MANUFACTURING
CULLY & SULLY, The Hen House, Shanagarry, Co Cork.
Tel: 086 605 8471. www.cullyandsully.com
Souper
troopers
Withtheirinnovativeapproachto
fresh,homemade-stylefood,the
CullyandSullyduohavecaptured
theIrishpalate,andtheyarenow
concentratingonwinningastake
intheUKmarket
‘It’s really about the product.
If it’s good, at the right price
andpeoplelikeit,wordof
mouth generates more sales’
Also shortlisted in the
Food & Drink category
Colum O’Sullivan
C
ULLY (Cullen Allen) and Sully (Colum fresh,non-dairycategoryforitssoupslastyear;theGreat Country Crest in Lusk, Co Dublin,” says Sully.
O’Sullivan) have a lot more in common than Taste Awards in 2007 and 2008 for its soups; in 2006, the The logistics side of things was daunting at the start
rhyming nicknames, not least a multi-award- Metro Best Local Producer award and Ernst & Young becauseoftherelativelyshortshelflifeoftheproductrange,
winning food business and website after only Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and winner of the over- he adds.
four years. all award and food category for its website at the Golden “We were ordering ingredients ahead and they have a
The founders of Cully & Sully have known each other Spider Awards. short shelf life too. Predicting demand was one of the
sincetheywerechildrenandsharedahousewhiletheywere There are now 20 products in the range: seven soups, biggest challenges, but we’re fairly spot-on with that now
at university in Cork City, where Sully studied food busi- sevenpiesandsixmealssuppliedintopubs.Eachproduct andwehavenext-daydeliverytostores.”
ness and Cully did fine art and sculpture. uses kitchen-cupboard ingredients and, where possible, Thereare45peopleworkingintheGalwaylocationand
“Cully’sverycreative,whileI’mmorebusiness-oriented. Irish produce. Myrtle Allen, who is now 86 years old, 35attheLuskone.Otherwise,Cully&Sullyhasthreeother
We looked at different ideas while we were at college and tastes every product before it’s launched. peopleonitspayroll—inaccounts,productdevelopment
Istartedupsmallforpocketmoney,sellingfreshpastaand “Wetendtomakethingswelikeourselves—forinstance and, very recently, business development.
smoked chickens to restaurants,” says Sully. we made a tarragon chicken meal that we loved, but the “WereallywanttogetourproductsontotheEnglish
Aftercollege,heworkedforMusgrave,whileCullyworked public didn’t go for it. If a product isn’t working, we take marketandareworkingwithBordBiatomakethathappen.
inrestaurantsandalsoatBallymaloeHouse—heisagrand- it off the market quickly,” says Sully. One of the reasons we took on a dedicated business devel-
son of Ivan and Myrtle Allen and nephew of Darina Allen. Sometimesperfectingarecipecantakealongtime.“We opmentpersonwastofreeuptimeforustoworkonfoodfairs.
“We saw an opportunity to distribute homemade ready wantedtomakeachickenandstuffingpie,butcouldn’tfind “Todate,wehavedoneallourownmarketing.Whenwe
meals,asretailershadaskedmymothertosupplythemwith stuffingavailablewithoutanyadditivesinit.Wesearched startedwedidin-storedemosalloverthecountry.Westill
the meals, soups and deserts she made for The GranaryFood- highandlow,andittookwaylongerthanweexpected,but do those, as well as bringing vans selling our produce to
store in Cork. It wasn’t something she wanted to do, so we we think we’ve found somebody who can supply us with events such as rugby matches and concerts. We wouldn’t
looked at coming up with a range of meals of Ballymaloe the stuffing now.” be able to justify the cost of advertising. In our business,
standard to supply to retailers,” Sully explains. Cully & Sully has a base in a converted hen house in it’s really about the product. If it’s good, at the right price
“Wedidahugeamountofresearchintotherecipesand Shanagarry, Co Cork, but has outsourced manufacturing. and people like it, word of mouth generates more sales.”
howtopackagethemandlaunchedinSeptember2004in “Havingafactoryourselveswouldn’tworkbecauseofthe Cully has put his artistic background to good use in the
retailandayearlaterinfoodservices,sellingeasy-to-reheat sizeofthemarket,sowelookedatexistingfoodbusinesses quirkydesignofthewebsiteandpackaging,andthebusiness
meals to pubs and clubs.” with excess capacity. Galmere Fresh Foods in Galway partners manage all the website content. “We want to do a
Cully & Sully’s list of accolades is impressive: the first- makesoursoups.Itmakessaladsinsummer,sowecanuse lotmoreworkonthesite—atthemomentwehave200
ever Irish food company to win a SIAL d’OR award in the theproductionareathereinwinter.Ourpiesaremadeby recipes up; we want to increase this to 1,000,” affirms Sully.
WWW.SFA.IE/AWARDS
SFA NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS 07
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