Big queues were a trademark of the Dough Bros long before the pandemic. From their initial pop up on Abbeygate Street in Galway to their established restaurant on Middle Street, the Dough Bros weren’t just the talk of the town, they were a pizza destination.
Here’s the thing, these lads really love their pizzas.
“We were always of the opinion that pizza isn’t just a food to be eaten on the couch when you’re hungover, it’s a celebration of ingredients and in our case, Irish ingredients,” says Eugene Greaney who runs Dough Bros with his actual bro, Ronan.
From early days, they distinguished themselves with their concept pizzas.
“We started with the Hail Caesar – our take on a Caesar salad – gently cooking Friendly Farmer Chicken from Galway in a water bath with lemon, before putting it on the pizza with lemon, pancetta from Sheridan’s, local rocket and salt and pepper croutons. We also used Friendly Farmer for our Tandoori Chicken pizza which we marinated in tandoori spices in the wood-fired oven so it had that crispiness and we made a minty cucumber dressing using Velvet Cloud yoghurt.
“Irish producers are at the heart of our pizzas and we use Gubbeen chorizo and Toons Bridge mozzarella both from Cork, Wooded Pig salami from Co Meath and in Galway there is Colleran’s ham and Noel’s hot honey that we helped develop. These ingredients elevated our pizzas from good to great and we could see it in the queues.”
So last March when the pandemic hit and the ovens shut down and those queues disappeared, it was an empty void for the brothers. “It was eerie, town was suddenly empty and we didn’t know what was ahead.”
But the downtime allowed Eugene and Ronan to think about the next steps. “Now we realise we were so lucky to have travelled the world, we’d plan our holidays around great pizza places. In Brooklyn, there is a place called Roberta’s, they do pizza on a whole other level, a Mecca for pizza lovers.
“They did these proper wood fired pizzas as a chilled product that was stocked in Whole Foods, a big American high-end food store. At the time we were thinking, ‘Wow, that’s a really cool thing to do’, but of course, we came home and were busy with the restaurant and it became a long finger kind of project.
“The pandemic turned that on its head. We started testing it out, tweaking the dough and developing a kit with the deconstructed elements of our signature pizzas that could be assembled at home because people were crying out for something to different.
“It started as a click-and-collect service, people would order on the website and be given a time slot in their chosen destination. We got a lend of a van and started driving to towns in the west. First Galway – Moycullen, Athenry, Tuam, Gort.
“Then further afield to Ennis, Limerick, Swinford, Ballina. It was magic, it was like going back to those exhilarating days of being a start-up where people were so excited about what you were doing.”
Over time, after a lot of work establishing the right packaging and delivery model, they are delivering nationwide.
“Now we are busier than we have ever been which is insane in a pandemic,” he says.“We’re doing pizza kits for more people than we could possibly fit in the restaurant on any given weekend. What started as an idea to plug the revenue gap and keep people in jobs could mean a whole new business model for Dough Bros in the future.” Watch this space.
www.thedoughbros.ie
Peigin Crowley of Ground Wellbeing.
Ah remember the heavenly days of spending an afternoon in a fluffy dressing gown floating from a massage to the relaxation room and then the sauna. The absolute bliss. And this wasn’t just the ladies – we saw you guys enjoying the mint tea.
If the scene sounds familiar, then Peigín Crowley most likely helped plan that relaxing day.
“My job is a spa consultant so I would help build or renovate a spa – consulting on everything from the customer journey, the treatment menu, the equipment and staff training. I worked on some gorgeous spas – Adare Manor, the Cliff House Hotel, Mount Juliet and the Old Head of Kinsale. I also worked on developing spa products and my work involved travel to India, France and Portugal.
“It was exciting and fascinating but with two small girls at home, life was very full on, it was a bit manic if I’m honest.”
Then overnight, the world slowed and then stopped, as did Peigín’s work.
