts.

‘We stopped manufacturing our own cheese as the opportunities for packing and food service grew at such a rate, it was the most profitable avenue to continue,’ he said.

The business was acquired by Bandon Co-op 10 years ago and Bandon Vale now packs 27,000 tonnes of cheese annually for customers including Ornua, SuperValu, Dunnes Stores, Tesco and others, with a staff of 300 people.

‘Bandon Co-op approached us, and made an attractive offer that we accepted. I continued with the business and sitting on the board and retired just last February. The business now operates as a key division of the co-operative under the prudent stewardship of my daughter Eilís who has been with the business since college and has been ceo for the past number of years. I was delighted to be able to hand over to her,’ he said.

Reflecting on his career, he says that in the early days, the hours were long.

‘Starting out it was Margaret and myself for the first few years. It fell to us to do it all, and it was challenging at times getting it off the ground, but in a few years volumes were increasing and the way the business was evolving and growing was very satisfying,’ he said.

Living in Murragh, near Enniskeane, West Cork very much feels like home now, after 50 years.

How is he enjoying his retirement?

He laughs, indicating he’s not one to sit around and relax!

‘I have a small farm which I enjoy and I have a few horses. I’ve a boat and I also enjoy sailing in Schull and spending time with my family and four grandsons,’ he said.

Drama is another big interest of his, and Andy has been involved with Kilmeen drama for years.

In fact it’s where he met Margaret.

He’s the current chairman and will be involved in organising the upcoming one-act and three-act festivals hosted in the theatre.

Winning The Southern Star’s Hall of Fame Award is a nice bookend to his professional career.

‘I’m delighted and honoured to receive this recognition. It wasn’t on my radar at all, and it came as a surprise, but a welcome one.’

Why we love West Cork farming

Andy Donoghue of Hodnett Forde Auctioneers. (Photo by theheadshotguy.ie)

HODNETT Forde Property Services are delighted to support the 2023 West Cork Farming Awards in recognition of the incredible work and sacrifices all members of the farming community experience throughout their daily lives.

As we are well aware, farming isn’t a 9-5 role and involves a whole lifestyle commitment to operate successfully.

The resilience and determination to contend with constant challenges such as climate, input costs, and regulation changes amounts to greater levels of pressure than ever before and so rewarding the stand-out performers is most befitting for this industry.

At Hodnett Forde Property Services we provide multiple agriculture-related property services including the sales and rental of farm land, valuation services, and negotiation services for acquisitions.

We work closely with agri-cultural tax consultants for inheritance and tax planning providing valuation advice where needed.

Our team of 12 staff are highly experienced and centrally located in Clonakilty covering an area from Cork city to the Beara Peninsula. We would be delighted to assist with any farm and property-related queries.