Lack of dough sees yvonne to rise to bakery challenge
GRABBING just two-and-a-half hours sleep a night for six months forced Muckrussaun, The Neale, native, and mum of three, Yvonne Murphy, to establish an artisan bakery in Ballinrobe and abandon her civil service job, writes Tom Gillespie.
Working at GISC, the Garda PULSE unit, in Castlebar, was not enough for Yvonne (37) and her family to survive. So she resorted to her training as an award-winning pastry chef, which meant getting home from work at 11 p.m., baking until 4 a.m., hitting the bed and being back up again for work at 6.30 a.m.
Now Yvonne is the proud proprietor of Devour Bakery at Church Lane, Ballinrobe, as well as a new production unit on the Kilmaine Road. The business started out with just Yvonne and Polish chef Bart but now the company has a workforce of 13 - in less than three years.
Aged 17, Yvonne trained in the tourism college in Killybegs. After two years she did a national apprenticeship in Dublin and got a placement in Ashford Castle for the first year and in Dromoland Castle for the second, followed by a scholarship to Johnson and Wales University, Providence, Rhode Island.
Returning from America, she went back to Ashford. She explained: “I had been seeing my husband, James, a builder, that time. He was on normal hours and I was doing split shifts and it just wasn’t working out. I then went to O’Toole’s in Tuam. I was there for three years. I then went back to college and got my culinary arts degree in GMIT, specialising in pastry.”
Wanting to change, a position came up in Cuisine de France as a category specialist, a sales rep basically. Yvonne was with the company until the arrival of her first child.
She says: “I was always able to cook and bake and they gave me the ability and confidence to sell. Training was massive. You were taught to walk in to a place with a smile on your face. You would be surprised what you will get when you smile.”
Following the birth of her son, Kevin, Yvonne returned to O’Toole’s. After the arrival of her second son she was at home for two years.
Yvonne, who was educated at Gortskehy National School, where her mother was principal, continued: “I had three kids in quick succession in three-and-a-half years. But everything was very boring for us. We never had a boom when everyone was buying cars. We did not have any of that. When people were going out we were sitting at home. When we were having babies our friends were going out and now they are having babies and we are going out.
“Around then James decided to go back to football training. One day he rang me and said he had taken a fall and hurt his knee. He didn’t walk for six months. It was dreadful.
“Before I left Cuisine I had applied for the civil service. One day I came home and there was a letter on the table for an interview. I got the job. I was in Castlebar in the Garda PULSE unit. I was on very little money as I was just in the door. We were on nights and we did the same hours as guards. We juggled for six months. We had very little money so I went back to making cakes. I was forced into it really.
“I had dabbled in it a few times at home but it just never took off. I started making novelty cakes, something different. I did the right thing at the right time. I did five, six or seven cakes a week initially, just to get diesel to put in the car, but then it became more of a habit.
“Then I started supplying local shops. I used to come home from work at 11 p.m. James would have the oven on and I would go to bed at 4 a.m. after baking and be up again at 6.30 and in at work at 7 a.m. I did that for six months. It got to the stage where it was crazy and work was suffering a little bit.
“Then I got a phone call from the girl who ran this shop originally and she was selling her oven. She asked would I be interested in leasing. I went home but I could not get it out of my head. I did a few sums and I said what have I to lose so I went to HR and got a career break for five years.
“I left PULSE on June 29, 2012, and we opened here on July 4. In three days we turned the place around. Bart, a Polish baker, was working here nine hours a week and I kept him on and since then he does not work less that 39 hours a week.
“When we started out it was just me and Bart baking and my mother selling in the shop. James was still working for a builder. When we took to supplying more shops I said I could not do this on my own so James came on full time with us.
“The business grew very fast and we were doing very well when Nationwide came to visit us the February after we opened. It took some months for it to air but the day after it was broadcast it was just hectic here and has been since.
“Last February I knew we were getting too big so we moved the whole production to the industrial estate on the Kilmaine Road.”
Devour Bakery can be contacted by either liking their Facebook page, email devourbakery@hotmail.com, or call (087) 1363216 or (094) 9521626.
* Do you have a story to tell about your business? If so, Tom Gillespie would be delighted to hear from you. Get in touch at (087) 9680780 or gillespietom49@gmail.com.