Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

Friday 05 September 2014

I am always impressed by the innovative people I meet at the various markets around the country. Not only do I admire their courage but also their food products, which never cease to amaze. It was wonderful then to see how well so many of them, including some very recent start-ups I had written about in the past couple of years, doing so well at the Great Taste Awards in the UK. Markets are where so many start out testing and refining their products and developing what the customer wants. This week I am writing about two new enterprises in the initial stages of their business and one who has taken that step forward from the market to opening their own shop.

I met all of these people at Brid Carter's wonderful Honest2Goodness market, which takes place in Glasnevin every Saturday. Derval Mellet had just started her new business Delish Melish four weeks previously. Derval produces the most beautiful gourmet marshmallows and meringues - bite-sized morsels you might expect of a cool London patisserie which you could produce after dinner and have your friends think you are a superstar! The colours were amazing, a rainbow of pinks and swirling dramatic colours; but then Derval knows all about drama as she is, in fact, an actress who has travelled the world with a theatre company called The Faction.

"I've just come back from London having lived and worked there for nine years. I wanted to get into the food business and felt it would be more accessible here; it was also a way for me to come back to Ireland. I did some samples for Brid; she really liked them and was happy to give me a slot at H2G. I am trying to do really interesting flavours with fresh blackberries and that kind of thing. The chocolate orange marshmallows looked superb, as did the rose and pistachio and lime meringues. You can mix and match with six at €5 or €1.20 individually. Delish Melish can be found on facebook.com/Delish-Melish. Tel: 087 624-1121

Two years ago, sisters Natalie and Karen Keane from Ferns in Co Wexford went down to Kenmare and did a course with well known French chocolatier, Benoit Lorge.

"That really kick-started our interest in making chocolate." The sisters now produce chocolate under the label Bean and Goose which is all very attractively packaged.

"All of our chocolate is handmade in small batches each week using single origin and origin chocolate. We go through other companies in the UK and Italy who source the chocolate from Tanzania, Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, Mexico and Saint Dominique. Tanzanian chocolate is 75pc cocoa - fruity and sharp; the Ecuadorian bar at 76pc is powerful and also fruity and spicy with a note of hazelnuts while the Mexican cocoa bean has a delicate flavour."

The girls put a lot of thought into the presentation of their product and hand-wrap each bar in locally sourced recycled paper. "We also like to work with other Irish Artisan food producers and have linked up with some local crafts people to add toppings to two of our bars. Our milk chocolate bar is topped with smoked Irish sea-salt and cocoa nibs, while we have a dark chocolate bar with Wexford honey roasted hazelnuts, Irish sea-salt and chilli.

Bean and Goose chocolate bars sell at €5.50 and can be found at H2G market; The Green Door Market; The Brown Hound Bakery, Drogheda; Lilliput Stores, Stoneybatter; The Stuffed Olive, Bantry; and The Old Bank House, Kinsale. Bean and Goose are on facebook.com/Beanandgoose. Tel: 086 387-4412

On a previous visit to Honest2Goodness, I met and wrote about Lily Ramirez Foran who, with her husband Alan, set up My Mexican Shop, an online store and a blog, to satisfy the needs of those desiring Mexican food in Ireland. They have now taken their business to the next stage and have just opened Picado Mexican Pantry on South Richmond Street. Lily and Alan are a delightful couple with a really romantic story. They met when they were both studying in Japan and Lily, who is from Mexico, moved here with Alan fourteen years ago.

"When I moved to Ireland back then, I found that cooking and eating Mexican food was very difficult and the concept of Mexican food in Ireland was heavily influenced by Tex-Mex food," says Lily. They decided to turn her passion for Mexican cooking into a business adventure.

"We both work in full-time jobs, so an online shop was ideal as we could run it in our spare time from home. It took us about six months to get up and running properly with a website and a small purpose built warehouse but finally, in May 2012, we started trading as My Mexican Shop Ltd."

Lily says that, like many other small businesses, they were starting with big ideas and little cash. They had no budget for advertising or promotion, it was all down to social media and word of mouth.

They had also noticed that a lot of avid foodies like themselves were turning away from regular supermarkets and were shopping for food in local markets.

"I knew Brid Carter, the brains behind the Honest2Goodness market in Glasnevin, from my involvement with Slow Food Dublin, so when it came to devising a strategy for the launch of our website, we spoke to Brid and decided to take what was to be a temporary stall in the market to promote our website."

The response was so good they decided to become a permanent stall-holder there and now, almost two years later, they say they have left the market with a lot of experience and an established good name and reputation to open their new bricks and mortar retail shop and home for their online shop.

"In our experience, farmers markets offer small businesses and entrepreneurs a great opportunity to test ideas and products without forking out prohibitive amounts of cash. You get instant feedback and meet customers. For us, our market stall days gave us the confidence and ability that has now seen us established in the high street.

"Without our stint there, it would have been a lot more difficult to make the leap into our own shop. We made friends, met new customers, got good feedback, tried products, all while keeping our running costs down and our full-time jobs on the go."

Lily says that perhaps the biggest learning curve for them was realising that education is the key to sales.

"In our newly opened space, we fitted a small demo kitchen where we run weekly workshops and classes to show people all aspects of Mexican food in a relaxed and friendly environment."

So if you want to be a real 'hot tamale' and impress your friends with your Mexican cooking prowess, Lily will be conducting workshops on Saturday evenings in September from 6th through 20th covering the making (and eating) of tortillas, tamales and salsas. Workshops run from 6pm and are limited to six people only, so pre-booking is essential. Amexicancook.ie

Finally, Brid Carter is forever pushing the boundaries and, as well as running the Honest2Goodness market, she and her brother Colm Carter also import and retail wines from small producers around Europe with many of the wines being organic and biodynamic.

Under their oenophile hats, they have organised a This Litte Piggy went to Market 'nose to tail' dining experience with the innovative restaurateur and chef, JP McMahon of EatGalway, which consists of Cava Bodega, the Michelin starred Aniar and Eat Gastropub.

The event will take place in the quirky but convivial Honest2Goodness Market Café in Glasnevin on Thursday, September 25th and will consist of a six-course dinner with matching wines at a cost of €75 per person. The menu will feature Rare Breed Pork from The Whole Hoggs free-range farm in Slane, Co Meath, and dishes will be paired with matching wines from exclusive wine producers across Europe. Numbers are restricted to 50 people, so advance booking is essential - get in there quickly!

honest2goodness.ie

First published in the Sunday Independent