After almost 50 years in business, the Glens of Antrim Potatoes has transformed from a small family farm in Cushendall to one of the biggest names in the industry.
Director Mary McKillop says that despite their continued success, they will never forget their roots in the Co Antrim glens.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Mary said: "Our company this year will be celebrating a whole 50 years in business so this is something that we are hugely proud of - we are still a family-owned and run business.
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"We were established back in 1972 in Cushendall in the heart of the Glens of Antrim and we are still based there today. As you can imagine, our production facility looks a whole lot different than it did back then."
Charlie and Kathleen McKillop started with a small family potato farm and turned it into a leader across the UK and Ireland.
"The business expanded rapidly throughout the 80s supplying potatoes to the local Northern Irish market. Being a leader in that industry pathed the way for the company to secure and supply to the UK multiples whenever they arrived in Northern Ireland in the late 90s.
"We are still very much advocates for the potato industry and they are still very much at the forefront of our business right up until 2017 when we recognised a gap in the market for premium locally produced crisps," Mary explained.
Glens of Antrim Crisps became the next venture which has excelled the family business further than they could have ever imagined when they started out five decades ago.
The company invested £900,000 in its own potato crisp processing and packaging plant which opened in 2015.
She continued: "We did a lot of trials with varieties of potatoes and flavours to ensure that we could make a really good quality crisp, something that the Northern Ireland market didn't really have.
"The quality of crisps that we are able to produce because we do make them in small batches - our own branded crisps have made a really good name for themselves and has been recognised by many major retailers across Ireland."
Despite their rapid growth across the country, Mary says that it always comes back to home in the Glens of Antrim where they have always been a respected local business.
"We have always been well received as one of the larger employers in the area and we do like to show our support through things such as sponsorship of local GAA and running clubs, local events and other things going on around the Glens," she added.
"We like to extend our support as a thank you to our home community".
Glens of Antrim Crisps has just secured a contract to supply its full range of crisps to Tesco stores across the country A further spend of £500,000 is planned over the next four months.
Mary said: "It is just wonderful for us as a company to see our own branded products being in a supermarket chain like Tesco so it is a really exciting time for us and it is really a sign of our continued growth as a company that we are recognised to be on the shelves of such a large supermarket."
Family is always at the heart of the Glens of Antrim Potatoes and as a third-generation business, they show no signs of slowing anytime soon.
"We can always rely on each other and we can always trust each other's judgement which is definitely a good thing as you are all working together - it has its moments but we always get through, she laughed.
"Our crisp facility has created 20 jobs but in the Glens of Antrim as a whole, we employ 90 staff and we are immensely proud of them all especially over the last number of years throughout the challenging times of Covid.
"We are very much still a family business when it comes to our staff and we definitely see ourselves as a small company in that regard - we know everyone and everyone knows us so its a good atmosphere to be a part of."
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