Coffee on the quayside, crepes in the city . . . there's a whole lot of cooking going on. Clodagh McKenna meets a handful of food entrepreneurs
CHARLIE SCANLAN AND CLAIRE MORRISSEY OF JUMP JUICE BARS, WATERFORD, CORK, LIMERICK
In little more than a year, Charlie and Claire have opened juice bars in Waterford, Cork and Limerick. "We were juicers before we started," Charlie says, although they both have backgrounds in sales, marketing, and customer service. Researching their idea, they travelled to countries where the juice-bar business was well established: Australia, New Zealand, America and Canada. Soon after returning to Ireland, they secured finance and opened their first juice bar in Waterford. Charlie says there's a focus on customer needs - they operate a loyalty-card programme to encourage return custom. They plan to go countrywide within two years. The bestseller in Jump shops at the moment is the Strawberry Sunrise - a smoothie made with strawberries, orange and yoghurt.
CATHERINE FULVIO OF BALLYKNOCKEN COOKERY SCHOOL, CO WICKLOW
The first thing you notice when you meet Catherine Fulvio is her amazing energy. After a career in public relations, specialising in food businesses, Catherine returned with her Sicilian husband, Claudio, to her family home in Glenealy, Co Cavan when her mother died. Her intention was to continue the family business - her mother, Mary Byrne, ran one of the first farmhouses in Ireland to open as a B&B.
In 2000, Catherine enrolled in a three-month cookery course at Ballymaloe. When she returned home she developed a herb garden, then converted the old milking parlour into a cookery school and upgraded the family home from a B&B to a four-star guesthouse. Oh, and somewhere in between, she gave birth to two children. Catherine's mission is to reconnect people with the land. "The cookery school is the means of taking the farm onto the fork," she says. Corporate businesses are whisking their employees to Ballyknocken for cookery classes - which are custom-designed - and often include foraging in the woods, followed by long, convivial dinners that they cook together.
Check out www.thecookeryschool.ie or call 0404-44627 for the Ballyknocken Cookery School brochure.
KARL PURDY OF COFFEE ANGEL, HOWTH
Stroll down Howth Pier in north Co Dublin on a Saturday or Sunday and you will be assailed by the smell of pastries and coffee coming from a very cool van called a Piaggio Ape - which translates as busy bee. Purdy's idea is simple: his coffee, tea and hot chocolate are Fair Trade, his pastries are baked daily by Boulangerie des Gourmets, and his coffee is freshly ground on site.
Purdy, who owned one of the first hip coffee shops in Belfast before moving to Dublin, grew up in Canada, where coffee stalls were thriving - and the concept was beginning to sweep across North America and Europe. So, in April 2004, he invested in a Piaggio Ape and got a contract with the Department of the Marine that allows him to trade at the seaside and to cater for Dockland events.
Some festivals have asked him to attend, so he has invested in another Piaggio for the coming summer. "I spend my days making coffee, talking to people, and watching the boats come in and out of the harbour - how bad is that," he says. See also: www.coffeeangel.ie.
SIMONE KELLY OF LA BOQUERIA, CORK
Simone Kelly remembers standing at her grandmother, Alice Buckley's butcher stall in the English Market in Cork. Her grandmother was the first female butcher in Ireland. Her grandmother would wrap all the pieces of meat carefully in brown paper and twine. "It wasn't about trying to be trendy; it was treating the produce and customers with respect."
Simone started out as a nurse, then moved on to medical sales. "I would always book appointments around lunchtime and then come prepared with homemade lunch for my client - after that they were putty in my hands." Her lunches became so successful that she decided to start a catering business. After five years of catering, she was lured to work at the Ivory Tower, where she spent two years front of house. Businessman Jerry Calanan then spotted her potential and offered her a job. She went on to manage his various businesses - property, bloodstock, shipping and tourism - with a promise that they would develop a food business together.
Five years later, they opened La Boqueria in Cork. Simone wanted to create a tapas-style bar that would connect the customers with the producers. They have taken the traditional Irish idea of a pub selling groceries and given it a sophisticated Spanish twist. Simone saw an opening for a place where you could buy good bread, olive oil, pesto, and charcuterie after 5.30pm, when the English Market had closed: "We wanted to create a market atmosphere." They have succeeded - during a recent Friday night visit, producers were coming through the bar (no back entrance for them) with boxes of fresh produce, while chefs were escaping for a quick tipple. The place has gone down so well that Jerry has plans for another Boqueria, while Simone has taken charge of the original. La Boqueria, Bridge Street, Cork, is open seven days a week from 7am.
TINE CROPP AND OISIN HEALY OF CREPES IN THE CITY, DUBLIN
When they were growing up, Tine and Oisin worked on their parents' stalls at the Temple Bar Market in Dublin at weekends. Tine's mum, Silke Cropp, is a cheese-maker, and Oisin's father, Denis Healy, an organic vegetable grower and importer. In 2004 they invested in a hot plate and started experimenting with crepes, filled with Silke's cheese and Denis's vegetables, and other produce from the market. Overheads are small, and there was support and encouragement from other stallholders. Soon, business was booming on Saturday mornings. They now have two crepe vans that travel the city, offering a wide range of savoury and sweet crepes, and using Irish organic and wild produce. They also cater for weddings and parties.
Crepes in the City is at the Temple Bar Market every Saturday, or call Tine on 086-8047889 for party and wedding bookings. Photograph: Alan Betson.