Eastwood refers to the competitive pub auction as his “crude market research”, establishing a demand for Irish comfort foods in the large Irish expat community in Australia.
Despite “not being particularly great at school” and only “wanting to play football”, Eastwood went straight into a marketing degree at the University of Glasgow. After realising his semi-professional football career was coming to an end, he knuckled down and scored a place in a marketing programme funded by the Northern Irish government.
“It was just after the [Northern Ireland] ceasefire in 1998 and I was matched with a Belfast tourism operator, so it was my remit to tell Americans how great Northern Ireland was to visit,” he said. It was an “unbelievably tough sell” after years of the Troubles had dominated international headlines.By 2000, Eastwood found himself in Sydney working in construction during the Olympic Games building boom.
He went to a friend’s wedding in Ireland, optimistic his big business was just about to take off on his return to Oz, where his shipment would arrive soon afterwards. A loan from his brother and a sympathetic call with Tayto led to another shipment on the way at cost price. On the upside, it meant Eastwood “learned about maritime insurance”.
It had been testing the waters for a few years but now it was ready to offer Taste Ireland a A$1.5 million contract. Eastwood recognises his business was the result of “tough sacrifices” in terms of relationships, his health and moving across the world from his supportive parents Charlie and Fionnuala.
MrTaytoIreland bag of grease.