In Person
Doubly delicious
The name Lily O’Brien’s has become synonymous with chocolate. And not just any chocolate – some of the very best chocolate in the world! Jo Austin catches up with her in Co. Kildare
OBH: Mary – in amongst the bedlam of kids, horses, family, charities, politics and travel, where does chocolate have its place?
LO: Chocolate is an overwhelming passion and continues to be a huge part of my life but the kids and family have to come first! Don’t get me wrong, it’s a constant balancing act for any working mother and even more so when you’re running your own business, but as long as you take time out for the important things in life – horse-riding with my youngest daughter; playing golf with my son and cooking at home with Lily, then generally things fall into place. Thankfully can confine any significant travel to particular times of the year, which means we can plan ahead and work around school holidays, birthdays etc. My latest passion is politics, which I’ve kind
of “fallen into” in the past six months after I was nominated by our prime minister to become a senator. It’s a great thrill for me to be involved in change on a national scale and to help promote the issues I feel most strongly about including entrepreneurship, women in business, and improved support systems for sick children and jobs, jobs, jobs.
Lily O’Brien’s is today employing over 100 people and is one of Ireland’s most recognised global brands, supplying in excess of 10 million branded chocolates to more than 22 airlines and exporting to over 10 markets worldwide. To what do you attribute your success? If I knew the secret to success I would bottle it and make millions! To be honest it’s probably a combination of passion, enthusiasm, persistence and hard work. I’ve never been afraid to work hard – you learn that from growing up in the horse business; and once I discovered chocolate it unlocked a passion in me which was difficult to rein in at times. I’m
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a risk taker by nature and often don’t see the limitations that may deter others. For example, I never saw the business as something we would confine to the Irish market – I was thinking global from a very early stage. You may call that madness, but to me anything was achievable and that’s not a bad starting place when starting your own business!
In May last year you began manufacturing your first gourmet desserts. How are you competing with the well-established European dessert manufacturers and what is serving well on board and with which airlines? Producing gorgeous desserts is a completely different business to chocolate and there was a
Lily O’Brien’s Chocolate Caramel Pot
You read it here first…
Research by SITA/INFLAIR showed a quarter of passengers ranked airline food as a major influence on their choice of airline. They ranked it as an important ‘comfort factor’.
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OnBoard Hospitality, Issue 04, April 2003 C E L E B R A T I N G
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