Local food heroes: Dreams coming to fruition for up-and-coming producers
The quality of Irish food is celebrated the world over. In day two of our two-part series, meets some more local food heroes who have turned their passion, vision, and sense of community into successful businesses.
A unique drink marrying whiskey and coffee, is the brainchild of Conor Coughlan, a chemistry and food science graduate from Co Waterford.
While many products claim to be unique, Conor can justifiably claim that his particular creation, the ‘hard’ coffee, Black Twist, defies categorisation.
“There are 46 different classifications of spirit drinks and Black Twist doesn’t fall into any one of those,” says, Conor, who was inspired to create Black Twist by Ireland’s burgeoning coffee culture. “It was about bringing that more authentic modern coffee experience into the bar, really.
“Coffee consumers are becoming a lot more discerning; they are treating it more like wine in terms of where the bean comes from and all that.
“The popularity of the espresso martini demonstrated that there was a desire there for people to bring their love of coffee into the bar, but there wasn’t really anything they could enjoy neat, because liqueurs are very sweet. I wanted to bring the worlds of speciality coffee and Irish whiskey together in a drink you could enjoy on its own.”
While Black Twist has been marketed for only a few months, it has already won a silver at the Blas na hÉireann awards.
“I had the product developed, but I hadn’t the first big production batch done until about a month ago. Even though I know it’s a good product, it’s nice to get an independently adjudicated award to confirm it.”
Black Twist is already stocked in several specialist off-licences and is also proving a popular ingredient for cocktails.
“It’s going well. Mulligan’s whiskey shop in Dublin ordered a case just to see, then ordered more pretty quickly. It has been received very well in cocktail bars, like Cask in Cork, and the Blind Pig, the Chelsea Drugstore, and Urchin in Dublin.”
As for the future, Conor says he won’t be exploring larger retail for at least nine to 12 months.
However, in the long-term, he has his eye on the lucrative premium spirits market in the US.
“I would love to get into the US. I would need a private investor... maybe in 2019.”
Artisan preserve company run from the family farm in Ballingarry, Co Limerick.
Self-sufficiency is second nature to Theresa Storey.
Her parents were living the sustainability dream back in the 1970s, growing all their own food on their smallholding in Newmarket-on-Fergus and selling the extra produce at a stall in the Milk Market in Limerick.
Now Theresa, who studied plant science, is combining her expertise and love of food, while also continuing the family tradition from her own farm in Ballingarry.
“Running a preserving business fits in much better with running a family,” she says.
Theresa and her husband Mike have two daughters and a son and they all pitch in when needed. “Mike does all the printing, and the kids wash jars, put on lids, label them, and they smile nicely,” she laughs.
Theresa has won a total of 13 Blas na hÉireann awards for her jams, preserves, and mustards. While she gets requests from outlets all over the country, she has resisted the temptation to scale up on production.
“We are so small, we just stock locally. The first award we won, back in 2010, we were thinking of building a giant jam factory but that is not where I wanted the business to go,” she says.
However, the awards did enable Theresa to get a publishing deal from O’Brien Press for her cookbook Fruit on the Table — Seasonal Recipes from The Green Apron Kitchen.
“That filled a little bit of a hole I had inside. I always wanted to write and it was great. It also opened a lot of doors for other things,” she says.
Storey’s future plans include an unusual venture due to come to fruition next year.
“We are developing a tea plantation. It will be a couple of years before our tea bushes take but we also have a lot of medicinal plants here.
“We are hoping to open a tea garden to visitors by the spring or summer. I’m so excited; there’s tea in Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, and up by Belfast so I think we are going to be the first people doing it down here.”
A family-run business based in Cobh, Co Cork, produces a range of delicious and healthy nut burgers and a farmer’s market favourite in Cork and now on supermarket shelves.
When former chemicals worker Mick Meaney was considering investing the last of his voluntary redundancy payment in doing the 12-week course at Ballymaloe Cookery School, he paid a visit to Rory O’Connell, who teaches at the school.
“I went down to have a chat with Rory, who was brilliant. I told him it was a gamble. I explained what I had been doing in the chemicals industry, where we would make a batch, heat it up, add things, thicken things up, and stop reactions etc. He turned around and said ‘Mick, you’re actually cooking’.”
Mr Meaney made the most of his opportunity in Ballymaloe, also working in the kitchen at Ballymaloe House whenever he got the chance.
In 2012, Mr Meaney and his wife Sarah began developing nut burgers, which they trialled at Skibbereen Farmer’s Market, later securing sought-after spots in Douglas and Mahon. While the burgers are popular with vegetarians and vegans, Mr Meaney says they are a hit with everyone who wants a tasty and healthy food option.
“We don’t add anything to our stuff, so when people began getting more interested in what was going into their food, it was good for us,” he says.
The Meaneys got into the SuperValu Food Academy in 2015 and later began supplying Dunnes; their burgers are now stocked in about 100 shops throughout the country. The fact that their burgers were hard to categorise proved to be a bonus.
“One shop manager said ‘I don’t even know where to put this product’, and I said ‘isn’t it a good thing to have something nobody else does’, and actually his shop sold the best for us,” says Mr Meaney.
Next on the agenda is a second run in Lidl after a successful trial last year, and then hiring a chef to continue developing products, with an eye to exporting.
“If you’d said when I was going down to Skibbereen market that we would be planning to sell our stuff in the UK some day, I wouldn’t have believed it,” says Mr Meaney.
Award-winning, family-run coffee-roasting business, based in Waterford city.
