Temple Dairy

Temple Dairy, Rosstemple, Athlacca,

Co Limerick. www.templedairy.ie

Having played for the Republic of Ireland women’s football team for 13 years, with stints in the US and Norway, not to mention winning an All-Ireland football medal with Limerick in 2010, the last place Marie Curtin expected to find herself was the family farm.

But since launching Temple Dairy in January with her father Sean, Marie has brought both sides of her life together with a premium chocolate milk aimed at the sports’ market.

“It actually makes complete sense,” she says, “but I never thought I would be doing it.”

Marie was raised in Athlacca, Co Limerick, where her parents Sean and Eileen keep a herd of 120 Holstein Friesians, mostly supplying Kerry Co-Op.

Football-mad always, Marie was awarded a US soccer scholarship and played in a semi-professional capacity there and in Norway, as well as earning 45 international senior caps with the Irish ladies’ team. She currently plays with both Limerick ladies’ football team and Galway WFC.

The story of Temple Dairy, however, started in 2013. Marie decided it was time to think about her future, having put football first for years. Similarly, Sean wanted to diversify due to frustration with fluctuating milk prices.

The father-daughter team secured a place on the Limerick Enterprise Acceleration Programme (LEAP) to explore their options. Given Marie’s sports background, they settled on producing low-fat chocolate milk, which has been getting a lot of attention internationally as a post-workout “recovery” drink due to its high protein, carbohydrate and electrolyte content.

“The good thing about our chocolate milk is that it is a very natural recipe,” says Marie, explaining that 94% is fresh farm, low-fat milk, with reduced fat raw cocoa powder, natural cane sugar, skimmed milk powder and carrageen.

Marie was accepted on to the New Frontiers programme, with a €15,000 bursary to develop the business. The company also received €10,000 in innovation vouchers from Enterprise Ireland to test-trial production in Moorepark.

Crucially, Temple Dairy was also accepted on to SuperValu’s Food Academy. With this support and that of other retailers, their chocolate milk is now stocked in approximately 45 stores through Munster since January, with an RRP of €1.95 for a 250ml bottle.

Despite competition – whether it’s Avonmore’s Mooju chocolate milk or brands like Powerade – Marie is inspired by farm businesses like Glenilen and hopes to create a buzz with “ambassadors” including Cork GAA all-star Valerie Mulcahy, Irish soccer player Diane Caldwell and Galway FC player Ruth Fahy.

While still manufacturing at Moorepark, they aim to develop an on-farm facility and secure a nationwide distributor, with plans to create 10 jobs within three years.

And Marie’s motto?

“Your body is a temple,” she responds, “treat it like one.”

37 West

37 West, 37 Lower Newcastle Road, Co Galway. www.sweetbeat.ie

“Healthy is the new sexy” is the tagline at 37 West – voted Galway’s best cafe in 2014.

But for owner Gill Carroll, that doesn’t mean calorie counting.

“You wouldn’t feel like: ‘I’m here because I’m on a diet,’” says Gill, who opened the hip eatery in March 2013 having previously run a cafe-bar in Scotland.

“I didn’t have a big budget here,” she explains of the start-up.

“For example, my juicer took me a year to buy because it cost €5,000.”

What there was no limit on, however, was the time and thought put into creating a menu that offers real options for people with food intolerances rather than treating them as an afterthought.

Their west coast seafood chowder and veggie soup, for example, are dairy- and gluten-free, the tomato and rocket power omelette has the “blood pressure friendly award” after taking part in cardiac charity Croí’s menu-analysis pilot scheme, while even those following plans like the paleo diet can indulge in truffle chocolate cake.

And that’s not forgetting those who want good food without (so much) guilt.

“You might be having a burger and chips,” says Gill, “but you’re getting a hand-cut chip that was made out in Glynn’s fruit and veg, the burger is from Castlemine Farm, the burger bun is from Griffin’s bakery and the garlic mayonnaise is made by ourselves.”

While slightly off the beaten-track, 37 West has established itself as a destination cafe and now employs 12 people. This summer, Gill also launched a second restaurant, 56 Central, on Galway’s Shop Street, and has also completed a diploma in nutrition and health coaching.

