Podcast Ep 303: Paddy Box founder and CEO Mark Loftus on building a business that delivers more than just Irish treats – connecting families, navigating global shocks, and mastering the art of logistics.
When Mark Loftus launched Paddy Box in 2017, he was not just selling boxes of Irish snacks and staples to the diaspora. He was tapping into a deep well of homesickness, nostalgia, and the enduring ties that bind Irish families across continents.
“It was always sort of in the back of my mind,” Loftus recalls. “My mom was sending boxes over to cousins and stuff like that, and they never really got there, or they got there bashed. We always thought, there must be an easier way.”
“There are boxes going to Sydney that are there in three days, and we do next day delivery to New York and a lot of the East Coast of America. Singapore is 36 hours. It’s insane how quick now”
The idea took shape after years of watching friends and family leave Ireland during the economic downturn.
By 2017, Loftus had spent months researching logistics, packaging, and e-commerce, determined to become “an expert in the field or as many things as I could before we started.”
The business launched in November of that year, and thanks to a different social media landscape, positive PR, and the support of Irish brands, it quickly found its audience.
A surge in demand – and emotion
“Even if it’s less about the crisps or the tea, it’s more about just that little note that someone’s thinking about you, and they’ve taken the time to do this. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?”
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The pandemic brought both challenge and opportunity. “It was extremely challenging to keep the wheels on,” Loftus says. “But the companies we worked with, like DHL and a lot of the Irish brands, did so well to keep the supply chains moving.”
Demand soared, with growth of 500% in the first year of the pandemic and another 40% the next. The company expanded from a handful of offices to occupying most of a large building, and the team had to adapt quickly to new health protocols and a surge in orders.
Yet the most profound impact was emotional. “We saw the emotion that was going into an awful lot of them,” Loftus reflects. “It was more heightened by the fact that covid was an extremely hard time for everybody. We were privileged to help people out at that point, connecting people and taking away that homesickness or loneliness.”
The company even saw a rise in domestic orders, as families found themselves separated within Ireland.
Logistics as a competitive edge
The business of sending Irish goods around the world is not without its hurdles. Some products, like rashers and sausages, cannot be shipped outside the EU due to perishability and import restrictions.
“Sausages in particular tend to turn, so our ice and the packaging we use for sending breakfast usually last about 70 hours,” Loftus explains. “But we just can’t go further afield in Europe, where the single market is.”
For other products, speed is the selling point: “There are boxes going to Sydney that are there in three days, and we do next day delivery to New York and a lot of the East Coast of America. Singapore is 36 hours. It’s insane how quick now.”
The company’s relationships with Irish brands have been crucial. “Most grocers did help initially. We’ve kind of outgrown cash and carries to a large extent. We now try and go as much as we can to the actual source,” he says, citing the example of Cambridge’s bread, which can be delivered within a day at Christmas.
Navigating tariffs and trade shocks
The US market, with its vast Irish-American population, is both an opportunity and a challenge. Recent tariffs and trade uncertainty forced Paddy Box to scale back investment plans. “It was very hard to plan because it was changing week on week in terms of those tariffs and what the percentage was,” Loftus says.
The company absorbed the extra costs rather than passing them on to recipients, ensuring that gifts arrive without unexpected charges. “We’ve worked extremely hard with DHL and UPS to make this as seamless as possible, so there’s no delays and we’re completely compliant over there.”
Brexit, too, was a trial by fire. “Brexit was a bit more ad hoc and higgledy-piggledy, so to speak, because nobody knew what was going on,” he says. “But with the US, the system is more sophisticated now. By the time it was all resolved, we had our processes with DHL in place, and it was fine at that point, but it wasn’t without its delays.”
Scaling up, staying human
As the business has grown, so has its ambition. “We really got our supply chain, logistics strategy down this year,” Loftus says. “We’re up by 16% on the year.”
The company now runs seven days a week during peak periods, and is exploring new opportunities in corporate gifting and branded merchandise. “The corporate side of things is definitely very attractive in terms of what we could do, because we’re very good at what we’re doing.”
Digital transformation has been key. “We’ve gone completely digital,” he says, describing the adoption of warehouse management systems and the embrace of Lean for Business principles. “It totally transformed the business from a logistics and process point of view. Everything is done at the packing desk now. They see an order, they see it online, they pack it, the delivery labels are spit out, and so is the note for the person.”
The heart of the business
For all the talk of logistics and digital tools, the emotional core of Paddy Box remains unchanged. “That’s why you do it, really,” Loftus says. “When they’re packing, they’re reading every note. They see the funny ones, the sad ones, the emotional ones. It is very heartening every time you see these. Even if it’s less about the crisps or the tea, it’s more about just that little note that someone’s thinking about you, and they’ve taken the time to do this. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?”
The company’s culture reflects this ethos. “When we’re hiring, we get people who resonate with the company and who really care what they’re doing. That’s all the team who are packing. They care about every box they’re sending, because they know the connection. It’s so important to pack every box with a bit of care, because there is a lot of care in that person who’s just bought that online.”
As Paddy Box looks to the future, Loftus remains focused on growth, efficiency, and above all, connection. “It’s just one of those nice, simple ideas,” he says. “It’s not simple in the back end, but we want to make it simple on the user side of things. If it’s even a couple of minutes of a smile that the opening of the box does for you, that’s what it’s all about.”
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