Few businesses have flourished since the onset of the recession, but JM Food Services has managed just that. Rosita Moyles spoke to Royal County about the burgeoning Navan-based company which is bringing down the curtain on an award-winning 2009.

It is just six years since JM Food Services took its tentative first steps into the competitive world of the food business. During that time, though, the only way has been up, with the company, owned and operated by local couple John & Rosita Moyles, flourishing from a tiny unit to an impressive purpose-built base at Navan's Mullaghboy Industrial Estate.
An initial staff of two has blossomed to a team of 25, while annual turnover has grown from "zero" - as Rosita Moyles, puts it - to well in excess of seven figures last year.
Despite the onset of the recession, JM Food Services has continued to build its business having landed a major new contract with Musgrave Super Valu to supply the indigenous supermarket brand with specially prepared fresh meals. The company also landed three prestigious awards in 2009, one for overall winner of the "Best Chilled Category" at the Shop Expo in the RDS and 2 Gold at London's Great Taste awards, where their produce shared a stage with some of the world's highest achievers in the field of food production.
It's been a whirlwind time of heady progress, as Rosita acknowledges. "We started out in a small garage beside John's parents' house," she says. "We had one chef and one van-driver- that was it! But we quickly realised there was more business out there and that we wouldn't be able to get it if we didn't have a bigger premises, so we took the decision to buy a site in Mullaghboy Industrial Estate and build a purpose-built unit. It's 10,000 sq. feet and everything is off the highest standard so since we moved in, everything has expanded quite rapidly."
Rosita is anxious to pay tribute to the efforts of the company's staff, who have played an integral part in the success of JM Food Services this past six years. "We have an excellent team here, really top-class. Most of our staff members have been with us since the beginning. John is still very much hands-on as one of three chefs, we have a team of kitchen assistants who help with the preparation of the food, we have a couple of people on telesales, one person on full-time accounts and three full-time van drivers for our own distribution, which covers most of the Leinster area."
Not that JM Food Services is limited to the eastern province. Far from it - contracts agreed with the BWG group, which includes Mace, Spar and Eurospar brands, as well as Londis and Gala convenience store outlets have taken the JM Foods produce to every corner of the country. "Kerry and Donegal are two very strong counties for us," says Rosita.
The brand is expected to grow still further in the near future following the completion of an agreement with Musgrave Super Valu, which will see JM Food Services supply Ireland's biggest indigenous supermarket.
"Winning the contract with the Musgrave group is a huge thing for us," admits Rosita. "We're a small company in comparison to a lot of the others who were competing for it, but it was done by e-tender online, a very fair system which allows the small companies the same chance as the big ones. Musgraves are very fair in awarding contracts and they're very good to small suppliers and producers throughout Ireland. As a small company it's tremendous for us to get the opportunity and it's great for the morale of everyone here as well."
Perhaps key to winning the contract was the fact that JM Foods' Mullaghboy HQ was eminently capable of producing the amount of meals to supply a busy nationwide supermarket chain on a daily basis. "All the necessary infrastructure is in place already so there won't be a problem coping with the demand," insists Rosita. "We have had to make a couple of small changes, such as adding in some automation, but we've managed to get that in place fairly quickly so everything has worked out well so far."
Beef lasagne is the initial product which will be stocked by Musgraves Super Valu stores throughout Ireland, but the plan is to roll out other food products in 2010 and beyond. Other specialities of JM Foods include two award-winning fresh meals: meatballs in tomato and basil sauce, which was awarded a gold medal at the Guild of Fine Food's prestigious annual Great Taste awards in London this year, and chicken fajitas, named Best Chilled Product at the Shop expo, Ireland's principal annual trade show for the food and packaging industry.
"It's been great to get that recognition," says Rosita. "There were something like 6000 products submitted at the Great Taste awards so we were delighted. Some of our products had been highly commended at the Shop trade show in previous years but this year was the first time we won the overall award for Best Chilled Product. It's a three-day show at the RDS and we won the award on the first day so we were inundated for the rest of the show!"
In addition to the award-winning fajitas and meatballs, and the beef lasagne which will be available from all Musgrave Super Valu stores, JM Food Services also specialises in a wide range of freshly-prepared convenient meals, from chicken curry to beef stroganoff, chicken & mushroom pie to pasta bakes, chicken a la king to various delicious quiches. And it offers a lot more besides award-winning fresh meals, with soups, salads and sandwich-fillers also available. "It's a competitive market and retailers are always looking for something different," says Rosita. "We'd like to think we can provide that, using all the best and freshest ingredients."
For more information, visit www.jmfoodservices.com. Tweet

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