“Of course, I was worried – no terrified – about paying the bills but the change in pace was needed. Then I started to realise that I finally had the space and time to do what I’ve always wanted which was my own brand. For years, I had created brands for companies, to their brief, to their budget, to their scent. Suddenly there was a creative energy where I was grounded.”
From her home in Ovens in Cork, she started to create essential oils that were therapeutic by nature.
“The difference between a scented body lotion and an oil is that the lotion is like a perfume that sits on your skin but an essential oil – which is volatile and active – it moves through your skin, transdermal, and into your blood and has a cause-and-effect whether it’s to gently sedate, reduce anxiety in the head, give energy or comfort. Now more than ever people needed something to keep them grounded.”
Which is where the name came from. “The name Ground; for me, it’s wellness from the ground, a natural product from the ground. And it’s helping people to stay grounded, to achieve balance in our bodies. And then I, myself, was grounded at home and I liked it.
“I just wanted to be locked down and safe with my family, it was a personal realisation for me that I was being carried away on really good business but my most important job was being a mother and being with my family. The product itself was a realisation for myself.”
An Irish undertone also exists through the brand.
“I have a real grá for the language and the words were a beautiful expression of what I wanted our products to help people achieve. So I created four families of wellbeing. Taladh is restorative while, Beo is uplifting and great for people lacking energy. Cúram is a comfort balm for pregnancy and children while Codladh is to help with sleep, and that’s been our bestseller to date. The range includes body oil, face balm, bath salts, hair oil and beard oil, to name a few.”
Not surprisingly, people started sitting up and taking notice, namely Brown Thomas (BT) who was willing to stock Peigín’s range in their Cork store, with exclusivity for the first six months.
“It was an amazing boost and a bit of relief,” she says. “We had invested a good bit at that stage and needed to see some good return. Products went online on the BT website as well as our own website but it was the reaction for customers in the store that brought the real joy.
“I was so nervous but the feedback was amazing. I spent the days coming up to Christmas on the counter and then going home at night and creating more stock for the next day. It has been better than I imagined and I’ll be launching into spas right across the country when they open again. I have great friends in the industry who are so supportive.
“In the meantime though, and most importantly, I hope my product is helping people to be kind to themselves, to stay relaxed and grounded through lockdown.”
www.groundwellbeing.com
Ballymakenny Farm
Maria and David Flynn of Ballymakenny Farm. \ Philip Doyle
The heritage potatoes that sprout from Ballymakenny Farm are no ordinary potatoes. From vibrant purple Violetta potatoes, to creamy Fir Apple and the colourful Red Emmalie, these heritage potatoes grown in Drogheda by Maria and David Flynn have excited chefs the country over and have landed on the menus of some of the best Irish restaurants.
What started as Maria’s hobby project has grown into something special. Maria says: “David has been a potato farmer his whole life but a few years ago, things weren’t going well, we were growing roosters and operating in a very fractured industry. It wasn’t just that we weren’t making money, we were losing money and debt was mounting.
“I started growing the purple potatoes as a project to help my head space but what has grown is not just the most beautiful potato but a whole new exciting future in the potato business for us.”
Six years into business and the Flynns went from 10t of heritage potatoes in 2015 to 200t in 2021, diversifying their varieties. Ninety-nine per cent of their business was producing for chefs and restaurants who wanted something different for their diners.
Then the pandemic hit and all her customers shut in one weekend.
“I was lying in bed thinking about the fields and fields of potatoes and all the empty kitchen restaurants that wouldn’t be opening anytime soon.
“We had to do something to shift our stock. We have a little shed at the gates of the farm and I had a five year project in my head to sell potatoes there. I even had the name: Spud Shack.
“So we decided the five-year plan was going to have to become a five day plan. By St Patrick’s Day, we were open. David built the shop and I got onto social media announcing our potatoes are on sale. It was a drive-through service, we’d put the potatoes in the boot and it was payment by card.
