Tayto Crisps
King Crisps
Hunky Dory's
Tayto Park
Mr. Tayto
New Opportunities
In 1980, Largo Foods C.E.O. Raymond Coyle was supplying Tayto with potatoes he grew on his family farm just outside Ashbourne, Co Meath. Today, he owns the company! When Tayto decided to source the potatoes from outside Ireland in 1981, Raymond Coyle, along with many others, lost his potato supplier contract with Tayto. Seeing this as an opportunity rather than adversity, Coyle decided to investigate potential earnings in this area:
“At the time, I said to myself that, with Tayto holding 90 per cent of the market, there had to be some money in it.”
Largo Foods was established in Ashbourne, Co. Meath by Raymond Coyle in 1983. The first branded product was “Cottage Crisps”. Then, in 1984 when the Capaldi family agreed to sell the Perri brand, Largo Foods had its breakthrough establish the company in the snackfoods industry.
Focused on Potato Crisp Manufacturing
Subsequently, Largo Foods followed this with the purchase of the “Sam Spudz” brand in 1995. Irish Snack Foods, based in Donegal, was Largo Foods next acquisition in 1996, thus doubling the number of production facilities.
The Donegal plant dedicated its expertise to extruded and fried snack manufacturing while the Ashbourne plant focused on potato crisp manufacturing. The launch of the infamous Hunky Dorys crisps range the same year saw Largo Foods further cement itself as a significant entity in the Irish snackfood market.
In the early 2000s, Largo Foods began producing some of the crisps and snacks for the then owned C&C brands, Tayto and King. Company growth was also aided from winning private label business with large multiple retailers in the UK market.
Number One in Ireland
In 2005, Tayto closed their crisp factory and Largo Foods won the contract for the entire business. The story continues in August 2006, when Largo Foods were successful in their bid to purchase the Tayto and King brands from Cantrell and Cochrane for €62m. The Tayto and King acquisitions turned Largo Foods into the number 1 snackfood company in Ireland with a 49% market share, employing 550 people and an annual turnover in the region of €100 million.