For Gill, it’s not just the food that is the draw, she and her staff make a genuine effort to build a community with her customers, whether it’s making an effort to learn people’s names and running “lucky dips” at the till for free vouchers, to taking part in fitness challenges and charity fundraisers together.

Because, for Gill, a healthy body equals a healthy mind.

“I want coming in here to be the best part of their day,” she concludes.

Sweet Beat Cafe

The Sweet Beat Cafe, Bridge St,

Co Sligo. www.sweetbeat.ie

The term “raw lasagne” might not exactly tempt the taste buds; until Carolanne Rushe explains it.

“The lasagne sheets are marinated zucchini slices with sundried tomato, raw marinara sauce, basil and pistachio pesto, cashew and ricotta cheese, herby oil and fresh tomatoes,” she lists, as our mouths start to water.

“Yes, it’s raw, but it’s really filling as well and nutrient-dense.”

And it’s just one of the things you can try at the Sweet Beat Cafe – Sligo’s first plant-based, vegan-friendly, raw food cafe, co-founded this spring by Carolanne.

Previously, the Ballymaloe graduate spent six years working in the Middle East, Australia and, most recently, South Africa, where she ran a farmers’ market stall specialising in vegan salads. (Her best – and perhaps most unlikely – customers were vegan bodybuilders.)

Last May, she came home to Sligo for the summer, with the plan of re-joining her boyfriend in Abu Dhabi. However, when her sister encouraged her to take a stall at Strandhill People’s Market, she decided to stay after a lot of soul-searching.

“It was a hard decision, but, to be honest, I’ve never been happier,” she says. “I’m just doing what I always wanted to do now.”

Working out of a converted kitchen in a granny flat beside her family home, Carolanne launched her Green Warrior brand in August, supplying the market and local cafes with products that include roast chilli and Moroccan-spiced red pepper hummus, kale pesto, falafel salad and flatbreads.

Such was its success that when a premises came up for lease in Sligo town in mid-January, Carolanne had enough savings to take the plunge and open The Sweet Beat with co-founder Simon Hunt.

Working with local suppliers, Carolanne offers a variety of healthy and hearty raw and cooked dishes; whether it’s a warm bowl of chilli con cacao with guacamole, salsa and cashew sour cream or that aforementioned raw lasagne, and hopes to change preconceptions about plant- based and raw food as boring.

“It’s so doable and it’s there and it’s exciting,” says Carolanne.

Even this confirmed carnivore is tempted …

Background Story

With one third of Irish 20-somethings on a special diet or lifestyle plan, could health equal wealth for Irish food producers?

Grace Binchy of Bord Bia’s consumer insight team tells Irish Country Living that the Millennials study – Understanding Millennials in 2014 – commissioned by Bord Bia, surveyed over 1,000 people aged between 22 and 30 in Ireland and the UK and showed that health is one of the key trends for this savvy, social media-driven consumer group.

“Thirty-three per cent in Ireland are on some sort of specialist diet, whether that be high protein, vegetarian or gluten-free,” she explains.

Meanwhile, a 2013 survey, Periscope, also commissioned by Bord Bia, showed that while only 4% of people were buying gluten-free products, 8% were buying free-from products.

“The reality is that these figures will grow as these products become more mainstream,” says Grace. “If you go into any supermarket now, you will see that the free-from aisle is growing and it is definitely on trend.”

With sugar the latest food villain on the block, Grace says that consumers are now looking for “natural” products with shorter ingredient lists, including protein-rich foods.

She references several Irish products that have come on the market via the Foodworks’ programme run by Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc, including Powerful Yoghurts, which produce low-fat, high-protein yoghurts; 250Kal cakes, which are free from refined sugar and contain less than 250 calories per portion; and Nobó gluten- and dairy-free ice cream, which won a Great Taste award.

“That’s a really good example, because if you can make a healthy product tasty and then prove that it’s tasty through an endorsement like the Great Taste award, you’re on to a winner,” says Grace.

However, as trends change, it’s important that anybody thinking of entering the market has their research done.

“Anyone who has an idea in this space should look first at the size of the opportunity – this means understanding who their competitors are, what the size of the market is and, importantly, understanding what consumers want,” says Grace.