When Ethna Reynolds first told people that she was opening a cafe in Collooney, Co Sligo, in 2016, the response was, well let’s just say less than encouraging.
“You’ll be closed in six months, was the general reaction,” she deadpans. “People were so negative, you would not believe it. I had people say: ‘You’re absolutely crazy, it’s never going to work for you.’”
Three years on, however, those who doubted her have been left eating their words, as foodies flock to Nook for the ever-changing menu of local, seasonal and organic ingredients delivered with an international twist, from Vietnamese-style banh mi using slow-cooked Andarl Farm pork, to the best-selling “naanwich” filled with tandoori-spiced fried Donegal buttermilk chicken.
And with a clatter of accolades- from Georgina Campbell’s Newcomer of the Year 2017 award to Best Chef in Sligo at the most recent Irish Restaurant Awards – Ethna proves it’s possible to be at the top of your game by going with your gut.
Southeast Asia to Sligo
She’s cleaning the fryer when Irish Country Living calls on her day off, showing that running a successful food business involves a lot of elbow grease; literally in this case. Taking a break, the Mohill woman explains that this is probably why her mother – who is a retired chef – tried to discourage her from following in her footsteps.
“It’s just tough, long hours and it is unsociable,” she acknowledges; yet at 13 Ethna got her first job washing pots and continued to work in kitchens to fund herself through college, where she originally studied fine art.
After graduation, however, she continued to work as a chef, which proved to be a real passport to employment when she went travelling with her now-husband, John Paul, in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia in the late noughties.
“Everything from fine dining to a tiny cafe, smaller than this,” says Ethna of the work experience she gained abroad, with the Asian influence proving particularly eye-opening.
“I had never really been to an Asian supermarket before I went travelling,” she recalls. “And I was vegetarian when I first moved over there, that didn’t last.”
Returning to Ireland in 2011, Ethna decided to formalise her skills by going back to college to study culinary arts in Killybegs. She also started her own food blog, worked in restaurants and started selling her own Asian-inspired lunches at the farmers’ market at weekends.
Indeed, she had been accepted onto SuperValu’s Food Academy to develop her ready-to-go lunch range when she first came across the cafe that would become Nook.
“I had HSE approval on my home kitchen (for the Food Academy project) but it was far too small, so I started looking for a commercial kitchen and I came across this place on daft.ie,” she explains, adding that until she visited the premises, it had “never crossed” her mind to open her own cafe.
Seeing potential
And while the location in a small village outside of Sligo town raised plenty of brows, Ethna could see the potential.
“When I was looking at the space first, I’d drive around Collooney. I could see there are a lot of housing estates, a lot of young families, and I thought: ‘There’s a potential customer base there,’” explains Ethna, adding that a few factories and an industrial estate in the locality convinced her she might be onto something.
However, when she approach the bank for a modest loan of €2,000-€3,000 to pay the deposit and give the cafe a facelift, they turned her down. Fortunately, her local enterprise group stepped in.
“They went through my business proposal, my business plan and sent it off to Microfinance (Ireland), which A-OKd my loan,” says Ethna, who was also supported by her husband and her parents to give her the financial boost she needed to open Nook in May 2016.
From the start Ethna knew that if she was going to become a destination cafe, she had to do something different.
That’s why she changes her menu every two months, depending on what is in season, and hosts regular supper clubs, liaising closely with producers like Markree Farm salads and For Pete’s Steak butchers in Collooney itself, Andarl Farm pork in Co Galway and Velvet Cloud sheep’s milk yoghurt and Dozio’s cheese from Co Mayo.
“I know I have worked in bigger places and busier places, and they’re buying stuff in bulk, which is grand, but you don’t always get the quality and the care,” she says of the benefits of working with smaller producers. “You spend extra on it, but it’s worth it.”
Overcoming obstacles
Of course, getting a new business off the ground has had many challenges, but Ethna was thrown a curveball after she developed a serious problem with her knee 18 months after opening.
“My kneecap was kind of falling out of place and it actually got so bad that I could barely walk,” she explains. “The pain was shocking, from my toes up to my hip area.”
Up until that point Ethna was the only chef at Nook and was nervous about taking the next step to hire another full-time staff member.
“But at the end of the day my husband said: ‘It’s either give it up or get someone in,’” says Ethna, who has never looked back since taking on Annie Duffy, who works alongside her three part-time waiting staff.
And while Nook might just fit 26- 28 people at full capacity, it’s clear that Ethna’s energy and enthusiasm for her business knows no bounds.
“I’d go to bed at 6.30pm in the evening to read a cookbook on a day off,” she laughs. “You’re always learning, always teaching yourself.”
Nook is open Tuesday to Saturday in winter from 10am-3.30pm for breakfast, brunch and lunch, with regular supper club evenings. For further information, call 071-9118973, visit https://www.nookcollooney.com/ or follow Nook on Facebook or Instagram.
