In 1985 after dropping out of college, Padraig Browne stepped into the meat business. Over the next 30 years he forged a career that eventually saw him become managing director for Dunbia in the Republic of Ireland. But how did a man from a suckler and sheep farm in Modelligo in west Waterford come to run an award-winning restaurant with his family in the heart of rural Ireland?
There is little doubt that Browne’s career path has been one of variation and, listening to his story, one doesn’t doubt the motivation he has shown to getting to where he is today. He admits himself, however, that this motivation was not always so obvious.
“A lot of my mother’s relations would have been school teachers. She sort of had my future planned at that stage. She thought that if I was a primary school teacher like her sister and other relations that it would be a nice easy job and I could come home and help my father on the farm in the evening,” he explained.
“When I went to UCC to study arts in 1984, I had very different ideas. I spent two years having a good time and playing lots of snooker. I decided after two years that I didn’t want to be a school teacher of any description, which really turned out quite well for the future generation of school-goers,” he laughed.
Padraig Browne with his children (from left): Carol, Sean, Mary Joe and Tricia Browne. \ Barry Cronin
“I had awful rows that summer, particularly with my mother because she was disgusted with me, but luckily enough my sister saved the day and became a physiotherapist, so she didn’t let the family side down,” he said humorously. It is clear Browne never let the stresses and strains of the restaurant business affect his sense of humour.
“When I abandoned college after two years I went to work for a cousin of mine who had a merchant agri-business in Cappoquin. I got a call from an agricultural consultant in the middle of the summer in 1985 to tell me that Dawn Meats were opening an abattoir in Grannagh in Waterford.”
That abattoir which prior to 1985 was an old paper mill, is today the headquarters of the company.
“I remember going down to meet Peter Quelly and being interviewed by him. He sent me into Grannagh to meet John Phelan, the head of procurement”, Browne continued.
Working for Dawn Meats
“I went in there in October 1985. I was lucky to be under the internship of Phelan because I learned an awful lot from him. From being up at all hours of the morning looking at cattle, to looking at livestock in the lairage, to following them all the way through the system. From the abattoir, to the chills, to the boning hall – I suppose I got a great education on how the meat business worked.”
Browne spent 10 years here (including spending time in Scotland) before taking up the role as procurement manager in Dawn Meats in Midleton in 1994. After almost 20 years Browne called time on his career with Dawn Meats, but continued his journey in the meat business by joining Dunbia in 2004. In March 2007, Browne was appointed general manager for the two Dunbia factories. In 2010 he was appointed managing director in the Republic of Ireland and in 2014 he became procurement director for the Dunbia Group for the British Isles and Ireland. The feat was not lost on the then-50-year-old Browne.
Padraig Browne in his restaurant Browne’s on the Green in Tyrellspass, Co Westmeath. \ Barry Cronin
“It was unbelievable. There were huge challenges for me. It was stressful but there is no job you will go to and won’t have some element of stress to it. Unless you are doing something which is not challenging you, which to me isn’t something I would want to do personally. But if you enjoy something the enjoyment and success far outweighs the stress of it.”
“I had a fantastic experience working for Dawn Meats and Dunbia and while there was lots of hard work and long hours, the rewards for me far exceeded what the hurdles were. There was great variety in the job and you got a great education in that you learned to interact with suppliers and customers. The experience I got from working with Dawn and Dunbia has definitely stood to me in opening this business because it would make you resilient.”
“I owe an awful lot to the Browne, Quelly and Dobson families. The opportunities they gave me and the influence they had on my career and life was unbelievable.”
Retirement and entering the hospitality sector
A Waterford man opening a business in the heart of the midlands on the surface may seem like a strange cocktail. His time with Dunbia saw Browne live in Tyrellspass during the week for 18 months. Positive sentiment toward the village then drew him back in 2016 after his retirement from Dunbia, when he and his family got the opportunity to lease the premises, before eventually buying it with the help of an investor.
