Every start-up needs an occasional push-start. Literally, in the case of Dorene Mallon’s The Farmer’s Daughter. “It was only the other day that I was in a shop and my van broke down outside, and I had to get three lads to push me to get me going,” she smiles.

“The joys of a start-up!”

Yet, having spent most of her career working on behalf of other Irish food businesses, Dorene is now relishing the opportunity to build her own brand with her award-winning beef burgers stocked in 50 shops.

Business is obviously in her blood: Dorene is the youngest daughter of Frank and Carol Mallon, who own Liffey Meats, and was raised at Balrath Farm in Co Meath.

She cites her mother in particular as the inspiration behind The Farmer’s Daughter. “People automatically assume I’m talking about my dad, but it’s actually my mum who has been the driving force behind it,” she explains.

“At the times where you’re tearing your hair out and wondering what to do, she’ll be there telling you: ‘You have to creep to crawl’ or ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ … and that helps.”

FOODIE FOCUS

Dorene explains how she was always drawn to the food industry; after finishing her Leaving Cert, for example, she did the Ballymaloe course and set up her own catering business at just 19.

“I wasn’t going to go to college,” she admits, “and then my parents caught a hold of me and said: ‘You’re not going anywhere until you’ve got a degree.’”

Even while studying Spanish and Economics at Trinity, however, Dorene worked in the bakery of Avoca on Suffolk St in between lectures. She later continued her studies in London, Madrid and Paris, along with an internship in investment banking … but?

“All I wanted to do was go back into food,” she says. “You can’t beat what you’re passionate about.”

Fortunately, she was able to combine both her skills and her passion by participating in the Bord Bia Fellowship programme in Madrid, where she worked on behalf of clients including Ornua to grow their business abroad.

“I think we exported over €2.5m worth of protein product while I was there,” she gives as an example of the impact of the programme.

Dorene later set up her own consultancy business specialising in exports, but explains that while the “win” was huge whenever she helped secure a deal with one the top retailers in Europe, she did not enjoy the fact that everything was so commodity-driven and cost-competitive.

“I felt there had to be more to food than somebody being able to ring you up and say: ‘Unless you do it 50c a kilo cheaper, we’re not interested in stocking you anymore’ and you can lose a €3m deal overnight,” she explains.

BUILDING A BRAND

The idea for The Farmer’s Daughter grew from a gap that Dorene saw in the market for an Irish beef “brand”.

“We haven’t built up a red-meat brand just like Kerrygold or Baileys or Guinness or Jameson,” she explains.

Also identifying a niche for a high-quality, fresh burger, she began to experiment in her kitchen with beef from her family’s farm.

“My classic burger only has chopped onion and salt and pepper in it, so it’s exactly how you would make it at home,” says Dorene, who jokes that her husband, Richard, was her guinea-pig throughout. “I’d sit him down and have him tasting 20 burgers.”

Once she was happy with her recipe, she decided to go to Taste of Cavan in 2015 to guage whether there might be a market for it. “And I ended up winning best (value-added) product,” she continues. “And then everybody said: ‘Where can I get your product?’ afterwards, and I was going: ‘Sugar! I’ve no plan in place.’”

While she obviously had the advantage of being able to source beef from the family farm, as well as access to production facilities in Liffey Meats, Dorene explains that The Farmer’s Daughter is very much her own business, and that the buck – and every decisio – stops with her.

Financed solely by savings, she initially kept up her day job as she built up her customer base by approaching local SuperValus – but realised towards the end of 2016 that if she was going to make a go of it, it needed her full commitment.

“I just felt it was the right thing,” she explains. “I was trying to do two jobs at the one time, and I think if you’re trying to do two things, you’re not doing either one right then.”

Since turning her attention to The Farmer’s Daughter fulltime, Dorene has grown her range to include three burgers: her classic burger, her caramelised red-onion and cheddar cheese burger, and her low-fat “Skinny cow” burger. These retail at €3.29 for a two-pack or €5.49 for a four-pack and have been enthusiastically received by consumers.

“When I’m doing a tasting, people are like: ‘These are burgers like my granny used to make, or my mum used to make,’” says Dorene, who emphasises the importance of using “real” ingredients, rather than powdered additives or preservatives.

Through sheer shoe leather, she is now stocked in 40 SuperValus in Cavan, Meath, Dublin and Kildare, as well as independents like Avoca, Swans in Naas and Kate’s Kitchen in Sligo.

After doing Bloom, she was approached by Dunnes Stores to stock their flagship Cornelscourt outlet, while she was also part of the Lidl Kick Start programme in September and March.

“I guess doing the bigger shows kind of put me more in the limelight,” says Dorene, who also won €5,000 as runner-up in the Meath final of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur.

WORK LIFE BALANCE

At the same time as building her business, Dorene and Richard also welcomed their first baby, George, last summer.

Running her own company meant that Dorene did not take full maternity leave – two weeks after George’s arrival, for instance, she was working at Bloom. She admits that, as a woman in business, there is a “lot more anxiety” trying to get the balance right between work and home life.

However, if she has to work late one evening, she will make sure to finish earlier the following day, to spend time with George.

“I think you have to make conscious decisions,” she says, “and there’s no point having your own business if you can’t enjoy that.”

Looking forward, her ambition is to secure a national listing, while she is also working with Bord Bia to look at exports to the UK, as well as Germany.

Dorene is also hoping to expand The Farmer’s Daughter range, most likely with gluten-free meatballs, but perhaps also by developing a premium frozen range.

As for advice to other start-ups, she believes that as well as perfecting your product, it’s vital to get your branding right (“it’s so hard to stand out on the shelf!”) and also to set regular goals for what you want to achieve to measure if you are on track.

But sometimes – like the van – you just need a shove to get you going.

“It’s hard to take the leap,” she concludes. “But if you don’t start, you’ll never know.” CL

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