When Laura and Tom Sinnott got a call from their quality manager at Wexford Preserves while on holidays during the summer, they thought something must have gone awry. “She said: ‘Are you sitting down?’ recalls Laura. “And I was like: ‘God, what’s after going wrong now?’ Because every time we go on holidays, a machine breaks down!”

But the news could not have been any better. The “Simply Better” blackcurrant preserve they make for Dunnes Stores had just won a coveted three-star Great Taste award: one of only 141 products to do so out of the 10,000 entered in the competition.

“I was there: ‘Oh my God!’ Just couldn’t believe it,” recalls Laura. “Still can’t grasp it, really.”

And what made their success as sweet as a Wexford strawberry was it’s been almost 30 years in the making, as the Sinnotts are the second generation to run the business, taking over from Tom’s aunt in 2008, after the recession left them both out of work.

Mixing it up

Laura worked in hospitality around the world – including a stint in the Olympic Village in Sydney and the Slieve Russell hotel in Cavan – before returning to the southeast, where she went into the pharmaceutical industry. Just weeks before getting married in 2007, however, she was let go in a round of redundancies.

Tom, meanwhile, had worked in retail since he first started packing spuds for the family’s SuperValu store, aged nine. He got into construction while travelling in Australia and set up his own company, specialising in one-off housing, which was also hit by the downturn.

It proved good timing, however, as Tom’s aunt Ellen had decided to retire from Wexford Preserves, which she started as a cottage-style industry in Broadway in 1988, with stockists including Superquinn. However, she had all but wound down the business – until Tom and Laura stepped in.

“With my knowledge of retail and Laura’s knowledge in cooking and kitchens, we thought it was a perfect fit for us,” says Tom. “But we didn’t know much about jam.”

Fortunately, Ellen agreed to stay for a year to teach them the ropes – and recipes – and with the support of AIB, Tom and Laura bought the business and moved it closer to home in New Ross, where they leased and kitted out a unit, with an initial investment of approximately €50,000.

And after two weeks of furious jam making, they hit the road with their van packed with jars, hoping there was still a market for Wexford Preserves.

No worries there.

“We only got half way,” recalls Tom, “and the van was empty.”

A growing venture

Not that everything was so straightforward. Surprisingly for Wexford, one of their biggest challenges was finding a consistent supply of high-quality local fruit.

Today, however, they work with growers including Eamonn Crean of Greenhills Fruit Farm, who supplies them with El Santa strawberries; Des Jeffares for blackcurrants; Malcolm Robertson for rhubarb and beetroot; and Ballycross Apple Farm for Bramleys, which are all cooked in the traditional way, using open-pot boiling.

Other challenges included rebranding the product and getting the work-life balance right – not easy in the early days when they’d rise at 5.30am to start slicing and de-seeding citrus fruits for marmalade or still did all their own deliveries.

“I was driving everywhere: Dublin to Cork,” says Tom. “It was mad, but that’s what you do.”

The arrival of daughter Lila (now 5) and son Robbie (3) within 15 months of each other also required something of a juggling act.

“It’s just a blur,” laughs Laura. “I think the two of us were going around in a daze.”

However, they steadily built up the business to supply a variety of SuperValu stores and independent shops, outgrowing their initial premises by 2013.

But their decision to move to a bigger factory with the support of Wexford Local Enterprise came at exactly the right time, as they were approached by Dunnes Stores to produce preserves under their “Simply Better” brand, after meeting one of their team at the IFE International Food and Drink Exhibition in London.

“He said: ‘Look, give me your card and I’ll email you,’ and I said: ‘Yeah, I’ll never hear from him again,’” laughs Tom.

“I’ll never forget the email,” smiles Laura. “‘Potential opportunity.’”

A good spread

Today, the Simply Better range – which includes everything from strawberry and raspberry and rhubarb and ginger jams to Christmas products like cranberry sauce and ham glaze – is available in Dunnes Stores nationwide.

Meanwhile, their Wexford Preserves line – of which their three-fruit marmalade is their best-seller – is available in approximately 60 SuperValus in the southeast, Dublin and Cork, as well as independents like Ardkeen Stores and Morton’s.

They also produce a gift range called Ellen’s Choice, and recently started producing mini jams for hotels like Kelly’s of Rosslare. Their next project is to roll out their no-added-sugar range due to customer demand after Dr Eva Orsmond’s Sugar Crash programme earlier this year.

With so much going on, Tom and Laura believe one of the best decisions to date was to hire a quality manager to ensure complete traceability and quality and process the extensive paperwork.

“We have to be able to trace it back to the pot, back to the strawberry, back to the farmer,” says Laura, “but it’s great, because it gives you confidence over your product.”

Meanwhile, they’ve made a rule not to work weekends and try not to “talk shop” at home.

Though sometimes, they are their own best customers.

“We can’t keep raspberry jam in our fridge,” laughs Laura. “It would be gone!” CL

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To see more of the Sinnotts’ products, visit www.wexfordpreserves.ie or follow on Facebook