Oatfield Confectionery Company Packaging

"Iconic Oatfield Sweets This Letterkenny confectionary company was one of the oldest in Ireland and famous all over the world. William Mc Kinney, together with his two sons Ira and Haddon founded Oatfield during the 1920’s as a wholesale and retail shop on the Port Road in Letterkenny. When one supplier decided to charge McKinney’s more money when they doubled their order, on the basis that if sales were that good they must have been getting a bargain in the first place, William Mc Kinney, together with his two sons Ira and Haddon, decided to make their own sweets. On the 15th August 1927 the first batch of pineapple drops came off the then production line – made in a copper pot on the open coke fire in a shed at the back of the shop. The business grew rapidly and within 3 years a site for a factory was purchased in November 1929. Their company motto ‘The Sweets That Are Pure’ came from the fact that the used the best of raw ingredients sourced from all over the world and they made their own chocolate in their chocolate room. Exporting began in 1964. The first sweets were exported to Northern Ireland and the first overseas customer was from Malta. Oatfield sweets were exported world-wide to over 80 countries such as the U.S.A., Canada, Iceland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Nigeria, Kuwait, Bahrain, Cyprus, Greece, Sweden, France, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Norway and Tahiti. The main production lines were the iconic Emeralds which had a Top Secret Ingredient, toffees, Eclairs and boiled sweets. Emeralds were the best selling product in the Irish market, followed by products such as Chocolate Eclairs, Orange Chocolate, Glucose Fruits, Glucose Barley and Liquorice Bon Bons. The factory was closed by the current operators, Zed Candy, on 27 May 2012 and in May 2014 the iconic factory was demolished. The sweets are no longer produced in Ireland. "