Founded by husband and wife team Gerry and Deirdre Morgan in 1991, Finglas based company The Inkspot are the 2022 winner of the Dublin City Enterprise Award.
The Inkspot, described as master printers, provide print and packaging to all sectors including many recognizable household brands and artisan products stocked in local supermarkets and pharmacies. They specialise in brand colour guardianship and their niche is print and packaging design for new product development.
Now, 31 years on, The Inkspot is truly a family affair- son Harry has also joined his parents in the business operation.
“Harry started out as a printer first because I wanted him to understand the business, now he’s moved into sales” explains Gerry.
The company offers an array of services including; colour expertise, the creation of samples designs and the design of the mechanics of cartons to run on automatic packing lines. They are also enjoying more sustainable business practices and now offer advice to new and established companies on how to reduce waste and plastic in their packaging.
How it all began
In the early 90s, Gerry became frustrated with working for other companies. He found that the quality of work he was allowed to produce didn’t align with the quality of work he strived to create. He saved up enough money to buy a very small printing machine and set up business in Grove Road. He and his wife, Deirdre, made a pact that if they ever had a year where the business lost money they would close it. That never happened. The Inkspot went from strength to strength.
The recession was one of the biggest hurdles to overcome for the company. Commercial print took a big hammering and had little support from financial institutions.
The Inkspot tried to retain as much staff as possible, but unfortunately to keep the business open, he needed to reduce some hours and eventually needed to let some staff go.
Gerry, with his incredible business and financial acumen, made sure that right from the start they always invested money right back into the business, so even in times of worldwide financial crisis, he’s always managed to keep the business afloat.
“Even during the recession, the business was never in the red. In 30 years, we haven’t even had an overdraft”, Gerry tells us.
Now, The Inkspot has expanded, they have opened a new factory in Glasnevin as well as retaining the original in Finglas. They have invested over €500,000 into new equipment, with very little if any borrowing. Even while growing his business, Gerry has managed to stay virtually debt free. An amazing feat for an entrepreneur who is in business over 30 years.
A Business Pivot which Lead to Success
Since its inception, The Inkspot would have been 90% commercial printing and 10% packaging. This changed about 5 years ago. While attending a Print Expo in Germany, Gerry realised that by changing his target audience and using the existing machinery, the current equipment could be used to print packaging, cartons and sleeves for food items so more sales and business could be generated for his company.
“We focus on high tier packaging, like Lidl’s “Deluxe Range” or Dunne Store’s “Simply Better” ranges. Now our business is 95% packaging and 5% commercial and even through a pandemic we’re back up to our turnover levels of 20 years ago” says Gerry.
Even while running a successful and busy printing business, Gerry is always looking for ways to challenge and invest in himself and his education. He took 7 years out to complete a Masters in photography. For 13 years he worked as a commercial photographer and he also has worked as a print consultant to many of the big corporates over the years, such as the Musgraves Group, which includes SuperValu and Centra, working with over 1000 products and keeping consistency across all the brands.
Leaders of their Industry
The Inkspot has a unique advantage in their industry- they stay ahead of the opposition by keeping on top of technological changes and implementing new systems quickly.
“For the last 3 years, we have been using .cxf files, a very advanced system that allows us to monitor our work and the consistency of the colour across various brands. This is our niche- as the science of colour in packaging is one of the most important things we do.”, Gerry explains.
The Inkspot team are perfectionists. They have a very stringent quality control system where every job is checked continually through each process. Nothing but the best quality printing leaves the company and makes it onto the shelves of stores.
“ I believe we are probably the only print company that regularly audits our work and quality by randomly visiting supermarkets across Dublin and checking our work on the actual shelves.”
LEO Supports
In 2020, The Inkspot received a Business Expansion Grant for the creation of four new full time positions within the company.
“It’s the first time in 30 years that we ever applied for any financial support and I was surprised to get it”, says Gerry. “It was the middle of the pandemic, we had lost some staff due to retirement and some had moved on. We were busier than ever during Covid and needed to take on a number of employees, while making sure we were still looking after our existing staff. We applied for the Business Expansion Grant and Peter Sheridan (a member of the LEO Dublin City Mentoring Panel) was assigned to us. Peter was brilliant, he’s a very nice man who I have a lot of time for- I gave him a forecast of figures that we were hoping to reach by taking on new staff and I’m happy to say we exceeded those figures by 20% “
Winning the Dublin City Enterprise Award 2022
The Inkspot are the winners of the Dublin City Enterprise Award 2022. The prize involves a €5,000 investment in the company and also sees it advance to the National Enterprise Award 2022 ceremony which take place on 2nd June this year.
”If an award like the Dublin City Enterprise Awards can help a company like us, what could it do for a smaller business, who’s just starting out, to give them confidence? My advice is to never give up.” Says Gerry.
Plans for the Future
The Inkspot work with a multitude of clients in the food and pharmaceutical sectors all over Ireland. They have recently won work in Northern Ireland through tenders and are hoping to enter the export market over the next year or two.
When asked how The Inkspot have succeeded in their industry, Gerry tells us; “To be honest we are where we are today through hard work, consistency, reliability and customer recommendations.”
Gerry enjoys his work and doesn’t see it slowing down any time soon. He enjoys the creativity and he loves being part of a small producer’s journey.
“My favourite thing is meeting with a small producer, driving to them and sitting in their kitchen and discussing their product and giving advice. I really get enjoyment out of seeing them succeed. One company that we worked with, we started off printing 10,000 units a year for them, now we do 20,000 a month. I really enjoy being part of the growth. You must be prepared to make sacrifices but for me personally, it’s all been worth it.”
Contact
The Inkspot Limited,
38 Finglas Business Centre,
Jamestown Road,
Finglas,
Dublin D11 FC92
Website: InkSpot - HOME (inkspot-print.com)
Tel: +353 (0)1 834 1193
Email: sales@inkspot-print.com
