According to Stephen Twaddell, managing director of the company's Irish subsidiary, cereal consumption is higher here than in any other country, writes Barry O'Halloran

Stephen Twaddell is concerned about people's eating habits. Or to be more precise, he does not like the idea of us missing breakfast, often said to be the most important meal of the day.

Twaddell should believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day - his livelihood depends on it. He's managing director of Kellogg's Ireland, the local subsidiary of the multinational that has given us cornflakes, frosties, coco-pops and a host of other grain-derived products that people eat with milk in the morning.

And we Irish are eating a lot of them. "Per capita consumption of breakfast cereals in Ireland is the highest in the world," he says. "We Irish eat something like eight kilos a head per year, which is right out there on the edge."

It puts us ahead of Kellogg's original market, the US, where breakfast cereals were invented. We're eating more of the stuff than the average Australian or European, and we're well ahead of developing markets.

Twaddell, who hails from Belfast but has worked across Europe for Kellogg's, believes it's partly a cultural thing, down to generations of Irish mammies threatening swift revenge on children who did not eat their breakfasts.

But the company is not relying on the mammy as its sole marketing tool. Twaddell points out that it is competing with other multinationals like Nestlé, and with snack foods and bread.

"The key thing is to keep people motivated about eating breakfast," he says.

In recent years, the group has introduced snack bar versions of its better known brands that allow people to eat them on the hoof. At the same time, it has repointed its advertising so that, as well as pushing its products as breakfast cereals, it is also selling them as healthy snacks.

In an Irish context, it seems to be working. In 2003, the last year for which figures are available in the Companies' Registration Office, Kellogg Company of Ireland Ltd had sales of €74.6 million, and operating profits of €9.2 million.

But this just looks like a couple of cornflakes in your average bowl compared to the $9.6 billion (€8 billion) in sales and $1.7 billion in profits that its parent group racked up in 2004.

Twaddell insists that this country is a core market for Kellogg's, particularly because of the healthy consumption and its strong presence here.

It has around 60 per cent of overall breakfast cereal sales. "When we go abroad, people talk about Ireland as setting the standard for Kellogg's because of the consumption here," he says.

At the beginning of this year, it established an even stronger link here. The group set up its European headquarters in Dublin, becoming one of the first to take advantage of the favourable tax regime for multinational companies opening local head offices in this jurisdiction.

The European headquarters, which consist of holding and operating companies incorporated late last year, is based in Swords, Co Dublin, close to the Irish operation's offices in Santry.

The corporate office has responsibility for managing finance and legal affairs for the European businesses, along with supply-chain management and nutrition (something on which the group places a lot of emphasis in advertising and packaging).

Europe is an important market for the group. In 2004, it accounted for $2 billion in sales, making it the next biggest market after North America's $6.3 billion.

That means that this side of the Atlantic accounted for a little over 20 per cent of global turnover.

The group's annual report indicates that Europe's proportion of sales has been growing. In 2002, it accounted for $1.47 billion out of a total of $8.3 billion, which was over 17 per cent.

It has been a broadly similar story for operating profits, with Europe accounting for $252.2 million of a $1.5 billion total in 2002, and growing to $292.3 million out of $1.7 billion last year.

Over the two-year period, its share of profits grew from 16.6 per cent to 17.4 per cent.

Twaddell himself has a broader role in Europe. As well as being managing director of the local business, he is vice-president of Kellogg's for Ireland, Germany and the Nordic countries, but he is not directly involved in the European operation.

He says that a number of factors motivated Kellogg's to establish its European base here, and lists some of the classic attractions of this country for multi-nationals. These include the fact that we are in the euro zone, are English speaking and have a young, well-educated workforce.

Twaddell also singles out the workplace smoking ban as an element in all this, as it's connected with the group's constant efforts to align itself and its products with healthy lifestyles.

There are other cultural reasons as well, mainly summed up by the fact that it's easy for British people to adapt to life here.

It also comes back to our taste for its cereals. "Ireland already has a big place in Kellogg's," he says.

He himself has a big place in Kellogg's. He joined the company 19 years ago and learned the ropes as a sales rep based in Belfast. He worked for four years in that job, which he describes as "a great grounding".

From there he moved to the UK, where he worked his way up to sales director, and then to Copenhagen, where he worked as managing director for the Nordic countries for three years.

After that, he moved to Manchester, where he took charge of the Mediterranean and central and eastern Europe and Middle East businesses, before returning to Ireland to take up his current job.

Like most of the food industry, Kellogg's is facing the fashionable panic about obesity and the ever-growing list of "healthy" fad diets that encourage people to exclude whole food groups in the search for the perfect figure and lifestyle.

Consumers have tended to associate the group's products with health, and Twaddell says that it has always sought to promote healthy lifestyles.

However, he agrees that diet and health relate as much to what people choose to do themselves as they do to individual corporations. "It is a complexissue, but we do think we have a positive role to play," he says.

Well, they do say that breakfast is a key part of a healthy lifestyle.

FACTFILE

Name: Stephen Twaddell.

Position: Managing director, Kellogg's Ireland, vice-president, Kellogg's Germany and Nordics.

Background: Born in Belfast, he joined Kellogg's 19 years ago, and worked on its sales team in Northern Ireland. After four years, he moved to the UK, where he rose to sales director. From there he moved to Copenhagen, where he was managing director of Kellogg's Scandinavian business.

He then moved to Manchester where he took charge of its Mediterranean, central and eastern European and Middle Eastern businesses before returning to Ireland to run its operation here.

Family: Married with three children.

Why he is in the news: Kellogg's this year moved its European head office to Ireland. Europe accounts for over 20 per cent of the group's $9 billion (€7.4 billion) sales, while the Irish business is one of its strongest performers.