Crilco Confectionery has seen 55% rise in sales

Newry-based Crilco Confectionery, one of the biggest manufacturers of quality boiled sweets in the UK and Republic of Ireland, has experienced a 55% rise in sales over the past year.

A family-owned and managed business, Crilly’s has strengthened its market shares in the UK in particular against an immensely challenging background of rising energy and other costs, according to director David Crilly, who adds the company is on target for record sales over £10 million by the end of this year from £7million last year.

“We’ve picked up significant new business across the widest range of confectionery operations including contract packers and discounters such as Aldi, B&M, and Poundstretcher, as well as private label producers,” David says.

“As a result, we are extremely busy currently and have increased production capacity, storage and employment in many areas of the company.”

The company’s distinctive branding under Crilly’s Sweets is now among the best known in the UK and Republic of Ireland. It is currently the biggest manufacturer of traditional boiled sweets in Ireland and one of the few remaining in Britain.

The Co Down enterprise is now finding that customers are ‘beating a path’ to its Newry manufacturing operation. It regularly hosts visits from existing and potential buyers including delegations from China to its Newry operation.

Crilly’s also has a successful track record in exporting to Europe and Asia, especially China, which has become an important export market for sweets for its extensive and successful network of ‘pick and mix’ stores across the vast country especially around centres such as Shanghai.

Sweet lovers there have developed a taste for the company’s boiled sweets such as mint humbugs, rhubarb and custard, rosy apples, blackcurrant and liquorice and clove drops - long popular in markets such as the UK and Ireland.

The progressive and ambitious local manufacturing company has invested substantially in the latest high-speed production and wrapping machinery and systems to help meet the growing demand for its wide range of boiled sweets, jellies and its expertise and experience in contract packaging.

“Our investment in new production machinery and systems was supported by the acquisition of new and much larger warehousing facilities which has substantially increased our storage capacity. This enables to us to exploit other opportunities we’ve pinpointed in many markets outside Northern Ireland and to meet demands for greater product volumes,” David adds

Other successful markets for Crilly’s Sweets are in the US, Australia, Germany, Italy, France and the Czech Republic, all of which are supplied directly from the factory on Newry’s leafy and windy Flagstaff Road.

“Our success is based on a strong reputation for premium confectionery, especially boiled sweets, and excellent customer service. This includes developing products for them and responding quickly and flexibly to the specific requirements of individual clients,” David continues.

A key element in its far-reaching marketing strategy is regular participation in major industry trade shows such as ISM in Cologne. While these trade shows were paused during the pandemic, the activities have now resumed. The Chinese market breakthrough came from Crilly’s participation in the industry show in Germany before the lengthy coronavirus lockdowns.

Crilly’s, which was established in 1974 in Newry by Peter Crilly, David’s father, currently employs around 30 people. In addition to an extensive portfolio of boiled confectionery, the business produces such longstanding favourites as jelly babies, jelly beans, cough drops, wine gums and vanilla fudge, all handmade in the factory. Pear drops remain the company’s biggest seller.

While much of the confectionery appears under the Crilly’s own brand, a broad range of sweets is also made for other manufacturers from Britain and Ireland.

David joined the business in 1999 and now runs the small and successful manufacturing operation with his father and brother Ciaran. The company was set up the business in Newry city centre in 1974 on the back of Peter’s experience in confectionery production with industry leader Mars in Slough and from making traditional rock and boiled sweets at Blackpool.

The company’s longstanding experience of and expertise in developing its own recipes for sweets and other confectionery enables the team to respond quickly with original products such as the current trend towards alcohol-styled sweets like gin and tonic, mojito, whiskey and cola, and prosecco gums. It has also launched a range of menthol cough sweets.

The company, which still uses the traditional methods of mixing sugar and glucose and adding natural flavours, currently produces over 50,000 bags of boiled sweets every day, more than 12 million a year. It has also developed gluten-free varieties.