Saturday with Máire Flynn: ‘People are extremely particular when it comes to breakfast’

Co-owner of The Tannery and wife of celebrity chef Paul Flynn tells us about her typical weekend and how work and family lives sometimes overlap 

Máire Flynn and husband Paul opened The Tannery in 1997

Since opening The Tannery in 1997, Máire Flynn and her husband Paul Flynn have put Dungarvan on the map as a dining destination, preparing seasonal menus and using the best of local ingredients in the restaurant.

While Paul and his team have been busy in the kitchen, Márie has been serving as both front-of-house and behind-the-scenes helping to design and create the beautiful spaces that are home to the restaurant, guest house and cookery school with their trademark subtle and cosy style.

07:20

My Saturdays start early. I get up and shower. I usually have a cup of tea and blow-dry my hair ready to leave the house by 8.20. 

I never eat breakfast, but I’ll always bring a coffee into the Tannery Townhouse. 

Breakfast service is less pressured than dinner, though I will never cease to be amazed at the infinite combination of the full Irish, two sausages, fried eggs, no tomatoes, no black pudding, one poached egg. 

People are extremely particular when it comes to breakfast, but we are always on top of it.

09:00

One of the first things I do every morning, even on weekends, is to check the emails and see what bookings have come in online overnight. 

I also look at the room allocations for that night and the table plans. I don’t mind working at the weekend. It’s part of my life now.

In the early days, I did resent it a little. I missed out on lots of family events, weddings and parties. 

It was especially hard when our children were young, and it seemed to them we were always working.

Now they are older teenagers, one 18 and the other is 17, they are totally fine with us [being] missing from home and often help us in the restaurant, so we are all together anyway.

12:00

My favourite part of the day is the admin, especially the reservations office. I love taking phone bookings and chatting to people. 

I’d like to know our guests have had a good experience from making the reservation to checking out.

The restaurant is now in its 27th year of business, we have a 14-bedroom townhouse and The Tannery Cookery School now.

I take care of the day-to-day running of all three so I can be found anywhere from on the restaurant floor opening wine to the boiler room sorting out the heating in the office and doing wages. 

I am a jack of all trades, and I don’t confine myself to any one part of the business.

13:00

I try to take a little break after checkouts and if I have time, I go for a stroll up the town to see what’s happening and maybe call into a few shops. 

We are lucky to have gorgeous gift shops in Dungarvan, Wine and Elbow, Isabel’s Place, to name a few. 

If I’m not working, I love to walk around the beautiful countryside surrounding our home, or Helvick or Clonea, any of our lovely local beaches. Getting out in nature is my favourite way to unwind.

Lunch on a Saturday can be haphazard. Sometimes my daughters come in to meet me and we might go to a local café for lunch but often I’ll grab something at work, a quick sandwich or bowl of soup.

16:00

I usually try and take a break from the jobs and spin home for an hour or two before going back in to greet our guests for dinner. 

I will change clothes and be ready for evening service. I like to be smartly dressed. It’s my armour for the night ahead. 

Often Saturdays pass by without dinner. But on the rare occasion, I get a day off, I get a takeaway. It has to be from Eunice Power’s ‘And Chips’ in Dungarvan.

I also have huge respect for long-standing family-owned restaurants and The Shamrock in Dungarvan is one of these. It’s always our Friday lunchtime treat.

21:00

I have a low-key social life. I’m not a pub person and while I do like to go to restaurants, we tend to be limited at weekends.

I love when a busy Saturday night at work has gone well, and the guests are happy. It’s a busy weekend routine but it’s also extremely energising. 

I also love having days off early in the week where I can get a lot done at home. It also means I don’t hate Mondays!

00:00

Once everything is wrapped up and all our guests are happy, I’ll fall into bed ready to do it all over again. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

• Máire Flynn co-owns The Tannery Restaurant, Townhouse and Cookery School. 
• tannery.ie