We’ve had to look fear in the eye,” reflects Ann Marie Walsh. “And know that you can get over that. That’s been massive.”

Fear is not something you might expect to talk about during an interview which is, ostensibly, about chocolate biscuit cake – in this case, made with the creamiest Tipperary co-op butter and the most decadent of Belgian chocolate in the heart of the Golden Vale.

But for Ann Marie and her husband Brian, The Tipperary Kitchen is a story of survival, having literally baked their way out of recession with their award-winning Holycross biscuit cake, rocky road and light-as-air flavoured meringues.

While Ann Marie was raised in Moyne, Co Tipperary, she met Brian while working in catering in UCD (the running joke is that love bloomed over the hot food counter).

Both had vast experience in hotel and catering management and sales, but the arrival of their son Cormac left them longing for the country life. So, when the opportunity arose to buy a shop in Holycross in 2005, it seemed the perfect opportunity – especially with the boom-time plans for the village.

Until, that is, the economy went bust.

“There were going to be houses here,” smiles Ann Marie ruefully, “and we’d spent €40,000 extending into a deli because we were going to make breakfast rolls to cater for all the builders, and when they were gone we were going to have all these customers and we were going to be this gourmet shop where you would come down on a Saturday morning for your coffee and your newspaper.

“But very quickly you lose the rose-tinted glasses. All the aspirations were shelved and literally it was just survival.”

Diversification

With takings dropping 20% in one weekend alone, they needed to diversify – and quickly. Starting in the kitchen with just one gas oven, they began baking, establishing a bread delivery route and also bringing their goods to the local farmers’ market.

“If you can cut it there on a rainy Saturday in February and you’re going home with half your goods not sold and the other half wet and a few sold and you’re still back the next Saturday, you’re able for anything,” says Ann Marie.

Success started to follow with an AIB diversification accolade at the Blás na hÉireann awards in Dingle and the title of businesswoman of the year for North Tipperary, but both Ann Marie and Brian admit to making mistakes along the way too.

For example, a decision to temporarily outsource production in 2012 as they could not afford to expand the bakery backfired, so they decided to go back to basics, concentrating on their chocolate biscuit cake, rocky road and meringues, and maximising their limited kitchen space by putting in a night shift.

“You have to make the most out of what you have,” says Brian of the lessons learned, “and the big plans, they will happen.”

Indeed, a stint supplying Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason in London restored their cracked confidence, but their biggest break came through the SuperValu Food Academy, launching in 100 stores in 2014 and expanding to 150 nationwide before Christmas, while also supplying a number of independents, such as Ardkeen stores in Waterford.

The Tipperary Kitchen sources 70% of ingredients locally, including Tipperary co-op butter, Kells flour, Grantstown eggs and Coolbawn egg whites. They have also brought local chef Janine Kennedy on board to develop recipes and demonstrate how their products can be used to create quick and easy desserts for home-entertaining.

And while it may have been a rocky road to get this far – and literally, in cake parlance – for The Tipperary Kitchen, it has all been worth it.

“You have to be broken down to build back up again,” concludes Ann Marie.

See www.thetipperarykitchen.ie