“Mary, my wife, always had something in her head that she would like to do something in a country house like a B&B. We just said we would give it a go and it has been very tough and we have had some very tough days here but we have had some very rewarding days as well.”
Padraig Browne in his restaurant Browne’s on the Green in Tyrellspass, Co Westmeath. \ Barry Cronin
Since its opening in late 2016, praise and adulation for the family-run business has not been far behind. In early summer 2018, the restaurant scooped the overall restaurant award at the inaugural Midland Radio Hospitality Awards. In 2017, they won best newcomer in the midlands from the Restaurant Association.
“It is a huge credit to the staff here, the management and my family. I am just a cog in the wheel. This business is as difficult as the meat business and it is competitive. About 90% of restaurants fail in the first year but we have had huge support from the locals and we have been very lucky. Tyrellspass is a beautiful village and we are lucky to be operating where we are operating.
Awards
For awards to be so frequent in a newly opened restaurant, the food seems to have done the talking. The decision made by the Browne family to “serve high-quality, fresh locally sourced food cooked to order” seems to have paid off.
The two farms the Brownes are currently renting in Kilbeggan are also becoming a key source to their business model. Driven by Sean Browne, Padraig’s 20-year-old son, they run an Angus herd and a commercial sheep flock. Last month, Browne’s on the Green served their farm-reared lamb on the menu for the first time. This Christmas, they will be putting their Angus cattle on the menu. The idea of farm-to-fork and serving fresh is developing here all the time.
If Browne’s story proves anything, it is that you will never know where you will end up career wise. Starting at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak, in 30 years he worked his way up and at 52, changed careers again.
“The one thing I learned from the meat business is you cannot look back, you can only look forward. At the end of the day, the one thing that John Phelan, my mentor, would have always thought me is learn from your mistakes. I met a lot of sensible, logical, pragmatic men that would have steered my career in a particular way and I am putting into play what they would have taught me here in the restaurant every day. How can you put a value on that? You can’t. I wouldn’t swap a minute of it.”
In 1985 after dropping out of college, Padraig Browne stepped into the meat business. Over the next 30 years he forged a career that eventually saw him become managing director for Dunbia in the Republic of Ireland. But how did a man from a suckler and sheep farm in Modelligo in west Waterford come to run an award-winning restaurant with his family in the heart of rural Ireland?
There is little doubt that Browne’s career path has been one of variation and, listening to his story, one doesn’t doubt the motivation he has shown to getting to where he is today. He admits himself, however, that this motivation was not always so obvious.
“A lot of my mother’s relations would have been school teachers. She sort of had my future planned at that stage. She thought that if I was a primary school teacher like her sister and other relations that it would be a nice easy job and I could come home and help my father on the farm in the evening,” he explained.
“When I went to UCC to study arts in 1984, I had very different ideas. I spent two years having a good time and playing lots of snooker. I decided after two years that I didn’t want to be a school teacher of any description, which really turned out quite well for the future generation of school-goers,” he laughed.
Padraig Browne with his children (from left): Carol, Sean, Mary Joe and Tricia Browne. \ Barry Cronin
“I had awful rows that summer, particularly with my mother because she was disgusted with me, but luckily enough my sister saved the day and became a physiotherapist, so she didn’t let the family side down,” he said humorously. It is clear Browne never let the stresses and strains of the restaurant business affect his sense of humour.
“When I abandoned college after two years I went to work for a cousin of mine who had a merchant agri-business in Cappoquin. I got a call from an agricultural consultant in the middle of the summer in 1985 to tell me that Dawn Meats were opening an abattoir in Grannagh in Waterford.”
That abattoir which prior to 1985 was an old paper mill, is today the headquarters of the company.
“I remember going down to meet Peter Quelly and being interviewed by him. He sent me into Grannagh to meet John Phelan, the head of procurement”, Browne continued.
