An authorised biography has been commissioned to chronicle the life story of distinguished entrepreneur the late Denis Lynn, who built the Finnebrogue business in Downpatrick into one of the UK’s leading food producers.
Biteback, the UK’s leading publisher of political and current affairs titles, will publish ‘Running Out of Time’ in hardback in early 2026.
The author of the biography on the trail-blazer, innovator and visionary is being written by Jago Pearson, who was chief strategy officer at Finnebrogue from 2018 until earlier this year and continues to sit on the company’s board as a non-executive director.
Until his untimely death in May 2021, Denis Lynn was one of the pre-eminent entrepreneurs of his generation.
Named by Rick Stein as one of Britain’s food heroes, a supplier to Heston Blumenthal’s acclaimed Fat Duck, Marks & Spencer and, in time, every other UK supermarket chain, he built his Finnebrogue business into one of the flag bearers of the food industry, a pioneer in a period during which the UK truly became a nation of foodies.
Lynn’s astonishing success thrust him on to the front pages and his products into nigh on every kitchen table in the land.
Named entrepreneur of the year in 2019 by the Institute of Directors, he was described as “an iconoclast with a fearlessness in the face of convention” by industry bible The Grocer.
His life was more than six decades of high drama, from a childhood in Belfast at the beginning of the Troubles, blighted by family tragedy and personal strife, to the travails of a self-made multi-millionaire with an uncomfortable tolerance for risk and a helter-skelter life lived on the edge.
Speaking to the Irish News shortly before his death, he told me: “I was expelled from Sullivan Upper School at 15, so had to think on my feet, working as a salesman and a food distributor.
“But from that early age, I knew working for myself was the right way to go and I got into buying processed food and selling it to cafes and restaurants.”
He started the Finnebrogue business in 1985, and as well as the impact made by his food innovations down through the years as the firm went from a handful of staff to nearly 1,000, Lyn also had an extraordinary personality, which set him apart from others in his field.
Eventually, a tragic quad bike accident one Sunday evening on his beloved Co Down estate brought an untimely conclusion to one of Northern Ireland’s most compelling success stories.
King Charles III heralded Lynn’s ‘great legacy’ on his death, while newscaster Dermot Murnaghan, a school friend of Lynn’s, remembers the teenager as he was before bulldozing his way into the big time.
From hundreds of hours of interviews with those who loved and loathed him, as well as the intimate personal recollections of working alongside him, Jago Pearson (previously a public relations executive and political adviser) will tell Denis Lynn’s extraordinary tale in this authorised biography.
Pearson said: “I am delighted to have been entrusted by the Lynn family to tell this jaw-dropping tale, warts and all, and to be working with a publisher of the calibre and reputation of Biteback.
“It was exhilarating working alongside Denis Lynn, and it’s now both a great privilege and a great responsibility to document his six decades of personal and professional drama.”
Olivia Beattie, editorial director at Biteback, acquired world rights direct from the author.
She said: “From the opening lines, Jago’s vivid, immediate prose packs a tremendous narrative punch.
“There’s no one better placed to tell the story of one of our most remarkable and maverick businessmen.
“From near bankruptcy to entrepreneurial powerhouse, this is a story of ingenuity and determination, innovation and risk-taking, and Biteback are delighted to be putting it into readers’ hands.”
- Running Out of Time will be published in hardback in 2026, supported by a major marketing and publicity campaign.
