Selling up doesn't mean selling out

Over the last decade, Cullen Allen and Colum O’Sullivan have been through it all: the idea, the start-up, the research, the early days, the success, the expansion, and most recently the sale of their company.

Better known as Cully & Sully, they are the men behind the food company of the same name who can today walk into most major supermarkets in the country and see their range of pies, hotpots and soups stocked in the fridges.

Earlier this year, they were faced with the decision which must be the envy of many successful entrepreneurs and decided to sell Cully & Sully to American-based Hain Celestial who specialise in natural and organic food and personal care products.

The pair are still in charge of running the Cork-based business and today Cullen Allen says that, while for years they were too busy establishing the company and making it successful to think about much else, selling-up was at the back of their minds.

“We always had it as an option but never had it as a definite,” he says, looking back to the company’s foundation in 2004 following a year or so of research. “What we always had in our heads, from the beginning when we started our business, was that by the end of 2010 we’d look at the business and work out what to do next. It came down to, at the end of the day, what were the opportunities if we sold it and what were the opportunities if we held on to it ourselves?”

While the price agreed for Cully & Sully has not been disclosed, Cullen says they got “a good offer” from Hain Celestial, a group which fitted in with their natural and quality-based ethos, and now they’re confident the move will “do wonders” for the business.

A member of one of the most famous families in the Irish food sector (just think Ballymaloe), Cullen got a call from Colum back in 2003 which set the ball rolling for their “prepared meal” business.

“We talked to hundreds of people and research is so important but, at the end of the day, you are the guys who know your own business. At start-up, the main thing is talk to people and then make your decisions.”

At first it was high-quality pies which hit the shops and at €5.49 each they were about twice the price of anything else in the “ready meal” market but, nevertheless, they sold.

During the initial years Cullen and Colum availed of any help they could — whether from State agencies or from family and friends — and also “lived very cheaply” themselves while spending money from pie-sales on building up the brand.

It was after the 2006 launch of their range of soups they knew they were really onto a winner. “People were happy with the price, the quality and the product and they were repurchasing it and any feedback we got was positive.”

Now the business has been sold to a group with a strong foothold in the American and British markets, Cully & Sully hope to roll out more products.

“I’d love to see it going in there to the new markets and to say, in 20 years’ time, I was part of that.”

Words of wisdom: ‘At start-up, the main thing is talk to people and then make your decisions’.