Working for Dawn Meats
“I went in there in October 1985. I was lucky to be under the internship of Phelan because I learned an awful lot from him. From being up at all hours of the morning looking at cattle, to looking at livestock in the lairage, to following them all the way through the system. From the abattoir, to the chills, to the boning hall – I suppose I got a great education on how the meat business worked.”
Browne spent 10 years here (including spending time in Scotland) before taking up the role as procurement manager in Dawn Meats in Midleton in 1994. After almost 20 years Browne called time on his career with Dawn Meats, but continued his journey in the meat business by joining Dunbia in 2004. In March 2007, Browne was appointed general manager for the two Dunbia factories. In 2010 he was appointed managing director in the Republic of Ireland and in 2014 he became procurement director for the Dunbia Group for the British Isles and Ireland. The feat was not lost on the then-50-year-old Browne.
Padraig Browne in his restaurant Browne’s on the Green in Tyrellspass, Co Westmeath. \ Barry Cronin
“It was unbelievable. There were huge challenges for me. It was stressful but there is no job you will go to and won’t have some element of stress to it. Unless you are doing something which is not challenging you, which to me isn’t something I would want to do personally. But if you enjoy something the enjoyment and success far outweighs the stress of it.”
“I had a fantastic experience working for Dawn Meats and Dunbia and while there was lots of hard work and long hours, the rewards for me far exceeded what the hurdles were. There was great variety in the job and you got a great education in that you learned to interact with suppliers and customers. The experience I got from working with Dawn and Dunbia has definitely stood to me in opening this business because it would make you resilient.”
“I owe an awful lot to the Browne, Quelly and Dobson families. The opportunities they gave me and the influence they had on my career and life was unbelievable.”
Retirement and entering the hospitality sector
A Waterford man opening a business in the heart of the midlands on the surface may seem like a strange cocktail. His time with Dunbia saw Browne live in Tyrellspass during the week for 18 months. Positive sentiment toward the village then drew him back in 2016 after his retirement from Dunbia, when he and his family got the opportunity to lease the premises, before eventually buying it with the help of an investor.
“Mary, my wife, always had something in her head that she would like to do something in a country house like a B&B. We just said we would give it a go and it has been very tough and we have had some very tough days here but we have had some very rewarding days as well.”
Padraig Browne in his restaurant Browne’s on the Green in Tyrellspass, Co Westmeath. \ Barry Cronin
Since its opening in late 2016, praise and adulation for the family-run business has not been far behind. In early summer 2018, the restaurant scooped the overall restaurant award at the inaugural Midland Radio Hospitality Awards. In 2017, they won best newcomer in the midlands from the Restaurant Association.
“It is a huge credit to the staff here, the management and my family. I am just a cog in the wheel. This business is as difficult as the meat business and it is competitive. About 90% of restaurants fail in the first year but we have had huge support from the locals and we have been very lucky. Tyrellspass is a beautiful village and we are lucky to be operating where we are operating.
Awards
For awards to be so frequent in a newly opened restaurant, the food seems to have done the talking. The decision made by the Browne family to “serve high-quality, fresh locally sourced food cooked to order” seems to have paid off.
The two farms the Brownes are currently renting in Kilbeggan are also becoming a key source to their business model. Driven by Sean Browne, Padraig’s 20-year-old son, they run an Angus herd and a commercial sheep flock. Last month, Browne’s on the Green served their farm-reared lamb on the menu for the first time. This Christmas, they will be putting their Angus cattle on the menu. The idea of farm-to-fork and serving fresh is developing here all the time.
If Browne’s story proves anything, it is that you will never know where you will end up career wise. Starting at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak, in 30 years he worked his way up and at 52, changed careers again.
“The one thing I learned from the meat business is you cannot look back, you can only look forward. At the end of the day, the one thing that John Phelan, my mentor, would have always thought me is learn from your mistakes. I met a lot of sensible, logical, pragmatic men that would have steered my career in a particular way and I am putting into play what they would have taught me here in the restaurant every day. How can you put a value on that? You can’t. I wouldn’t swap a minute of it.”
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