Food First Consulting

Why Food First Consulting?

“I love helping buyers and suppliers do better business together”

Food First Consulting was founded by Malachy O’Connor, an experienced and passionate food industry professional. Over the years, he saw so many potentially great deals fall through, not because buyers and suppliers disagreed, but because they were on completely different pages, with completely different needs. Our vision is that those great, once in a decade deals, don’t need to be so rare. Our mission is to help suppliers and buyers do better business together by understanding each other’s needs, by bridging the gap between them.

Food First Consulting bridges that gap.

Based in Ireland, we have a unique knowledge of the retail world with a broad skills set thanks to +20 years experience in food technology, buying, buying director and marketing director roles, in a variety of c-store, multiple and discount supermarket retailers.

We offer 3 core services:

Retail Insights

Negotiation Skills

Strategy Development

Food First Consulting provides services to a broad spectrum of clients.

Start-ups and smaller businesses can access advice either directly via Food First Consulting or via Enterprise Ireland where Malachy is a business mentor.
SME and larger branded businesses can access support directly via Food First Consulting.
Private Label focused manufacturers and retailers can engage via IPLC (International Private Label Consult).

GET IN TOUCH

We’re eager to discuss your business needs and answer any questions you may have.

WHAT WE DO

Everything we do is based on our values: Impact, Comradeship and Creativity.

We believe in living and working with integrity and empathy so that we can have a positive impact on the world. We’re stronger together, as comrades, we encourage and challenge each other, we have each others backs. And we are diverse, so we take perspective and look at things differently finding creative solutions in unlikely places.

Food First Consulting was set up to bridge gaps. We do that in three ways.

Retail Insights

Malachy will help you get you inside the heads of the major retailers and help you do more and better business by understanding their pressures, their dynamics, what they want and what they need.

Negotiation Skills

Malachy will train you and your team to negotiate effectively with potentially bigger and more powerful opponents. Malachy can also strategically support on specific negotiations.

Strategy Development

Malachy will work with your team to develop a business strategy, be that for your entire business or with a specific segment or customer in mind.

IPLC

IPLC (International Private Label Consulting) is a boutique consultancy firm specialising in strategic consultancy services and project management support to manufacturers and retailers.

With a broad and unrivalled understanding of the Private Label industry, we help our clients with a pragmatic and action-orientated approach.

Christmas 2020 Report & 2021 Outlook

2020 was unique to say the least and Christmas past was just as odd. The latest Kantar data covers the period from 5th October to 27th December which effectively corresponds with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, the period is characterised by the October lockdowns, the Christmas re-opening and the now familiar […]

Grocery Market Data 12 w/e 1st November 2020

Aldi, Dunnes, Grocery, Grocery Insights, grocery retail, lidl, market share, supermarkets, SuperValu, Tesco

26th November 2020

Grocery Market Data 12 w/e 1st November 2020

Headlines The Kantar Worldpanel data for the 12 weeks to November 1st sees Dunnes on 22.2% taking back 1st place for the first time since March 2020. SuperValu are in 2nd place on 21.9%. Tesco stay third on 21.2%. Lidl are fourth with 12.7% and Aldi are fifth with 12.3%. The market grew by +14.4% during […]

covid-19, Grocery, Grocery Insights, grocery retail, New Product Development, retailer brands, supermarkets

19th November 2020

Engaging Shoppers during COVID-19

Impulse Grocery shopping patterns have changed considerably over the past year. Prior to COVID-19, whilst many consumers did their grocery shopping on autopilot, many others actually quite enjoyed the experience. They would meander around the store taking in the sounds and smells, searching for deals, responding to promotional messages and actively checking out new products. […]

Clients