Do you know how people describe their wedding day? That’s how Blás felt for me,” laughs Nicola Smyth, recalling the surprise of winning not only two gold awards for her Big Red Kitchen range, but also the title of best artisan producer at last year’s Irish Food Awards.

Though the preserve-purveyor was in such a state of shock that she didn’t utter a single word on the 40-minute drive from Dingle to a friend’s house that night.

“Blás completely changed my life,” she says simply, as she sips a cup of tea at the kitchen table in Stamullen, Co Meath, “because it changed how I viewed my own business. Suddenly my products were viewed among the best in the country. That very much changed my perception.”

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Not to mention sales, with Big Red Kitchen currently supplying 50 shops, including flagship food stores like URRU in Bandon, Ardkeen in Waterford, Fallon & Byrne in Dublin and Wrights of Howth at Dublin airport.

“In the early days, 50 jars would have been a standard order,” she explains, “now, getting a 1,000 jar order would not be uncommon.”

However, when Nicola started Big Red Kitchen as a hobby in 2010, she hardly expected it to become a full-time job, never mind an award-winning business. But being made redundant from her role in management in 2011 forced her to focus.

“I thought, am I going to get another ‘real job’ or am I going to pursue this?” she recalls. “But I didn’t really see how Big Red Kitchen would get to the point where it would sustain me, never mind sustain others in employment. So, although I really enjoyed it, I wasn’t really sure how realistic it was.”

Yet there were other factors in her favour too – not least that her next-door neighbour is Pat Clarke, who has been growing fruit in Stamullen for over 50 years. As well as sourcing “heirloom fruit” like strawberries, raspberries and blackberries from Pat, Nicola was greatly inspired by this home-grown success.

“Pat constantly reinvests in his business, and that’s inspirational,” she says. “I’m reading the Innocent Smoothie business book at the moment and they say if your brand doesn’t stand for something, people are not going to buy into it. And Pat’s brand really stands for something.”

And while Nicola had little finance to invest in Big Red Kitchen, what she did have was time. This allowed her to go to farmers’ markets, agri shows and food festivals, helping to get the brand out there.

“Though I thought I’d never get a weekend off again,” she admits wryly.

Getting on board with the right stockists also proved key, with Margo Murphy of The Roughty Foodie in Cork’s English Market, and Ruth Healy of URRU, Bandon, proving early champions after tasting samples of the jams, chutneys and dessert sauces she dropped in.

However, the undoubted turning point was when Big Red Kitchen’s lemon curd and raspberry dessert sauce topped their respective categories in a blind-taste test at Blás last year, with the subsequent exposure pushing stockist levels to 50 outlets across 15 counties nationwide.

“I’m not saying we wouldn’t have got in on their shelves beforehand, but Blás helped us along the way,” says Nicola, who credits her partner, Seamus O’Dowd, as a huge support in the business.

“But I still believe that the most significant change is the one that happened internally – the belief of the judges, the belief of the food industry and, therefore, the recognition from the public.”

Further success followed this summer with a Great Taste award for her blackberry jam. Meanwhile, five more products have been shortlisted for the 2013 Blás awards, which take place as part of the Dingle food festival from 4-6 October.

Yet Nicola stresses that it’s not easy to set up an artisan food business in a recession. While she often works 14-hour days and is now drawing a wage from the business, it’s still not equivalent to the minimum rate. As most jam is sold in the run-up to Christmas, managing cashflow at other times of the year is a challenge.

However, her next project is to get a purpose-built unit to double capacity, while other developments have included getting her first stockist across the border and opening her online shop – with some orders travelling far from the real big, red kitchen.

“I had one lady order a case of raspberry and vanilla jam to go to America and the cost to ship it was about twice the cost of the product itself – but I guess she really loved it,” smiles Nicola.

Blás na hÉireann

The Blás na hÉireann Irish food awards take place from 4-6 October as part of the Dingle Food Festival. Highlights including a taste trail featuring over 70 establishments, workshops on everything from chocolate making to coffee and tea tasting, cookery demonstrations as Gaeilge from local foodies, including former Irish Country Living cover star Síle Gorman, and an all-male baking competition featuring some Kerry footballers and Dingle characters! For further information, visit www.irishfoodawards.com and www.dinglefood.com.