Crafty Mullingar company is expanding

A local firm that provides packaging services to craft beverage producers across Europe is expanding and is on the hunt for new staff.

Following a new investment of €500,000, The BevCraft Group, which is based in Mullingar Business Park, plans to both double its canning capacity and its workforce over the next year. The firm is currently looking to recruit process operatives to work with the Mullingar team on canning projects across Ireland.

Although there has been a 30 per cent reduction in the consumption of beer in Ireland during the Covid-19 crisis, primarily due to the closure of pubs for the last three months, BevCraft’s finance director and co-founder Ciarán Gorman says that it is important to continue to invest for the future.

“The economy is at a risky crossroads whereby if businesses stop investing and hiring, even for a few months, then Ireland could very easily sink into a deeper recession than is already predicted.

“It is more important than ever that consumers support local independent producers while at the same time Irish SMEs, which are the backbone of the economy, find ways to sustain activity levels and continue to expand their offering where possible.

“SMEs are very jobs intensive which will become critical as the temporary wage supports are withdrawn. Within our sector, a 10% drop in sales at local independent producers will destroy hundreds of quality Irish jobs whereas the same underlying volume loss at a multinational producer will have minimal impact on staff levels.”

BevCraft has continue to operate throughout the Covid-19 crisis as its manufacturing and supply chain services were deemed essential to the ability of smaller producers to remain in business and fulfil retail and export commitments.

“One of the fortunate aspects of the groups activities is that it works predominately with craft producers who operate with smaller batch requirements.

“This means that there are usually only two people from BevCraft’s team required on a production run and the client producer can schedule a small team to be present at their facility, which thankfully makes social distancing very straightforward to operate,” Ciaran says.

When the pandemic began, the group implemented measures right across its operations to safeguard staff and clients and to make the best use of scarce resources.

This included redirecting supplies of PPE where possible to the frontline by providing 30,000 gloves to Mullingar regional hospital at zero profit.

The firm has also altered some its plans in recent months in response to the impact that the Covid-19 crisis has had on the world’s economy, including pausing the opening of a base in The Netherlands while placing more emphasis on diversifying existing product and service lines and finding new ways to meet client needs.

While the last few months have been challenging and there are fears that the economic impact of the pandemic will be long lasting, Ciaran is looking to the future with confidence.

“BevCraft has worked closely with its partners during recent months as they work to find new sales channels to secure their futures. The group has been particularly excited to see Beercloud.ie, based in Athlone, link local craft producers to consumers across the midlands.

“In addition, many local Mullingar businesses such as John Daly’s and Red Earth have added independently produced Irish craft beers from White Hag and Rascals to their offering which completes the circle as these cans start their journey with BevCraft.”