I’VE ALWAYS BEEN interested in food and catering since I was a child, but when I finished school I didn’t really know what I wanted to do.

I was reared in Armagh and, when I was doing my A-levels, I applied to college in Jordanstown to do hotel catering but also went for a nursing course.

I managed to get accepted into both courses but still couldn’t decide which one to do. So I took a 50-50 chance, flipped a coin and did nursing for 10 years.

It was a lovely career, but I really wanted to get into the food business – even when I was nursing I did functions, catering and cakes for people, all for the fun of it.

I set up a business called the Real Irish Food Company in 1997, which made jam and marmalade, and two years later we had our own purpose-built factory in the Drogheda area.

I was involved with that company for nearly 14 years, building it from an idea into a fully fledged business before selling it to the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group. It was a great experience because I learned a lot on the go while trying to run my own business.

I’m entirely self-taught when it comes to business, but that’s not necessarily the best idea – and I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody. That probably is my only gripe in life, that I didn’t do business training instead of nursing, but having said that, I enjoyed the nursing while I was doing it.

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Pressure

There was a lot of pressure associated with running the Real Irish Food Company and over the years it had its ups and downs.

At one stage we had 10 staff on board with two sets of couples working for us. It meant I had an awful lot to worry about to ensure people had jobs at the end of the week.

Also, I ended up sick with breast cancer for a few years, which came not long after I had sold the business. I suppose I was very fortunate that I had the company sold at that stage because I certainly would have lost everything if it hadn’t been acquired.

It meant I was able to have the treatment and get myself sorted out without having to worry about the business.

I was still working for Jacob Fruitfield at the time and stayed on until it was acquired by Valeo Foods around the turn of the decade. So I have been back out on my own since then.

It meant I had more time to work with the enterprise boards in Louth, Meath, Cavan and Monaghan and also gave me a chance to tackle my next project – setting up a poitín distillery.

It didn’t work out in the end. We actually got two weeks away from opening the doors until the main shareholders decided at the last minute that it wasn’t something they wanted to do. They were in a position to pull the rug, and they did.

It was very devastating because I had put two years of work into it and I still maintain it is a brilliant idea.

Also, I had brought two other people on board – who both left significant jobs to join us – and with the nod of a head their jobs were gone. That for me was the hardest blow to take, even more so than when I got sick.

But again, I go back to my firm belief that these things happen for a reason because now I’ve ended up with a new business – Listoke 1777 distillery and gin school.

Bronagh Conlon Andres Poveda Andres Poveda

Nerves

I was very nervous about going back into business again after the poitín idea didn’t work out. I was worried since it was somebody else’s money, the whole thing could fall apart again.

My kids and husband actually said to me, “Don’t do this to yourself again, you’ve been through enough.”

But with this idea, I had a really good feeling about it and I had the energy again, so I wanted to do something for myself. In fact, my husband has now come on board with us at the business.

It all came about after I had a conversation with a friend. I had this idea about the gin school after I saw the idea work in the UK and knew there were none in Ireland. And since gin is the new trend, I felt now is the time to get into it before it has gone fully mainstream.

We use the school for two reasons. Firstly, it’s an activity for people to come and enjoy for an evening – they come, make a bottle of gin and bring it home with them.

But it’s also a fantastic marketing tool for us as a company because we will bring out distributors and their teams to the school and give them an experience that shows what we’re all about. They will be brand ambassadors for us without even thinking about it.

Plans

We’re going to have our ups and downs, but I’m under no illusions about running a business. I know that for all the really good times, there will be low moments.

Sometimes in those lows, there isn’t even a tunnel, never mind the light at the end of it. But I still maintain that something positive comes out of everything.

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Working on the gin school and distillery has been a phenomenal experience and given me a whole new lease of life.

Don’t get me wrong, the Real Irish Food Company was fabulous too, but it brought strains because I was the only owner so I had huge responsibilities.

With Listoke 1777, I’m not the only owner, so there isn’t as much pressure. Even though I’m managing director, if I wasn’t there tomorrow there would be plenty of people who would take up the slack.

It’s great that we’re already distributing in Northern Ireland and the south of the country and the Celtic Whiskey Shop has taken us in, which will give us great countrywide reach. But we want more.

Our next goal is to try and move into the US by the end of the summer this year and we’re also looking to export into Europe. But my mind isn’t completely trained on the business because for me personally, my next aim is to climb Kilimanjaro.

I got the idea into my head about 15 years ago when I was doing a course in Galway, so if this business works, I’m going to do it.

Bronagh Conlon is the co-founder of Listoke 1777 Distillery and Gin School. This article was written in conversation with Killian Woods as part of a series on business mistakes and what can be learned from them.

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Written by Bronagh Conlon and posted on Fora.ie