“And oh my God – the reaction. The local support was overwhelming. People were driving up saying, ‘Yes we want to buy your potatoes but also we want to support your business’. Honestly, those first few weeks of lockdown, there were quite a few tears, I was just so touched.”
Things stepped up a notch when restrictions eased in the summer. “We started to really have fun with it. We created a ‘Chef at the Shack’ event where local and celebrity chefs would come and cook one of their signature dishes on the barbecue. And when people came to get their spuds, it was a nice treat for them.
“We had Padraic Óg Gallagher from the Boxty House cooking boxty in our potato fields and it went online at the Milwakee Virtual Food Festival in the US. Conor Halpenny from Square Restaurant in Dundalk served our potatoes with a delicious Caesar dressing and Boyne Valley Bán Cheese. And Gaz Smith from Michael’s in Mount Merrion did mega hot dogs with streamed spuds. All compiled with COVID regulations and the atmosphere was electric. As soon as restrictions lift, we’ll be welcoming Alex Greene from Michelin-star restaurant Deanes EIPIC as well as Martina Calvey from Achill Island Lamb and the Gastro Gays.”
As well as the shack, the business went online delivering to customers across the country. “Simply Better at Dunnes Stores also come on board to create a roasting dish made up of our Red Emmalie and Mayan Gold Potatoes with the Ballymakenny Farm proudly on display. And as some restaurants started diversifying into food boxes, chefs once again came looking for their spuds.”
One of the most successful nationwide food boxes, the Alltabox (which will be featured in next week’s Irish Country Living Food) was using the purple potatoes every week in their gnocchi and even in their sourdough. And when Michelin star-winning chef Jordan Bailey launched the much-anticipated Aimsir at Home, his Ballymakenny signature dish was still top of the menu.
Now a year later, those fields of potatoes are nearly all sold out with more planted for this year’s harvest.
“The potatoes were certainly enjoyed in a different fashion to the way we intended but enjoyed all the same.”
www.ballymakennyfarm.com
Big queues were a trademark of the Dough Bros long before the pandemic. From their initial pop up on Abbeygate Street in Galway to their established restaurant on Middle Street, the Dough Bros weren’t just the talk of the town, they were a pizza destination.
Here’s the thing, these lads really love their pizzas.
“We were always of the opinion that pizza isn’t just a food to be eaten on the couch when you’re hungover, it’s a celebration of ingredients and in our case, Irish ingredients,” says Eugene Greaney who runs Dough Bros with his actual bro, Ronan.
From early days, they distinguished themselves with their concept pizzas.
“We started with the Hail Caesar – our take on a Caesar salad – gently cooking Friendly Farmer Chicken from Galway in a water bath with lemon, before putting it on the pizza with lemon, pancetta from Sheridan’s, local rocket and salt and pepper croutons. We also used Friendly Farmer for our Tandoori Chicken pizza which we marinated in tandoori spices in the wood-fired oven so it had that crispiness and we made a minty cucumber dressing using Velvet Cloud yoghurt.
“Irish producers are at the heart of our pizzas and we use Gubbeen chorizo and Toons Bridge mozzarella both from Cork, Wooded Pig salami from Co Meath and in Galway there is Colleran’s ham and Noel’s hot honey that we helped develop. These ingredients elevated our pizzas from good to great and we could see it in the queues.”
So last March when the pandemic hit and the ovens shut down and those queues disappeared, it was an empty void for the brothers. “It was eerie, town was suddenly empty and we didn’t know what was ahead.”
But the downtime allowed Eugene and Ronan to think about the next steps. “Now we realise we were so lucky to have travelled the world, we’d plan our holidays around great pizza places. In Brooklyn, there is a place called Roberta’s, they do pizza on a whole other level, a Mecca for pizza lovers.
“They did these proper wood fired pizzas as a chilled product that was stocked in Whole Foods, a big American high-end food store. At the time we were thinking, ‘Wow, that’s a really cool thing to do’, but of course, we came home and were busy with the restaurant and it became a long finger kind of project.
