When I think about that girl before, I don’t even recognise her. But I wouldn’t swap it for the world.” Sara Mitchell smiles and takes a sip of her coffee, as she reflects on how much her life has changed since 2008.

Having worked in London in marketing for Budweiser, she had returned to Dublin, married her husband Gav, who was involved in property, and was expecting her first baby.

But 10 days after Sam was born, while staying in Ardfield, west Cork, where her cousins run a dairy farm, she got a call that was to change everything. Gav had been made redundant.

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“I remember it really well – where I was sitting and the baby in arms,” she recalls. “But I think I was so focused on the baby, that it really didn’t hit me.”

Reality, however, was not long banging down the door. Loans went back to interest only, the car had to be sold, and the advice from many friends was to emigrate.

“It became very hand to mouth – and very quickly as well,” says Sara. “Loads of people we spoke to said: ‘Just get out of here!’ I really didn’t want to do that with a young baby. I’d only been home from London for a couple of years and I had no interest in leaving again.”

What they did have, however, was Gav’s redundancy package. Once it became clear that there were no jobs going to magically manifest in property, the couple realised they would have to set up their own business. Doing what exactly was the question.

“Gav, just one day in the kitchen, said: ‘What about a rotisserie?’” says Sara, explaining how they were familiar with slow spit-roasted chickens from farmers’ markets on holidays in Spain.

“It struck a chord,” she continues. “It was really tangible, it was hands-on and you could control it in a way.”

So they decided to import a rotisserie, invest in a custom-made trailer and hit the local farmers’ market at People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire in May 2009 as Poulet Bonne Femme – despite having no experience in the food business.

“It was total necessity,” emphasises Sara, though she admits that on the day they went to pick up the trailer, a wave of fear did almost overwhelm her.

“It hadn’t been branded and the machine wasn’t in it and essentially it was a chip van and I stood in it and I think that’s when I realised: ‘Oh my God.’ The thought of serving friends, family and ex-colleagues was pretty scary and I think the only really scary moment for me.

“But then you just realise that you have to do it – you have a baby, you have a mortgage.”

Instant hit

Fortunately, her fear proved unfounded as Poulet Bonne Femme’s free-range Irish chicken – sourced from Farmers To Market, marinated overnight, stuffed with bay leaves, salt and pepper and slowly roasted and basted in its own juices – was an instant hit.

“We broke even our first day,” says Sara. “And within 12 months we had two trailers on the go and we were doing seven days a week.”

While the markets served them well, however, the changeable Irish weather meant that after two years, Sara and Gav felt the time was right for a permanent premises.

“Sunday was our bread and butter and it would lash sideways and nobody would turn up and you would have cooked 80 chickens, so we decided we needed to get indoors and we needed something as busy as our Sunday, every day,” she explains.

Avoca

Indeed, they were in negotiations for their own shop in 2011 when they heard that Avoca was opening a new premises in Monkstown – and had plans for their own rotisserie. Despite their success, Sara felt their business would not be able for such competition at close quarters.

“I rang my dad in hysterics saying: ‘They’re putting a rotisserie into Monkstown! What are we going to do? All our plans are over,’” she recalls.

“Gav had been offered a job at that stage and had turned it down and we said, maybe that’s what we should do.

“And my dad said: ‘Hold on, think about that. You guys are doing a rotisserie – ring them.”

It was sound advice. Four months later, having agreed a license fee, Poulet Bonne Femme opened their first concession at Avoca in Monkstown, followed with a new outlet each year thereafter in the Rathcoole, Suffolk St and Kilmacanogue shops, where they now employ 22 staff.

The menu

And it’s not just chicken – their menu also includes porchetta-style butterflied Irish pork loin from Crowe’s Farm in Tipperary, succulent honey and clove glazed roast ham from Termonfeckin Delicious – who also supply them with turkeys for Christmas –and roast leg of Irish lamb marinated in fresh rosemary and garlic, as well as a selection of sandwiches, sides and salads.

Last year, they opened their own production kitchen to target the corporate market with quality sandwiches, before Christmas they ran their first carving classes and they are now hoping to expand outside of Dublin with Avoca as well.

And as Poulet Bonne Femme has grown, so has their family, with Sam (now seven), Mark (five) and JJ (one).

“JJ was three weeks old and I was doing the turkeys,” says Sara of running your own business as a mother. “With Mark I was back after six days.

“But the upside far outweighs the downside for me as a mother. If they’re sick, I just leave and I go collect them, and I spend the afternoon at home with them. If I need to go to their school plays, I go. For me, as a mom, I can’t put a price on it.”

And the same goes for the lessons she has learned while spreading her own wings.

“We’re still at that stage where, if anything goes wrong, it’s so personal,” says Sara.

“But out of every obstacle, another opportunity comes from it and I think that’s something I’ve really learned from running my own business.

“Every time something does go wrong, initially I feel heartbroken, but actually I’ve learned that something much better comes along – and that gives you a lot of confidence and a lot of optimism.”

For further information, visit www.pouletbonnefemmedublin.com or follow on Facebook or Twitter @pouletbfemme