Gráinne Mullins: 'When people believe in themselves they can achieve amazing things'

This Much I Know: "If I set my mind to a task, I wouldn’t stop until I get that done. I can be determined and yet not be mean to someone."

Grá Chocolates' Gráinne Mullins

I grew up in East Galway. It was amazing growing up in rural Ireland as we had the freedom to explore and play and just be kids. My family always had a huge respect for food and we had our garden and chickens.

Our kitchen is the heart of our house and it is where we all congregate and celebrate our happy and sad moments.

My earliest memory is picking apples with my mum in our garden and then baking apple tarts or apple crumble with them. I always loved getting stuck in and I’m so thankful that my parents encouraged us to get involved in cooking.

I believe our life experience makes us who we are. From a very early age, we are building who we are, depending on our life experiences. I think that there are both internal and external factors that make us who we are.

The greatest challenge I faced was overcoming my shyness. As a teenager, I didn’t have much confidence but my happy place was always in the kitchen.

When I got my first job in a restaurant, I realised that was an area I was very confident in. To this day, I can still be quiet in large groups.

Winning the Eurotoques Young Chef of the Year in 2019 was my proudest achievement. I worked so hard on my dishes in the hope to not embarrass myself but all my hard work and preparation paid off when my name was called. It was a surreal moment and I am so thankful to this day for having won the six-month-long competition and it proved that hard work pays off.

Kindness and determination are my best qualities. I like to treat people with kindness and especially my amazing team. I am also very driven and will work towards an aim.

If I set my mind to a task, I wouldn’t stop until I get that done. I can be determined and yet not be mean to someone. It’s the opposite, I can encourage them to believe in my dream. There were people that didn’t believe in my vision but that didn’t matter.

My boyfriend, Mikey, is always there for me. He hears all of my stories, from the good to the bad and everything in between. He is very supportive and I am so glad to have him in my life. Of course, my mother, Esther, is always there for me. I think the bond between a mother and daughter is something truly special and I am very thankful for our relationship.

Dream it, believe it, achieve it, is the life lesson I’d like to pass on. I think that when people believe in themselves they can achieve amazing things.

When I was working as a commis chef, I was told to write down every single recipe. To this day, following procedures is so much easier when you take notes and repeat the work each time

There’s no kitchen in the country that would survive being chaotic and messy. That can be the rush of a kitchen, there can be the panic, the service and the adrenaline rush to get you through. But in order for a kitchen to work, it has to be meticulously organised.

I would love to be remembered as a female entrepreneur leading the way with unique, truly Irish chocolates.

I look up to both male and females in the business – it’s not about inhibiting yourself but embracing and appreciating those who can achieve it.

I was 16 when I got my first job, and I just loved it. I loved being surrounded by the thrill of the kitchen, but I think I love the organisation, the planning, the predicting, the understanding of a recipe, it gave me so many skills to grow my business.

I don’t want to change anything as I am glad I am where I am today, but I truly wish my family lived closer. It’s hard when you can’t see your brother, sisters or nieces.

Yes, I try to be conscious of buying local, to reduce my travel miles and to be more sustainable. I try to use the train when I can and I am looking at getting an electric vehicle for all of our chocolate deliveries.

I think that everyone should be making more of an effort to reduce waste and try to reuse and rewear. I also buy from Irish clothing designers where possible and use rental services for any events that I attend. There’s very little food waste and anything that’s left over goes in compost.

My greatest skills are in the kitchen; also marketing and brand development. I’ve spent years building up a flavour memory of what people like and what flavours work together.

People’s random acts of kindness really surprise me. I’m very lucky to work in a job where I get a lot of feedback from customers. They can tell me some amazing stories and how we are part of that journey.

My brother used to throw snails at me when I was younger so I’m traumatised. Snails are what I’m scared of most.

I think life could have been very different for me if I had continued with science and potentially gone into food science or nutrition. I would have been happy in a lab but I feel like there always would have been a draw for me to do something a bit more hands-on with food.

• Grá Chocolates is one of over 50 Irish businesses featured in Meta’s Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found campaign, putting a spotlight on small businesses across Ireland, helping people to shop locally for Christmas gifts this year.