“The pandemic turned that on its head. We started testing it out, tweaking the dough and developing a kit with the deconstructed elements of our signature pizzas that could be assembled at home because people were crying out for something to different.
“It started as a click-and-collect service, people would order on the website and be given a time slot in their chosen destination. We got a lend of a van and started driving to towns in the west. First Galway – Moycullen, Athenry, Tuam, Gort.
“Then further afield to Ennis, Limerick, Swinford, Ballina. It was magic, it was like going back to those exhilarating days of being a start-up where people were so excited about what you were doing.”
Over time, after a lot of work establishing the right packaging and delivery model, they are delivering nationwide.
“Now we are busier than we have ever been which is insane in a pandemic,” he says.“We’re doing pizza kits for more people than we could possibly fit in the restaurant on any given weekend. What started as an idea to plug the revenue gap and keep people in jobs could mean a whole new business model for Dough Bros in the future.” Watch this space.
www.thedoughbros.ie
Peigin Crowley of Ground Wellbeing.
Ah remember the heavenly days of spending an afternoon in a fluffy dressing gown floating from a massage to the relaxation room and then the sauna. The absolute bliss. And this wasn’t just the ladies – we saw you guys enjoying the mint tea.
If the scene sounds familiar, then Peigín Crowley most likely helped plan that relaxing day.
“My job is a spa consultant so I would help build or renovate a spa – consulting on everything from the customer journey, the treatment menu, the equipment and staff training. I worked on some gorgeous spas – Adare Manor, the Cliff House Hotel, Mount Juliet and the Old Head of Kinsale. I also worked on developing spa products and my work involved travel to India, France and Portugal.
“It was exciting and fascinating but with two small girls at home, life was very full on, it was a bit manic if I’m honest.”
Then overnight, the world slowed and then stopped, as did Peigín’s work.
“Of course, I was worried – no terrified – about paying the bills but the change in pace was needed. Then I started to realise that I finally had the space and time to do what I’ve always wanted which was my own brand. For years, I had created brands for companies, to their brief, to their budget, to their scent. Suddenly there was a creative energy where I was grounded.”
From her home in Ovens in Cork, she started to create essential oils that were therapeutic by nature.
“The difference between a scented body lotion and an oil is that the lotion is like a perfume that sits on your skin but an essential oil – which is volatile and active – it moves through your skin, transdermal, and into your blood and has a cause-and-effect whether it’s to gently sedate, reduce anxiety in the head, give energy or comfort. Now more than ever people needed something to keep them grounded.”
Which is where the name came from. “The name Ground; for me, it’s wellness from the ground, a natural product from the ground. And it’s helping people to stay grounded, to achieve balance in our bodies. And then I, myself, was grounded at home and I liked it.
“I just wanted to be locked down and safe with my family, it was a personal realisation for me that I was being carried away on really good business but my most important job was being a mother and being with my family. The product itself was a realisation for myself.”
An Irish undertone also exists through the brand.
“I have a real grá for the language and the words were a beautiful expression of what I wanted our products to help people achieve. So I created four families of wellbeing. Taladh is restorative while, Beo is uplifting and great for people lacking energy. Cúram is a comfort balm for pregnancy and children while Codladh is to help with sleep, and that’s been our bestseller to date. The range includes body oil, face balm, bath salts, hair oil and beard oil, to name a few.”
Not surprisingly, people started sitting up and taking notice, namely Brown Thomas (BT) who was willing to stock Peigín’s range in their Cork store, with exclusivity for the first six months.
“It was an amazing boost and a bit of relief,” she says. “We had invested a good bit at that stage and needed to see some good return. Products went online on the BT website as well as our own website but it was the reaction for customers in the store that brought the real joy.
