ALL ABOUT US

2000 years ago: An old hermit sits at a campfire eating mud that he’s carved into rectangular blocks. It doesn’t taste quite right. He now realizes the ingredients are wrong. But he’s onto something.
700 years ago: A young peasant worker gazes upon a sack of flour and has an idea. What if we could use this to make great tasting cakes, with the finest ingredients from all around Ireland and the rest of the world? Sadly he died two days later from the Plague.
1970’s: Baby Barry and Bernard sit at their dinner table, eating dry and boring biscuits, and look at each other for a moment. They hold each other’s gaze. Bernard’s eyes spark up in delight. Barry nods sincerely. An idea is born.
1983: Ina Broderick begins selling the traditional cheesecakes she makes at the family home in Dublin to local coffee shops and fine foods stores. Her four young sons all grow up surrounded by cakes – and get an early taste of the trade. As soon as they’re old enough to hold a rolling pin, they’re drafted in to bash up biscuits for cheesecake (fun), cut strawberries for decorations (less so) and do the dreaded washing up (bleugh!).
1993: Having caught the baking bug, fresh out of university Barry Broderick joins his mum at Ina’s Kitchen Desserts. She kindly irons his shirts for the office.
1997: The company grows steadily, expanding to supply hotels, restaurants and in-flight dining for Aer Lingus with delectable cakes and tray bakes. No one can stop humming the theme tune to hit movie Titanic.
2002: After years of working weekends, doing deliveries and using cake to charm the ladies, Bernard takes up a full-time role within the business. He assumes that nothing was done correctly before he arrived.
2003: The brothers are ahead of their time when they create handmade flapjacks for the Irish market. That leads to a lightbulb moment when they get the idea to translate what they’ve learned in the premium cake making business into a convenient grab-and-go snack. It’s going to take a lot of planning but did someone say genius?
2006: Ina’s Kitchen Desserts is the sole supplier of desserts to the Ryder Cup and the Ryder Cup Family when the tournament is held at the world famous K Club in Kildare, Ireland. Fueled by the delicious delicacies, Team Europe takes the trophy. Tartan plus-fours become the uniform at the cake factory.
2009: Barry and Bernard plan the launch of a new brand called “Broderick’s”. Its aim is to bring a premium handmade product to a wide audience at a price everyone can enjoy (nothing to do with making them famous, honest!). Made using only the highest quality ingredients, such as Belgian chocolate and Irish butter, Broderick’s bars reflect Ina’s traditional values of taste and quality, while also allowing her boys to have some fun.
2010: November 1, 2010 sees the launch of the best thing to come out of Ireland since Glenroe – also born in 1983 as it happens. Broderick’s indulgent cake bars hit the shelves in two flavours, Gooey Ooozy Chocolately Solid Brick (handmade chocolate brownie slice) and Tiff Toff in the Tuffen (handmade Tiffin slice). Broderick’s wins a number of awards for taste and branding at home in Ireland and throughout Europe.
The new Broderick’s bars are featured on the Irish television version of The Apprentice, in conjunction with SPAR Ireland. Their inventive names and colourful packaging featuring the “Cake Crusaders” themselves ensure that the bars are not the ones to get fired.
The public falls in love with the brand’s customised fleet of vehicles. Passing the Sticky Wicky Licky Lorry never fails to make people smile – even in rush hour traffic.
2011: After a successful launch in Ireland, sales abroad start to take off for Broderick’s. France is the first major export market – ooh la la! – with the bars being stocked in high-end department store Galeries Lafayette and the Centre George Pompidou. Online engagement sees glowing emails from happy customers arriving. Smiley face.
2012: Broderick’s is asked to supply handmade cake bars to the athlete’s village at the London Olympics and the Olympic family – a proud moment for the sport-loving brothers. Later in the year, the Broderick’s Brownie is awarded best new product at the prestigious Blas Na hÉireann food producers’ awards. So that’s one gold for us and three for Usain Bolt.
2013: Broderick’s builds on its success at home in Ireland with the launch of new products including the burly Broderick’s Man Bars and rather more dainty Mini-Bites. Export markets skyrocket, with Germany, Holland and Japan among the 13 countries that now stock the brand. This is also the year that Barry and Bernard successfully launch an Irish chocolate bar in the home of chocolate – Switzerland. Yes, you read that correctly.
2014: In June, the new Broderick’s Mini-Bites Box is launched in Irish supermarkets. A deal with Aer Lingus helps the brand to literally take off, creating partnerships with Virgin Atlantic, Delta Airlines, Emirates, Ryanair, CityJet, and FinnAir. Demand for exports continues to grow, particularly in the Middle East and Asian markets. To date, Barry and Bernard have sold more than 10 million treats and Broderick’s bars are now available in 23 countries. Sweet!
2547: Broderick’s build their Caramental Space Station, and tap into a new demographic outside of the solar system. Our territories now extend from Earth, to the Lunar and Mars colonies, with ambition to seed frozen brownie products on the outer moons of Jupiter