ABOVE: Michelle Lei, Social Media Manager with TGF, and Yvonne Perez, TGF Customer Services Manager, visited a farm in Cuffsgrange Co. Kilkenny along with the wider TGF team recently.

Tirlan’s Truly Grass Fed (TGF) team sets foot on Irish soil

For the first time since before the Covid outbreak, the entire TGF team had the opportunity to visit Ireland recently, with some team members making their first ever trip to the country.

Overherd at Tirlán caught up with two of our Stateside colleagues to get their impressions having spent five days in Kilkenny.

TGF Customer Service Manager Yvonne Perez has been working with Tirlán for nearly three years, while Michelle Lei, Social Media Specialist TGF has been with the company for 10 months. Both are originally from Chicago and this was their first time visiting the home of Truly Grass Fed.

Michelle said: “We spent most of our time in Abbey Quarter doing various presentations and learning more about Tirlán. We also had the chance to visit Eamonn Sheehan’s Farm in Cuffsgrange, as well as the Innovation Centre in Ballyragget where we got to taste a couple of TGF products that are in the works.”

“It was fun to see our butter products being packaged in Ballyragget too,” said Yvonne. “Kilkenny Castle was really cool to visit. On top of that, I really enjoyed socialising with the TGF team in some beautiful restaurants.”

With this being your first visits to Ireland, what are your impressions?

Michelle: I feel like Ireland’s pretty much exactly what I expected, which is not always the case when you travel. For instance, all the photos that I’ve been choosing for social media since I started with TGF are completely accurate in real life. The greenery is very accurate and there are animals grazing literally everywhere, like right when you land the plane, there’s sheep next to the runway!

I didn’t expect how small Kilkenny would be, but it was really cute and there’s so much history everywhere.

Yvonne: Yeah, I agree, Kilkenny was very charming. Michelle and I took a walk one morning before we went to the office, we were kind of amazed with the architecture that was still standing and so well preserved after centuries.

A standout impression for me is how sustainability and naturalness are very much ingrained into the culture. This was very apparent when we went to the farm. Food production or food farming in the US doesn’t compare to what we saw in Ireland. While we were at the farm, we also saw a calf being born, which was amazing. Since visiting, I feel I’m definitely more conscious of what I’m consuming.

With you guys working for TGF, does that reinforce what you’re selling?

Yvonne: We definitely want to promote the naturalness of our product and I think people in the US would be amazed at what we saw; a calf being born, getting his tags and first injection and then going out to live on the land happily, you know, it’s not as industrialised as it here is here in the States.

Michelle: A big part of the trip for me was to pick up some nice pieces for social media, mostly cows grazing and a couple of interviews I did with Eamonn Sheehan on his farm to hopefully hold me over until when we can go back again. The goal is to show more of what’s happening on the farm since sustainability is a really big part of the TGF brand and what sets us apart from competitors.

Is there anything else that surprised you about the trip, either professionally or personally?

Yvonne: I was surprised to see all of the different people that I work with so close together at Abbey Quarter. Because I work with a lot of different people in different functions from planning, finance and logistics and warehousing, I didn’t really realise how close together they actually are. My perception of Tirlán is that it’s such a big company, so that pleasantly surprised me. As we’d heard so much about the new Collaboration Hub, visiting Abbey Quarter was exciting for us, especially as we’ll soon be moving out of the Glanbia Nutritional’s offices and into our new Tirlán offices in Chicago. I think this is a big step for the brand, having our own space and creating our own culture.

Michelle: For me, I think the coolest part was seeing the Innovation Centre and the process of how new products come about. We taste tested two TGF products that are in the works and hopefully launching this year. But I didn’t realise how long it takes from conceptualisation to testing to surveying consumers to launch. Understanding that process and meeting the team in Ballyragget was a great experience.

With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, do you have any fun plans? Will you go to see the river in Chicago dyed green?

Michelle: I went to see the river last year with some friends and we had a few drinks, but this year I’m going to be at the Expo West Trade Show in California, so I won’t be joining my friends who are very excited! But I’m sure the TGF Sales and Marketing team will make our own fun this St Patrick’s Day.

Yvonne: My little girl is actually in the St. Patrick’s Day parade for the first time this year! Chicago has three Paddy’s Day parades. You have the one downtown, there’s a Northside one and one on the Southside. My little one will be marching in the Northside parade with the Girl Scouts. I’m excited to see her and then I usually make like a big dinner for my family. No drinking green beer for me though!

Members of the TGF team who visited Kilkenny for five days recently.