Read more
The proof is in Pudding Row
From a cowshed to a café, meet Caitriona Considine of Moher Cottage
When Ethna Reynolds first told people that she was opening a cafe in Collooney, Co Sligo, in 2016, the response was, well let’s just say less than encouraging.
“You’ll be closed in six months, was the general reaction,” she deadpans. “People were so negative, you would not believe it. I had people say: ‘You’re absolutely crazy, it’s never going to work for you.’”
Three years on, however, those who doubted her have been left eating their words, as foodies flock to Nook for the ever-changing menu of local, seasonal and organic ingredients delivered with an international twist, from Vietnamese-style banh mi using slow-cooked Andarl Farm pork, to the best-selling “naanwich” filled with tandoori-spiced fried Donegal buttermilk chicken.
And with a clatter of accolades- from Georgina Campbell’s Newcomer of the Year 2017 award to Best Chef in Sligo at the most recent Irish Restaurant Awards – Ethna proves it’s possible to be at the top of your game by going with your gut.
Southeast Asia to Sligo
She’s cleaning the fryer when Irish Country Living calls on her day off, showing that running a successful food business involves a lot of elbow grease; literally in this case. Taking a break, the Mohill woman explains that this is probably why her mother – who is a retired chef – tried to discourage her from following in her footsteps.
“It’s just tough, long hours and it is unsociable,” she acknowledges; yet at 13 Ethna got her first job washing pots and continued to work in kitchens to fund herself through college, where she originally studied fine art.
After graduation, however, she continued to work as a chef, which proved to be a real passport to employment when she went travelling with her now-husband, John Paul, in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia in the late noughties.
“Everything from fine dining to a tiny cafe, smaller than this,” says Ethna of the work experience she gained abroad, with the Asian influence proving particularly eye-opening.
“I had never really been to an Asian supermarket before I went travelling,” she recalls. “And I was vegetarian when I first moved over there, that didn’t last.”
Returning to Ireland in 2011, Ethna decided to formalise her skills by going back to college to study culinary arts in Killybegs. She also started her own food blog, worked in restaurants and started selling her own Asian-inspired lunches at the farmers’ market at weekends.
Indeed, she had been accepted onto SuperValu’s Food Academy to develop her ready-to-go lunch range when she first came across the cafe that would become Nook.
“I had HSE approval on my home kitchen (for the Food Academy project) but it was far too small, so I started looking for a commercial kitchen and I came across this place on daft.ie,” she explains, adding that until she visited the premises, it had “never crossed” her mind to open her own cafe.
Seeing potential
And while the location in a small village outside of Sligo town raised plenty of brows, Ethna could see the potential.
“When I was looking at the space first, I’d drive around Collooney. I could see there are a lot of housing estates, a lot of young families, and I thought: ‘There’s a potential customer base there,’” explains Ethna, adding that a few factories and an industrial estate in the locality convinced her she might be onto something.
However, when she approach the bank for a modest loan of €2,000-€3,000 to pay the deposit and give the cafe a facelift, they turned her down. Fortunately, her local enterprise group stepped in.
“They went through my business proposal, my business plan and sent it off to Microfinance (Ireland), which A-OKd my loan,” says Ethna, who was also supported by her husband and her parents to give her the financial boost she needed to open Nook in May 2016.
From the start Ethna knew that if she was going to become a destination cafe, she had to do something different.
That’s why she changes her menu every two months, depending on what is in season, and hosts regular supper clubs, liaising closely with producers like Markree Farm salads and For Pete’s Steak butchers in Collooney itself, Andarl Farm pork in Co Galway and Velvet Cloud sheep’s milk yoghurt and Dozio’s cheese from Co Mayo.
“I know I have worked in bigger places and busier places, and they’re buying stuff in bulk, which is grand, but you don’t always get the quality and the care,” she says of the benefits of working with smaller producers. “You spend extra on it, but it’s worth it.”
Overcoming obstacles
Of course, getting a new business off the ground has had many challenges, but Ethna was thrown a curveball after she developed a serious problem with her knee 18 months after opening.
“My kneecap was kind of falling out of place and it actually got so bad that I could barely walk,” she explains. “The pain was shocking, from my toes up to my hip area.”
Up until that point Ethna was the only chef at Nook and was nervous about taking the next step to hire another full-time staff member.
“But at the end of the day my husband said: ‘It’s either give it up or get someone in,’” says Ethna, who has never looked back since taking on Annie Duffy, who works alongside her three part-time waiting staff.
And while Nook might just fit 26- 28 people at full capacity, it’s clear that Ethna’s energy and enthusiasm for her business knows no bounds.
“I’d go to bed at 6.30pm in the evening to read a cookbook on a day off,” she laughs. “You’re always learning, always teaching yourself.”
Nook is open Tuesday to Saturday in winter from 10am-3.30pm for breakfast, brunch and lunch, with regular supper club evenings. For further information, call 071-9118973, visit https://www.nookcollooney.com/ or follow Nook on Facebook or Instagram.
Read more
The proof is in Pudding Row
From a cowshed to a café, meet Caitriona Considine of Moher Cottage
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