The Sligo man who put the flavour in Tayto
Tayto tins were common in the 1950s as the company began to develop its market in Ireland.
It is the ambition of every rural village to have a famous son; a well-known footballer or a noted singer. The Ox Mountain village of Cloonacool, in south Sligo, has such a boast. Its famous son however wasn’t just of local interest; he created a world first. Seamus Burke invented flavoured potato crisps and while he is not widely known, his ‘invention’ is evident the world over to this day.
Seamus was the third of six children born to Malachy and Agnes Burke in Killala in 1918. The family moved to Cloonacool, Co Sligo in 1922 and settled in the village in a house next door to Brennan's Bar and General Store.
Seamus emigrated to England in the early 1940s but after a few years working there, he returned to Ireland and settled in Dublin. It was there, in 1954, that he began work for Joe Murphy. Joe Murphy was a young entrepreneur with a passion for business and a fondness for potato crisps. Murphy soon realised that most crisps, which were then imported from the UK, lacked flavour. The only seasoning provided at the time was a sachet of salt that came enclosed with each packet.
Joe 'Spud' Murphy was looking for gaps in the market and so he set up a snack food company, Tayto. In just two rented rooms in O’Rahilly Parade, off Moore Street in Dublin, with initial set-up costs of £500, Murphy started work. Initially, his employees included himself and just eight other members of staff. Seamus Burke was one of this group and because of his flair, he was put in charge of creating a new flavour for Tayto crisps. Seamus, from his later writings, takes up the story:
Murphy, who was no stranger to innovation, always had a knack for spotting a gap in the market and more importantly, filling it. He had already introduced several items to the Irish market, such as Ribena and ballpoint pens. Now, owning his own factory, his next idea was to create a type of potato crisp that had never been tasted before.
The brand name Tayto had its origin in Joe Murphy's eldest son Joseph's inability to pronounce the word, potato; as a child, he called them 'tatos'. This not only provided a name for the new company, it also gave birth to Mr Tayto; a cartoon-like potato-shaped figure in a hat and shop coat, who was soon seen on each of Tayto’s eye-catching crisp bags.
By all accounts, the facilities at the new factory were basic. It was a real case of faith and hope but the economic climate at the time was not conducive to a new enterprise. Working on what was essentially nothing more sophisticated than a kitchen table, Seamus Burke experimented until he came up with a cheese and onion flavour that his boss deemed to be acceptable. A version of the recipe, in Seamus’ own handwriting, still exists to this day and remains a treasured family possession.
Burke’s creation was a first in the potato crisp industry worldwide and his innovation proved so popular that it led to the eventual creation of additional flavours and a concept that soon spread to other manufacturers around the world.
Full-scale production of the cheese and onion-flavoured crisps was soon in full swing. The crisps were packed by hand in waxed greaseproof paper bags and sealed with glue on a paintbrush. To help maintain their freshness, they were delivered to retailers in airtight tins with 18 bags in each tin. Seamus continues the story through his memories of those early days:
Tayto’s flavoured crisps proved to be very popular and demand for them grew quickly. In 1959, they were served at the inauguration of Éamon de Valera as President of Ireland, and by the 1960s, Joe Murphy was a millionaire. He drove around Dublin in a Rolls Royce and was hailed by then-Taoiseach Sean Lemass as the very epitome of the Irish entrepreneurial spirit.
In 1964, Beatrice Foods of Chicago bought a majority stake in Tayto. By the early 1970s, Tayto had some 300 employees, most of them at a new state-of-the-art factory situated in Coolock.
The tasty snack food grew hugely in popularity through the years. In 1954, Tayto sold an estimated 350 bags of crisps each day, today it sells an estimated 350 bags every 40 seconds and the business continues to grow. Tayto is still best known for its original Cheese & Onion flovour as proved in a 2015 survey which revealed that 64% of Irish emigrants said that Tayto Cheese & Onion is the food they miss most.
In his formative years, Seamus attended secondary school at Summerhill College in Sligo. Back home in Cloonacool, he was very much part of the local community and was involved in many local activities. It is said that, as a young man, during its renovation, he was the person who positioned the crosses on the roof of Cloonacool Church - crosses that remain firmly in place to this day.
In 1938, at the age of 20, Seamus was a member of the local amateur drama group. His involvement was noted in the when a production undertaken by the group was given a glowing review.
Seamus Burke married Bridget Lynch in April 1956 and they set up home in Glasnevin in Dublin where he lived a contented life. Among his passions were fishing, greyhound racing, home movies and gardening.
Seamus also enjoyed many return visits to his native Cloonacool, spending time with his brother Malachy. He retired from Tayto in January 1983 but, unfortunately, suffered a stroke shortly afterwards and died that same year.
The Burke homestead in Cloonacool no longer exists, but its former site is marked with a plaque that highlights Seamus’ connection with the village.
The Mill Community Café in the village of Cloonacool carries a local delicacy on its menu. It is ever-popular with the younger cohort and with many locals on a Sunday after mass. It is the Tayto Cheese & Onion crisp sandwich.
The story of Joe ‘Spud’ Murphy and his empire is the subject of a new book issued in recent months. by Bobby Aherne is available in all good bookshops.
