Family-owned confectionery company Broderick’s has secured a €6.35m investment round led by the BDO Development Capital Fund as it eyes further international growth.

Founded in 2010 by Barry and Bernard Broderick as an offshoot of their family company (Ina’s Kitchen Desserts Ltd), Broderick’s produces handmade cakes and treats.

The range includes individually wrapped cake bars for the grab-and-go sector, boxed mini-bites for multiples and tray bakes for the cafe sector. The products are sold with a distinctive cartoonish branding that has landed Broderick’s several awards in the past.

The brand has since expanded into the Middle East and European markets, as well as selling into Japan. Around half of the €6.35m fundraiser comes from the BDO Development Capital Fund.

Enterprise Ireland invested €450,000 in Ina’s Kitchen Desserts Ltd in July 2016 and, alongside bank funding, the state agency is among the funders in the latest round too.

In Association with

Private investors and members of the Broderick family have invested €1.1m into the business since 2006. The most recent account filings for Ina’s Kitchen Desserts Ltd are for 2015, when the company booked a net profit of €133,000, down from €319,000 the year before. The firm had year-end net worth of €1.9m.

Broderick’s manufactures and sells its bars, treats and cakes under the ‘Broderick’s’, ‘The Irish Flapjack Company’ and ‘Ina’s Handmade Foods’ brands to the retail and food service sectors.

According to the company, the €6.35m fundraiser will allow it to purchase a new 5,000 sq. m. manufacturing facility in Tallaght and increase its sales. Broderick’s employs more than 100 employees from its existing facilities in Walkinstown in Dublin 12. The company plans to increase its workforce to 140 employees by 2022.

Currently led by brothers Barry and Bernard Broderick, the company was originally founded by their mother, Ina Broderick, in 1984. Andrew Bourg, investment director of The BDO Development Capital Fund, has joined the Broderick’s board.

Said Bourg: “Broderick’s is a first for the fund in terms of it being both a food company as well as a family owned venture, both of which are focus areas for the fund. It is one of many Irish family-run food companies that are export-focused with ambitious growth plans.”

Barry Broderick said: “We are extremely enthusiastic about what Broderick’s can achieve with this investment and expansion. We have ambitious expansion plans and we are now positioned to implement them.”

Broderick’s was advised by Baxterworld and Wallace, while Beauchamps acted for The BDO Development Capital Fund.

Photo: Andrew Bourg (left), BDO Development Capital Fund, with Bernard Broderick and Barry Broderick (right) (Pic: Peter Houlihan)