When it came to rebranding his coffee-roasting business, the history of Ireland’s oldest city provided the perfect inspiration for Mark Bergin.
The Local Enterprise Office put Mark in touch with historian, Eamonn McEneaney, who told him about Coffee House Lane, a hidden thoroughfare, the site of an ancient coffee house, where it is believed Ireland’s first commercial coffee was served in 1690.
“When we heard the story, it was a no-brainer for us. If we had known, we would have called it Coffee House Lane years ago,” Mark laughs.
“We started on the [SuperValu] Food Academy and we were roasting with another brand, Ponticelli. All we were doing was confusing people. They didn’t know whether we were Irish or Italian or what we were trying to be.
“To get a clear brand identity and message out there, that tells people straight away what you are, what you do, where you’re from, is absolutely vital.”
He says the rebranding was a turning point for the company.
“We saw a noticeable increase in sales, as soon as we rebranded. The story behind Coffee House Lane, people embraced it immediately. We were out in supermarkets and artisan stores doing tastings, telling people the story, and they loved it.”
Coffee House Lane is the only coffee roaster in the greater south-east area. “Other people selling coffee in the area are getting it roasted in the UK, generally, and bringing it in under their own brand, which is fair enough; we did it ourselves, until we got our sales to a certain level and we could invest in equipment.”
Mark says Irish people have become significantly more discerning about coffee in the last decade or so, which has been good for business.
“The days when you were in a pub or a restaurant and you got instant coffee palmed off as a premium product are long gone. People are becoming more aware of what good-quality coffee is. The Irish consumer wants a good product and they won’t stand for anything less.
“Ten years ago, we were a nation of tea-drinkers. Now, we are a nation of coffee snobs. Long may it continue.”
Family business, baking in Waterford city for 96 years, headed up by brothers, Dermot and Michael Walsh, and famous for the blaa, a soft bread roll.
When the Waterford blaa was granted protected geographic indication (PGI) status by the EU, in 2013, it was a turning point for the Walsh brothers and their bakery.
The future of the soft bread rolls was under threat, with bakeries closing throughout the city and businesses from outside the county trying to replicate the recipe for the local delicacy.
“That’s what spurred us into action to protect ourselves and take the PGI route. It made a huge difference. The blaa was a product that had been taken for granted, but if it had disappeared, there would have been uproar,” says Dermot Walsh.
The PGI status meant that only blaas made by specialist bakers in Waterford city and county could be so named. The success of the campaign was a boost for the city, as well as for its blaa-makers.
“There weren’t many good news stories coming out of Waterford, at the time, and to have something like that making the news gave the people a bit of pride and ownership of a product that began here and is eaten here.
“There is no real indigenous Irish bread, like brioche or pretzels. Apart from batch or soda bread, there is nothing that is really particular to a place, other than the blaa,” says Dermot.
Rebranded as Walsh’s Bakehouse, the business has been on an upward trajectory ever since, with blaas now an artisan product featuring on menus throughout the country.
Traditionally, blaas were considered to be at the peak of their freshness before midday. While blaas for the local trade are still made in the heart of the city, those that can be frozen and transported throughout the country are made in a new site, in the Lacken Road Business Park.
“Lifestyles change and we have to adapt,” says Dermot.
“We have made no adjustments to the recipe; we always use the same ingredients. I don’t think there’s a county in Ireland, now, which doesn’t have somewhere with blaas on the menu.”
However, while you will now find blaas getting the gourmet treatment in cafés and restaurants, Waterfordians tend to keep it simple. Traditionalists would approve of Walsh’s own favourite filling.
“I find it hard to get past the ‘red lead’ — two slices of country-style luncheon in a fresh-buttered blaa. There’s nothing like it. With a cup of tea, of course,” he says.
Founded by Melanie Harty, who saw a gap in the Irish market for the savoury hot jelly she enjoyed while leaving in the US. Based in Tralee, Co Kerry.
When Melanie Harty decided to leave the restaurant business, she kept working with the ingredients she loved the most.
“I had ten years with the restaurant and it was fantastic, but I got to keep what I loved — the food and the people.”
Melanie now travels around the country promoting her range of savoury jellies.
“I do festivals all over — Donegal, Waterford, Cavan, Dublin, and Kerry, so I get all that interaction as well.”
Melanie was inspired to create her products when she lived in the US, where savoury jellies are popular.
“I came back to Ireland about 20 years ago and had a restaurant in Tralee, and in 2007, I started the jellies at local markets. Two years after that I decided to get into shops.
“I started with four in the range and I still have three of those, with nine altogether. I started with hot pepper, jalapeño and ginger then I did a chargrilled one, which won the gold at Blas this year. It’s one of my best-sellers.”
Melanie’s products are now stocked in SuperValu throughout Munster and in independent shops around the country. She says the demand for more varied condiments has been growing.
“I think some of it is from people travelling and learning what’s out there, and they’re also open to trying more unusual products. There are so many variations of traditional relishes and chutneys now and that variety also creates a demand.”
Melanie says the limited list of ingredients also appeals to consumers.
“The chargrilled pepper jelly has only four ingredients. Sweet red peppers, vinegar, sugar and citrus pectin. The flavours are all natural — simple but strong.”
Melanie decided to outsource production as the business grew and now concentrates on developing and testing.
“I develop it all myself first and then we work on making it. But while we make it in bigger batches than I would at home, they’re still small batches. Then it’s time to go out and promote them.” Sounds like the perfect recipe. “Yes,” she laughs.
“For what I want — everyone’s different.”
