Company receives award for seventh time

Irish Dog foods has been named as one of Ireland’s Best Managed companies in the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards programme. The company, which demonstrated superior business performance for the seventh year, was recognised at a gala awards dinner in Dublin on 1 March 2019.

This year Irish Dog Foods was one of only 12 new companies to join a network of 136 companies that were awarded the status of Best Managed Platinum Club. The Best Managed Companies network this year has total revenues of almost €11 billion, export sales of almost €3 billion and total employment of approximately 44,000 people.

Commenting on the award, Liam Queally, CEO, Irish Dog Foods said: “ For Irish Dog Foods, Innovation is the key to our success, we realised that combining this with other core competencies like quality products, service and vision that we would have a core strategy for growth in a competitive landscape. Over the years our world has evolved from what was feeding dogs leftovers from our tables to a cross range of high-end diets that include Grain free, Organic and fresh meat inclusion diets. The customer we serve today is no longer the pet owner but is as we refer to them as the pet parent.”

Anya Cummins, Partner, Deloitte said: “Well done to all of the winning companies on their achievement. The Best Managed Companies process is a rigorous one, examining every facet of an organisation, and the bar is set high by our judging panel. As ever, the spread of companies, right around the country and across a number of industries, underlines the importance of Irish and Northern Irish companies to the economy and in the midst of economic uncertainty, technology disruption, an open competitive market and full employment, the continued strong performance of these businesses is admirable. In the current environment, it is important for this contribution to be recognised, supported and showcased.”

Tom Hayes, Chief Executive, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking said: “It’s a challenging time for businesses in general, with the operating environment consistently and rapidly changing, due to technological developments, new ways of doing things, and challenges on the macroeconomic horizon. The Best Managed Companies this year have demonstrated that they can optimise each area of their business while always operating with an acute awareness of their environment, recognising the opportunities of expansion into global markets, in addition to strategic alliances and partnerships. I look forward to their continued growth.”

This year’s judging panel members were Frank Ryan, Chair of the Judging Panel; Brendan Jennings, CEO, Deloitte Ireland; Tom Hayes, Chief Executive, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking; Siobhan McAleer, Commercial Director at the IMI; Rose Hynes, Chairman of the Shannon Group Board and Origin Enterprises; and Feargal Mooney, former Chief Executive Officer of Hostel World