The Munster businesses cashing in on our coffee cravings

Our insatiable appetite for coffee has led to a number of new businesses cropping up in recent months

Breen Curtin of Blackbird Coffee in Limerick. He is one a number of new coffee-related businesses opening in Munster in recent months. Picture: Brian Arthur

A pandemic that’s closing businesses across the country may not seem like the opportune time to launch a start-up, but for three friends, Covid restrictions were actually the push they needed to launch an idea they had been brewing up for some time.

Tipperary native and coffee connoisseur Cronan Gleeson was finishing up a contract in the US when the pandemic hit. His friend and old flatmate Ben Burns from Limerick had also found himself in a pickle having just started a new job. “It was a case of first in first out, unfortunately,” Mr Gleeson explained, and soon Burns too found himself out of work.

“We both had a bit of free time then and you wouldn’t think Covid would be a great time to launch a business but because the whole concept [of the idea] was coffee at home we thought maybe this is the perfect time.” 

And so the friends, along with Galwegian Ciaran Gaffney, launched The Coffee Exchange, an online marketplace which sells artisan Irish coffee and home brewing equipment. The website stocks a number of Munster suppliers including Badger & Dodo and Bean in Dingle.

The group is one of a number of new coffee-related businesses to open across Munster in recent months to answer the continued and growing demand for what is one of the world's oldest products.

It was perfect timing not just for them, Gleeson explains, but for Ireland’s artisan coffee suppliers who needed an alternative revenue stream.

“They had a pretty harsh sudden drop in revenue,” he explained, “selling bags of coffee to café’s would be their main source of income.” 

Cronan Gleeson (left) with friends Ciaran Gaffney and Ben Burns of The Coffee Exchange

While they didn’t have previous start-up experience, Gleeson says they were in an advantageous situation where they didn’t have to rent a premises and they were able to “call in a couple of favours” from friends who work in social media to help promote the business and get it off the ground.

“90% of our advertisement is through Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook and you can do that stuff relatively cheaply. We’re only up and running seven months so we're obviously very new, but we’re learning as we go.” 

Currently, the site just delivers to Ireland but Gleeson, who has just moved back to the US, says the plan is to ship worldwide and target Irish expats abroad.

“The population of Ireland living outside of Ireland is nearly higher than the actual Irish population. There are so many expats in France, Australia, Canada and America, so it’s pulling on that idea of supporting Irish.” 

For those who would still prefer to pay a visit to a local barista over investing in a french press, a number of coffee vans have started popping up across the province.

In Limerick, the increasingly popular Blackbird Coffee was also a result of a dream that had been put on pause until the pandemic brought an opening.

“I'd wanted to do the coffee thing for years, I actually did my final year project in college on it with the intention to give it a go after I finished, but you know yourself, you fall into a job."

There were only two ways I was ever going to do it, either leave a job or lose a job.

For Curtin, Covid-19 led to the latter, and after a few weeks putting money away, the young entrepreneur bought the unit in May.

Blackbird Coffee started serving locals in Raheen just before Christmas, and Curtin now employs two people to help man the van, as well as stocking sweet treats from local Limerick suppliers who are also new businesses.

Breen Curtin of Blackbird Coffee, Limerick.

“We're always on the move, sometimes by choice and other times, not by choice!” he jokes, but says he remains within a 5km radius so is usually still within walking distance of the customers he’s built up in the last month.

“A lot of customers end up following us and in the morning I could have six messages asking are you guys still in the same place or where are ye today. People are coming looking for us.” 

While Breen’s original idea was to be constantly on the move, including stop-offs at festivals and events once these resume, he says he has now realised the value of staying in one place.

“When you stay in one place, you get to know people,” he said, adding that plans for a café are likely in the future.

“You can afford to stay in a smaller retail [now]”, he said, “I think it's really gone in that direction where people like to walk in, grab their coffee and go.” 

Alongside remote workers who need their coffee fix, Curtin says he is always seeing a lot of families pop down during lunch hours.

“You've a lot of parents that are homeschooling kids at the moment. The parents can't wait to get out to get their cappuccino and relax, and the kids can't wait to get their hot chocolate. We do a thing called a puppuccino (warmed up milk) too...so it's the whole family we're supplying, we have something for everyone!”