Busy bee Eoghan is baking up a storm in Skibbereen

THE closure of a popular restaurant in Skibbereen might have been a cause for concern except for the fact that it has given Eoghan Hourihane a new business opportunity.

Post-Covid, Eoghan is working at his new bakery, located at the rear of the Busy Bee fast food restaurant at Ilen Street, but he has plans for so much more.

In time, Eoghan, who also operates a popular stall at Skibbereen’s fabulous Saturday morning market, is hoping to run baking classes at the appropriately named Eoghan’s Busy Bakery.

He said there’ll even be classes for children, which would bring him right back to his roots, baking alongside his nana, Ann.

Eoghan started working in the family business in 2011 – the year he finished school – right up to New Year 2024, when it closed. He had, in fact, been managing it alongside his father, Kieran, since 2016.

It was the late Teddy Hourihane, and his wife Breda, who opened the business in 1966.

They ran it until 1996 when Eoghan’s family moved lock stock and barrel to Ilen Street.

Eoghan’s parents, Kieran and Catherine, ran it for a few years before purchasing an outright interest in the business.

From day one, in the 60s, the restaurant was all about good food and traditional hot dinners, but in the 80s, there was a transition to take-away.

The family retained the restaurant that could – and frequently did – seat 100-plus people after big community and sporting events. Teddy, who passed away in 2017, was a great businessman. He saw the need to pivot from what they were doing because fast food was a growing market at the time.

‘It was always busy, but the business went through a period when it was absolutely nuts!’ said Eoghan. ‘The place was heaving, right up until the crash in 2007.

‘From that point on, the business changed and slowed. That was partially due to a reduction in people’s disposable income, but people were also becoming more health conscious and making different food choices,’ he said.

‘But we kept going. When I joined in 2011, having just turned 19, I started as a pot-washer and eventually moved on to serving customers and prepping the food.

‘I knew I wasn’t going to go to college, so becoming a member of the family business was an obvious choice. I enjoyed it, talking to and dealing with people.

‘I especially liked working with our staff, many of whom were loyal to us for decades, but, for me, my interest in baking started at the age of four with my grandmother, Ann Gilks.

‘I was always in her kitchen baking with her. She did a lot of home baking and used to supply the shop in Castletownshend. It was a source of income, but it was clear that she had a passion for it.

From the age of four Eoghan Hourihane loved to bake alongside his nana Ann Gilks.

‘She made all of the family’s birthday cakes, and all of the wedding cakes too, but as children what me and my siblings remember most was making apple pies and buns.’

Eoghan said he used to make lots of baked goods for members of his extended family at Christmas time. ‘It was a hobby – just cheesecakes and cookies – but one day my mother asked Drinagh Co-op if they’d be interested in a new supplier.

‘I didn’t know anything about this until she came home and suggested I knock up some samples. I was flummoxed, and a bit hesitant, because it was out of the blue,’ said Eoghan.

He made the samples and staff at Drinagh loved them. ‘It went from there, and I started using the Busy Bee’s kitchen. That was just before Covid and I bought myself an oven and a mixer.’

For a while his new business co-existed with the Busy Bee and he also took up kitchen time when the restaurant was closed.‘It was a small-scale operation to start with, but it slowly built up. I added lots of different cakes and that first Christmas went very well.’

When Covid hit and everything, including the Busy Bee, closed during lockdown Eoghan continued to bake throughout because he was able to work in the kitchen on his own.

‘Then things really took off over Covid,’ said Eoghan, who was delighted to have his nana, Ann, back with him in the kitchen when the series of lockdowns finally finished.

‘I increased the range of baked goods and was able to take online orders and traded out of the take-away window,’ he said.

‘At that point, I bought another oven. Today, I have five and they are all going full throttle,’ said Eoghan, who seems to have inherited the family touch when it comes to finding a successful food niche.