Under the Radar: Three years ago, Gareth Grey and his brother-in-law, Steve Giles, quit their high-flying jobs and the bright lights of London to manufacture hand-made luxury ice cream on Grey's family farm in Northern Ireland.
Relocating to rural Co Fermanagh may have seemed like an unusual career move for the former IT specialist and aeronautical engineer, but it seems to be paying off in spades. Their Tickety-Moo brand of ice cream is proving to be a huge success in Northern Ireland and expansion south of the Border is beckoning.
"My intention had always been to move back to Fermanagh," says Grey, "but I couldn't move home to do the type of specific IT I was doing, so I was looking for an opportunity to allow me to move back."
The family farm provided the inspiration. Grey's family had imported a herd of Jersey cows from Denmark, which were creating a bit of a stir in agricultural circles for the quality of the milk they were producing.
Both men felt there were alternative uses for such high-quality milk and, after much market research, they decided that luxury ice cream was the niche they were looking for.
"Ireland is third in Europe for ice cream consumption, so we thought it was definitely the way to go," says Giles. "There were a lot of farms in England already doing it and I was surprised that no one in Northern Ireland was making ice cream from a farm. We knew it was a formula that would work over here."
In September 2004, Grey left London and returned to the farm, where he set about converting an old barn into a fully-equipped production facility, along with offices and a shop. That December he was joined by Giles and by Easter 2005 they were in production.
Grey specialised in marketing and promotion, while Giles, who completed a number of food-handling and preparation courses, concentrated on making the ice cream. From the outset, they decided to provide a range of unusual flavours, such as royal bourbon vanilla, orange and Cointreau, melon and ginger. "We have tried about 80 flavours, but not all of them make it to the marketplace," says Giles. "We trial all flavours in our shop here first to see how popular they are."
They signed up with a distribution company, BD Foods in Co Monaghan, which supplies their ice cream to restaurants, independent delis and cafes across Northern Ireland. Customers include the Yellow Door in Belfast and Portadown, the Linen Green coffee shop in Moygashel and Deane's deli and restaurant in Belfast.
As the product moved into the retail market, the two men decided to drop the original name of the company, Tullymeadows, and instead adopted the name Tickety-Moo for its retail brand.
"Tullymeadows was a brand we came up with ourselves and it was fairly weak and watery," says Grey.
They employed a design company to come up something more striking and bold in both name and design for the retail product.
"We wanted something that would compete in the freezer against Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's," says Grey. "You have to see it before you can taste it. We were confident with the quality of the product but the image was a wee bit weak, so we went for strong colours - a lime-green and dark-green combination - and we moved away from traditional farmhouse image.
"There were a lot of places in England and a few places over here with that image. We wanted a brand that wasn't going to get lost among those and a name on a brand that was going to stick out in somebody's mind."
The change has reaped rewards for the company and it has now signed a deal to supply Superquinn, a move which will bring the brand to the Republic.
The abysmal summer has been one to forget for most people in the ice cream business, but Grey says the bad weather hasn't had a huge impact on Tickety-Moo. "The hotel and restaurant side hasn't suffered at all and the farm shop is up from last year," he says.
However, plans to place mobile units at Rossnowlagh beach in Co Donegal and at agricultural shows were rained off.
On most weekends, about 500 to 700 people visit the farm shop, which the two men plan to expand this winter to cater for the demand. Future plans for the business also include a potential franchise of Tickety-Moo ice cream parlours.
"I'm still amazed by people's reaction to it," says Giles. "I know it's really good ice cream, but before we were selling away from the farm, we would get people driving down from Belfast just to get the ice cream, which spurred us on because you definitely know you're doing something right."
Name:Steve Giles
Age:35
From:Plymouth in England
Family: Married to Rachel, with two children, Alana and Jasmine
Education:Studied electrical and electronic engineering. Worked as an aeronautical engineer before moving to Northern Ireland to help set up Tickety-Moo.
Inspired by:"I recently read Richard Branson's book and I'm inspired by him. I'm always inspired by people willing to take risks."
Most likes to:In winter, he likes to visit Italy with his family.
Favourite book:Has just finished Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code.
Favourite film:The 1994 film, The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont.
Name:Gareth Grey
Age:28
From:Co Fermanagh
Family:Single
Education:A degree in IT from Nottingham Trent University. Worked in IT for a number of construction and recruitment companies in Portsmouth, Dublin and London before returning to Fermanagh to set up Tickety-Moo.
Inspired by:"I have always found George Best inspiring, which might seem quite strange because of the way he ended up, but I thought he had a great passion for what he did and he did it very well."
Most likes to:"I have always played soccer and I am involved with the local club, Lismarick, which we now sponsor. It's a good way of letting steam off at the weekend."
Favourite book:Derren Brown's Tricks of the Mind.
