Ballymaloe Cookery School profits surge by 140% to €326k

Profits were soaring even before the East Cork school reached a global audience when it featured on the Netflix series ‘Being Gordon Ramsey’

Darina Allen is a director of the school and retains a majority shareholding in the company whose post-tax profits of €326,672 resulted in the company sitting on accumulated profits of €3.37m at the end of last December. Picture: Dan Linehan

Post-tax profits at the famed Ballymaloe Cookery School last year more than doubled to €326,672.

This year, the East Cork school reached a global audience when it featured on the Netflix series Being Gordon Ramsey when cameras followed the celeb chef and family to see Ramsey’s daughter, Tilly, who was participating in the renowned 12-week certificate course at Ballymaloe.

However, the new accounts filed for Ballymaloe Cookery School Ltd show that even before Netflix's global exposure this year, profits were soaring in 2025 as the profits of €326,672 last year are a 140% increase on the post-tax profits of €135,952 in 2024.

One of the country’s best known chefs, Darina Allen is a director of the school and retains a majority shareholding in the company and the post-tax profits of €326,672 resulted in the company sitting on accumulated profits of €3.37m at the end of last December.

The publicity this year surrounding the school featuring in the Ramsey documentary followed on from Oscar winning actor, Kate Winslet, in April 2024 enrolling in a two-and-a-half-day course there with TV chef and bestselling cookbook author Rachel Allen.

At the end of her first week on her 12-week certificate course at Ballymaloe, Tilly Ramsey told her 1.4 million followers on her Instagram account in September 2024 “having the best time ever and I can’t wait for the next 11 weeks of learning and fun”.

This year, the 12-week course costs €17,495 to take part in before increasing to €17,850 next April and today, the Ballymaloe Cookery School website shows that the next three courses starting in September, January and April of next year are already all sold out.

In a reference to the publicity enjoyed by Ballymaloe Cookery School, director at the school, Toby Allen said on Wednesday: “Our 12-week course which we run three times a year has continued to be very popular and thankfully completely full. We have waiting lists for these courses which gives us confidence to invest in the future.

“This popularity has been helped by some additional media coverage which has brought our school and what we do to a wider audience around the world. Ballymaloe Cookery School has had a very busy year in 2025 and are very happy to report that almost all of our courses were full.

“This has helped greatly with the running costs of the school as it has allowed us to take full advantage of the interest in our services. Like many businesses we have had to keep an eye on rising costs, including our food costs. 

"We try to focus on ensuring that we are still getting the very best ingredients and supporting as many quality Irish suppliers as we can. We continue to invest in the business so that we can ensure we will be able to offer a world-class culinary education well into the future.” 

The cookery school usually has on offer over 60 courses each year and the school is a significant employer in East Cork with last year's numbers employed increasing from 73 to 76, so that staff costs rose from €2.6m to €2.85m.

Staff numbers are made up of three directors and 73 teachers and administration staff.

The profits last year take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €165,582 while directors’ pay increased from €329,847 to €357,793.

The firm’s cash funds increased from €980,639 to €1.5m. The book value of the firm’s fixed assets increased from €4.78m to €5.09m.

Under the heading of 'post balance sheet event', the accounts state: “There is a significant risk to the global economy arising from the current geopolitical situation and the impact on energy costs and inflation.

"This development will have implications for the activities of the company in future months. The directors are unable to quantify or determine what the extent of the implications of these matters are for the company as at the date of approval of the financial statements."

The cookery school is one of a number of businesses operated by members of the Allen family at Ballymaloe.

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