Honorary Masters awarded to restaurateurs

TWO of Cork’s leading restaurateurs were smiling broadly alongside almost 300 undergraduates and postgraduates at a conferring ceremony at UCC yesterday.

Honorary Masters in Commerce degrees were conferred on Kay Harte of Farmgate Restaurant & Cafe and Claire Nash, who runs Nash 19 Restaurant. Both women received the honour from the university in recognition of the culinary and business skills.

Claire Nash opened Nash 19 Restaurant in Princes Street in February 1992 and is a member of Les Routiers and Good Food Ireland. She won the latter’s good food hostess of the year award in 2009.

The restaurant has been extended twice in the past 18 years and now houses its own food shop, with a full-time staff of 19.

Nash 19 has a catering business and a hamper range which varies seasonally, and it also opens throughout December at weekends, keeping with tradition.

Ms Nash was appointed president of Cork Business Association (CBA) in 2008 and the following year took on a directorship of the association.

The Farmgate was established when Maróg O’Brien opened her restaurant and country store in Midleton in 1984.

Ten years later Maróg’s sister, Kay, joined and established a restaurant in the English Market.

Some 114 students graduated with a BSc (Business Information Systems) degree, while a further 33 graduated with an MBS (MIS & Managerial Accounting degree).

Also conferred were 165 students across a wide range of disciplines.

Picture: Claire Nash, left, of Nash 19 Restaurant and Kay Harte of the Farmgate Cafe, English Market, both of whom were conferred with an Honorary MComm. Picture: Denis Minihane