DESI DERBY
IN TUNE WITH THE MUSGRAVE SUSTAINABLE DNA
A product of Saint Malachy’s College, Belfast and Ulster University, Jordanstown; Desi Derby’s career path through the Irish retail scene has been impressive.
He has been working in Musgrave Wholesale Partners for almost nine years, currently as Wholesale Marketing Director, with additional responsibility for eCommerce & Customer Services.
“Before joining Musgrave, I was responsible for strategic development at Lidl and, before that, spent 15 years in the advertising agency space,” says Desi. “My largest client during that time was Tesco; so, very much a retail
background however I’ve worked across many different sectors – from recruitment to food manufacturing and tourism to renewable technologies.”
Musgrave is a fully Irish-owned national wholesale and retail business. As well as being Ireland’s largest one, it’s a family-owned operation and that, Desi says, reflects in the strong values that the company espouses and lives by:
“It’s extremely rare, these days, to see a seventh-generation familyowned business,” says Desi. “And we are very proud to be the only 100% Irish-owned national wholesaler operating across the island today.
“I’ve experienced businesses where values are talked about but not really lived. With Musgrave, you have values that are both talked about but more importantly lived as part of our operations every day – honesty, working hard, achievement, long-term stable relationships and not being greedy. Those things are really important. They’re the values that have guided this business for 148 years. They’re no different today than they were when the Musgrave family established the business.” In the last eight years (with the only ‘interruption’ being that of Covid),
Musgrave has been very much on the acquisition trail, bringing a number of operations in Ireland and abroad under their umbrella.
“Back in 2014, we acquired the foodservice division of Allied Foods,” says Desi. “That was the first ‘line in the sand’ where this traditional wholesaler was moving more into foodservice. In 2015, we relocated our delivered foodservice operation into a new central warehouse in Blanchardstown. In 2016, we acquired the foodservice division of CJ O’Loughlin and then, in 2017, launched our next-generation Food Emporium at Ballymun.
“We’ve probably been on an accelerated journey of acquisition since 2018. We acquired the premium foodservice brand, La Rousse Foods, in 2018 and Italian distributor, Italicatessen in 2022.”
These were followed by Doyle’s Veg Prep in 2023 and two British-based premium foodservice businesses – namely Ritter Courivaud and Town & Country Fine Foods. The acquisition of Irish wine distributor, Febvre Wines, followed earlier this year, complementing their previous acquisition of Drinks Inc. in Northern Ireland.
All these acquisitions, Desi points out, aren’t some kind of real-life Monopoly game for Musgrave, but are in line with their customerfocused ethos. “Our aim is to ensure customers can get everything they need to run their business, and in particular from hero categories such as meat, fruit & veg, world foods, patisserie, coffee and alcohol. These acquisitions are part of a wider business strategy to grow a world class food and beverage business.
“The newly acquired businesses in Great Britain give us even more opportunity. Ritter Courivaud is a premium foodservice business, that’s very aligned to La Rousse Foods, for example, and I think that our experience in premium foodservice has set us up well for success in the GB market.
Understanding the needs of the customer is the starting point upon which all policy and business activity is based, as far as Desi is concerned. It’s all about how you can effectively become a long-term partner for your customer as their needs evolve.
“We’ve a new e-commerce platform that launched in 2023 and now over half of our customers are interacting with digital purchasing,” says Desi.
“The benefits of our e-commerce platform include real-time stock information, accurate delivery lead-times and customers can save lists, which makes it easy to go back and re-order. Alongside a core range of 15,000+ products, customers also have access to over 6,000 extended range products; a digital-only range aimed at helping customers to get everything they need to run their business in one place. In line with our brand promise “Business Made Easy”, we’re seeing 98% customer satisfaction rates.
Finally, from a sustainable perspective, Musgrave takes a typically long-term and realistic approach to the burning issue, with some impressive and quantifiable results to date.
“By 2030, we will be Ireland’s most trusted sustainable business in our sector,” says Desi of the clear ambition of Musgrave in this regard. Net zero point for the company is to be reached by 2040 and the same point for the value chain by 2050.
“Our strategy is called Growing Sustainably Every Day and it’s being delivered through three pillars: Creating Vibrant Communities; Caring for the Planet; Sourcing for Good.” In terms of action on the ground, the company has an ongoing partnership with FoodCloud since 2016,...
...through which they supply 250,000 meals annually to local charities. So far, that has accumulated to approximately 1.5 million meals, Desi says. Under the same ‘Vibrant Communities’ pillar, there are other significant activities. These include substantial charity work with Focus Ireland, our 2024 charity partner and a €350,000 investment in the future of the Irish foodservice industry, through a €350,000 partnership with TU Dublin’s School of Culinary Arts, that includes bursaries and mentoring for students during the duration of their education. It’s a symbiotic relationship, Desi points out, where Musgrave also learn from the new generation in terms of food trends and ideas.
Under the ‘Caring for the Planet’ pillar meanwhile, 90% of the company’s own brand packaging is currently either reusable, compostable or recyclable. By 2025, that figure will be 100%.
“In terms of our supply chain, we’re focused on HVO.... (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil),” says Desi. “It’s an alternative fuel source and we’re
“And that’s 630 tonnes of food waste and over 2,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided,” he adds. “This is food that is fit for human consumption, but which otherwise would have gone into landfill.”
on track to have 55% of our vehicles using sustainable fuel sources by 2030. While in our branch network, we’re powered by 100% green electricity.
“From a local sourcing perspective (part of the ‘Sourcing for Good’ pillar), Musgrave Marketplace spends over €660 million annually on local food and drink – working with 800 local suppliers and showcasing 3,500 Irish products.”
Added to this is their Green Shoots initiative in collaboration with Bord Bia. The objective this year is to see 15 Irish artisan suppliers selling through Musgrave Marketplace to their customers, giving small businesses an opportunity for growth in foodservice.
Sustainability suits the Musgrave mindset very well. As Desi puts it, it has always been in the Musgrave DNA to leave the world in a better place than we found it.