The Sunday Times 2012
How I made it: Margaret O’Connor
Helping turn one bakery into a €7m business has been the icing on the cake for the managing director of Quigley’s, Café, Bakery, Deli.
Sandra O’Connell of The Times likened Margaret Valette O’Connor to baking soda, noting how she was key in expanding the family-owned Quigley’s Cafe, Bakery & Deli from one shop in Nenagh town to 16 branches all over Ireland with a turnover of €7m.
“It was the late 1980s and John’s mother was running it, but it was going nowhere. The business was little more than cobwebs, three staff and a huge overdraft”, Margaret said of the bakery when she and her then-husband took the reins. After less than a year of managing the business, they were able to pay off the overdraft and decided then that for the business to continue to grow, the funding would be entirely from cashflow.
Margaret credited her shared work ethic with John for their success. With her background in corporate marketing and his in accountancy and baking, their skills aligned with their vision for the brand. They knew it would be hard work, but they were prepared to take on the challenge.
To see change, they needed to be willing to make some, so they started by remaining open on days that the rest of the town’s shops were closed. This small change gave them an immediate advantage over their competitors. They then set their sights on an emerging trend from big cities – café culture. The growing prominence of cafes have pushed coffee and pastries beyond just a quick snack stop to a communal sanctuary where customers can relax and unwind. Margaret and her team took this opportunity to transform the brand as a pioneer in the community that has not yet been reached by commercial brands such as Starbucks or Costa.
“Eventually we decided we would do it, using the style of the Bewley’s cafes, with mahogany and Tiffany lamps.”, Margaret muses.
Not that it would be an issue to have other café brands in the area, “..what I’ve learned over the years is that competition is good for you. It keeps you on your toes and forces you to keep asking yourself, ‘What can I do to make ours better?’ The fact is that customers like choice, so it’s good for everybody.”
Quigley’s continued to expand and open new branches in new locations. They were faced with new challenges along the way such as securing rental units and upward-only rent reviews, but they pushed through.
Eventually, the brand grew to a point that they had to step back and see how they can offer the same quality products to all their branches. A strategic decision was made – they were going to reinvest revenue towards building a dedicated food production facility in Lisbunny.
“The move to Lisbunny was important for us because it marked a point where we recognised that this was getting serious. We realised that we could no longer just take things as they come — we knew that we needed to be more focused.”
Margaret also focused on self-growth and development and got involved with local networks such as the North Tipperary Network and North Tipperary County Enterprise Board, meeting like-minded entrepreneurs and taking business development and HR courses. This has helped her with strategic planning and efficient costing. This year was dedicated to building up cash reserves for further expansion.
“We’ve been fortunate so far as the recession has meant people really do appreciate the fact that our business is 100% Irish. Again, that support is one reason why we’ve been able to get this far without having to close a shop. People know we’re here to stay.”