‘Pandemic offered opportunity to expand’

ONE of Strabane and Northern Ireland’s most prominent businessmen has said the coronavirus pandemic conferred an opportunity for his company to expand.

Eamon McCay, managing director at Frylite was speaking in the wake of recent revelations that the Strabane-based firm took a £6 million hit to its revenues in a year under lockdown, according to the latest set of company results.

Frylite, which operates from six sites across the island of Ireland, is involved in the manufacture, retail and export of sauces, oils, flavourings and additives. Its customers include the likes of Burger King, KFC and Supermacs, as well as hotels and restaurants.

However, according to the documents filed in July with Companies House, turnover declined by 15 per-cent to £33.75 million for the 12 months ending April 4, 2021, representing a decline of £6.2million over the year.

Amazingly though, just a matter of weeks later, Frylite launched a new depot in Lisburn to accommodate increased, post-lockdown demand for its products.

This expansion represents an investment of £2million for the firm and has made way for 25 new jobs.

“The pandemic has affected all businesses, including Frylite,” Eamon McCay admitted. “To reduce the spread of the virus, we have had to consider our operations from end to end and introduce a series of policies and practices to protect the health of our employees and customer. 

“Like many other businesses operating in the food service sector, we did experience a revenue loss due to the closure of the ‘out of home’ sector,” he explained.

“However, in rethinking and reassessing Frylite’s working practices, we reviewed our operations and our expansion plans and used the opportunity that the pandemic presented to introduce strategic developments that would support our expansive network of customers.

“Earlier this year, we announced the opening of our Lisburn depot, which represents an investment of £2million and will see the creation of 25 new jobs including a new depot manager position.

“This development will expand Frylite’s distribution network, providing the company with six depots across the island – Lisburn, Coleraine, Cork, Dublin, Galway, and our headquarters in Strabane.”

Mr McCay further believes that the Frylite Lisburn site has a lot of scope to grow even more in the coming years partly due to its zero carbon emissions drive.

He concluded, “Our team of 230 staff, have also been working diligently, liaising with our customers and ensuring that they have the support that they need in order to respond to surges in demand that are being encountered with the easing of restrictions and the growth in staycations.

“We have a loyal customer base which is testament to the quality of our products and our focus on customer service.”