Denis Lynn’s guiding principal has always been to make a better product than anything else that was available. The foundations for the success of Finnebrogue Artisan started with the discovery of a humble french fry. Partially cooked in the factory, then chilled at 2°C, thet cooked up in just 90 seconds and tasted like fresh chips. Denis quickly became the largest customer of Lord Chips in Europe and was appointed agent for all of Ireland.

After buying the Finnebrogue Estate in the early nineties, Denis decided to become a farmer – initially Been – the Venison, welcoming Red Deer to the state. Overnight Finnebrogue became the largest deer farm in the UK and Ireland. This began a journey for a real understanding of what makes meat taste superb and locking down the guiding principals of ‘farm to fork’.

Denis was breeding fantastic pure bred red deer, but somehow the end result, the beautiful lean meat, was not consistent. He knew travel and strange environments caused stress and at that point realised that to ensure perfect venison his deer had to be in their home environment until the very end of their lives. Denis consulted with the world’s experts and created the blueprint for Oisín Venison, that is still followed to the letter today and those strict quality values have been overlaid into everything we do.

Finnebrogue Oisín Venison soon attracted critical acclaim amongst some of the world’s best chefs. Over the years the likes of Rick Stein, Raymond Blanc and Paul Rankin have built dishes around our Finnebrogue venison, but when Heston Blumenthal called, we knew he’d be looking for something special.

Caring about about an animals welfare for the duration of it’s life, including its end, encouraged us to build the best deer slaughter facility possible in the British Isles ~ and in just 4 months ~ starting a supply chain of Venison to Marks & Spencer still enjoyed today.

We produced our first sausages, made to a unique process, locking in succulence and taste that has become our trademark.

Bernd Mense was, and remains, the perfect mentor and teacher for Finnebrogue. He was fundamental in teaching us to understand and deliver world leading structure and] succulence in all our products every time. Without his guidance we would not have achieved the industry leading quality for which we have become pronounce, and therefore this building would never have existed.

The Bowman family have milled in England since 1847, and supplied us with premium Gluten Free Crumb since making our first sausage.

Since sausage production started here at Finnebrogue, Karro Food Group has been our main supplier. As one of the UK’s leading meat processors, Karro source it’s assured pigs from across the UK and Ireland, from the rolling hills of North Yorkshire and Aberdeenshire to the six green counties of Northern Ireland. With their farming partners, Karro supply pork from a variety of production systems including Indoor & Outdoor Bred, Outdoor Reared, RSPCA Approved and Free Range.

When Marks & Spencer challenged us to make the best premium supermarket pork sausages in the UK, we created an outdoor bred, gluten-free, 97% pork sausage, with unique texture and succulence that surpasses even butchers’ sausages.

The Irish restauranteur, personality, TV chef and friend, known for his creativity and connection to the land. As a champion for artisan producers in Ireland and the UK, Paul Rankin came to us to produce an Irish sausage based on his traditional recipe, which became our first branded product, launching into Waitrose and Tesco.

What would happen if we took everything we knew about food production, animal welfare, sustainable packaging and healthy food and crammed it into meals that we’d be proud to serve our own families, whilst feeding others at the same time? Well, to answer that, The Good Little Company was born ~ great-tasting family sausages with no artificial colours, flavours or other nasties, 85% outdoor bred pork, reduced fat, reduced salt, using recycled cardboard for our packaging and with 50% of the profits helping to reduce poverty.

Our first Christmas with Marks & Spencer was a huge turning point for Finnebrogue Artisan, it’s when we really came into our own. At the time we only employed around 100 people with two operational lines, all hands on deck as we made our first stuffing packs and Venison centrepieces. It was a truly magical Christmas.

Jo’s career in meat has spanned 30 years, from finding the passion for amazing meat as Saturday girl at Baxter’s, the butchers, to scouring the globe for amazing food that we can translate into the UK market. There is nothing she likes better, even now, than standing at the block ensuring that our meat quality is the best it can possibly be, and being creative in the kitchen with thoughtfully sourced and amazing ingredients.

The Good Little Company, in partnership with Christian Aid, successfully donated 20 million meals to families in Africa. The ‘Goodness for Everyone’ campaign meant that for every pack of Good Little Company sausages we sold, we gave someone in a developing country the means to grow themselves a meal every day for one week.

An overnight success, Britain’s poshest hot dog ~ an icon.

Giving has always been at the heart of what we do at the Good Little Company, and we have chosen to donate specifically to children and young people’s charities at home and abroad partnering with new charities as we continue to grow.

After months of development work, building a range of Extra Special Sausages for ASDA that we knew ASDA Mum’s would love, we received the news that we had won the business! The team here at Finnebrogue Artisan, with their passion for great food, developed a gluten free sausage full of succulence, each as delicious as the last.

Winning validation that the team makes simply the best sausages.

In early 2016, Finnebrogue Artisan made the transition from ‘the factory’ at Finnebrogue Road to our new state of the art food processing facility in Down Business Park. With £24 million worth of investment the business has seen the workforce increase to 320. Our passionate team of foodies were determined to uphold all of our Artisan butchery values and premium sausage making heritage, whilst creating a facility to enable us to become the most efficient meat processors of the 21st century.

Joining forces with Booker was an exciting time for Finnebrogue. It was our first food service customer meaning we could tap into the catering industry UK wide. As well as supplying Finnebrogue vegetarian products and Naked Bacon, we produce Booker’s signature own-label burgers and sausages. After just one year on Booker shelves, our Blackgate Signature Wagyu  Burgers were presented with two stars by the coveted Great Taste Awards.

Denis had always refused to make bacon because he couldn’t find a way to do it without nitrites. That was about to change. Finnebrogue now teamed up with Spanish company Prosur, who had developed a new natural flavouring made from Mediterranean fruit and spice extracts. Finnebrogue and Prosur set about applying this new technology to British bacon – and making a delicious rasher without the dangerous chemicals.

Having spent years travelling the world searching for a solution to the nitrites conundrum, Denis was now acclaimed as the man to deliver the biggest revolution to the British breakfast for a generation. Prosur’s natural flavouring helped Finnebrogue produce a fantastic rasher of bacon without any of the cancer-causing chemicals – and marked the company’s first branded offering in most of the UK’s supermarkets. “That’s saved our bacon”, celebrated The Sun.

In May 2019, Finnebrogue had the honour of welcoming royalty through its doors. HRH Prince of Wales paid a visit to our headquarters in County Down, where he was given a tour of our facilities and told the story of our nitrite-free revolution. We discussed how environmental sustainability is at the core of everything we do, an issue that is very close to our hearts at Finnebrogue and for which Prince Charles has been a leading champion.

We opened our state-of-the-art vegetarian factory which now produces delicious veggie and vegan products for Aldi, M&S, Asda and our own Finnebrogue brand. We are working to produce the most nutritious, tasty and environmentally sustainable meat-free products on the market.