“I was so nervous but the feedback was amazing. I spent the days coming up to Christmas on the counter and then going home at night and creating more stock for the next day. It has been better than I imagined and I’ll be launching into spas right across the country when they open again. I have great friends in the industry who are so supportive.
“In the meantime though, and most importantly, I hope my product is helping people to be kind to themselves, to stay relaxed and grounded through lockdown.”
www.groundwellbeing.com
Ballymakenny Farm
Maria and David Flynn of Ballymakenny Farm. \ Philip Doyle
The heritage potatoes that sprout from Ballymakenny Farm are no ordinary potatoes. From vibrant purple Violetta potatoes, to creamy Fir Apple and the colourful Red Emmalie, these heritage potatoes grown in Drogheda by Maria and David Flynn have excited chefs the country over and have landed on the menus of some of the best Irish restaurants.
What started as Maria’s hobby project has grown into something special. Maria says: “David has been a potato farmer his whole life but a few years ago, things weren’t going well, we were growing roosters and operating in a very fractured industry. It wasn’t just that we weren’t making money, we were losing money and debt was mounting.
“I started growing the purple potatoes as a project to help my head space but what has grown is not just the most beautiful potato but a whole new exciting future in the potato business for us.”
Six years into business and the Flynns went from 10t of heritage potatoes in 2015 to 200t in 2021, diversifying their varieties. Ninety-nine per cent of their business was producing for chefs and restaurants who wanted something different for their diners.
Then the pandemic hit and all her customers shut in one weekend.
“I was lying in bed thinking about the fields and fields of potatoes and all the empty kitchen restaurants that wouldn’t be opening anytime soon.
“We had to do something to shift our stock. We have a little shed at the gates of the farm and I had a five year project in my head to sell potatoes there. I even had the name: Spud Shack.
“So we decided the five-year plan was going to have to become a five day plan. By St Patrick’s Day, we were open. David built the shop and I got onto social media announcing our potatoes are on sale. It was a drive-through service, we’d put the potatoes in the boot and it was payment by card.
“And oh my God – the reaction. The local support was overwhelming. People were driving up saying, ‘Yes we want to buy your potatoes but also we want to support your business’. Honestly, those first few weeks of lockdown, there were quite a few tears, I was just so touched.”
Things stepped up a notch when restrictions eased in the summer. “We started to really have fun with it. We created a ‘Chef at the Shack’ event where local and celebrity chefs would come and cook one of their signature dishes on the barbecue. And when people came to get their spuds, it was a nice treat for them.
“We had Padraic Óg Gallagher from the Boxty House cooking boxty in our potato fields and it went online at the Milwakee Virtual Food Festival in the US. Conor Halpenny from Square Restaurant in Dundalk served our potatoes with a delicious Caesar dressing and Boyne Valley Bán Cheese. And Gaz Smith from Michael’s in Mount Merrion did mega hot dogs with streamed spuds. All compiled with COVID regulations and the atmosphere was electric. As soon as restrictions lift, we’ll be welcoming Alex Greene from Michelin-star restaurant Deanes EIPIC as well as Martina Calvey from Achill Island Lamb and the Gastro Gays.”
As well as the shack, the business went online delivering to customers across the country. “Simply Better at Dunnes Stores also come on board to create a roasting dish made up of our Red Emmalie and Mayan Gold Potatoes with the Ballymakenny Farm proudly on display. And as some restaurants started diversifying into food boxes, chefs once again came looking for their spuds.”
One of the most successful nationwide food boxes, the Alltabox (which will be featured in next week’s Irish Country Living Food) was using the purple potatoes every week in their gnocchi and even in their sourdough. And when Michelin star-winning chef Jordan Bailey launched the much-anticipated Aimsir at Home, his Ballymakenny signature dish was still top of the menu.
Now a year later, those fields of potatoes are nearly all sold out with more planted for this year’s harvest.
“The potatoes were certainly enjoyed in a different fashion to the way we intended but enjoyed all the same.”
www.ballymakennyfarm.com
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