Pat HigginsPat Higgins, known as Pat the Baker and founder of the eponymous bakeries in Granard, Co Longford, has died aged 84.
Through his entrepreneurship and perfectionism, Higgins succeeded in making Pat the Baker bread and buns famous throughout the country. His company was awarded the Master Bakers Association Award eight times and it is still owned and run by the Higgins family.
In Granard, Pat Higgins was respected for his dedicated work ethos and his commitment to the community. He established the Granard Chamber of Commerce, but baking was always more important to him than business.
Pat was born in Kilkelly, Co Mayo. In his late 20s he moved to Granard and was employed by Devine's Bakeries. In the early 1950s there were three bakeries in Granard: Devine's, Heaslip's and Sheridan's.
He could not have known then that he would start a business that would become a nationwide brand.
As in any town in the country, there were a lot of "Pats", and because Higgins was an outsider, he became known simply as "Pat the Baker".
The avuncular and wholesome connotations of this name reflect the humble beginnings of the bakeries and have been an important part of the business that Pat started.
While working at Devine's, Higgins met a local girl, Rita O'Reilly, who was related to his bosses. The couple married and decided to set up business at the same time.
They ran the fledgling business from the back room of their house in Moxham Street in the town centre, where the headquarters of the large company are located today.
The couple worked as a team, working through the night to bake bread for local businesses, fairs and markets in the general area.
Pat the Baker's pan and batch bread quickly became popular and then Higgins added the "toast cake" to their repertoire. Pat said they were "bigger" and "better" than a sticky bun and they were one of the first of the Pat the Baker varieties that brought local fame to the Higgins's company.
Pat was renowned as the hardest worker in the town and he quickly gained huge respect from locals for his dedication to perfection.
The company now employs 400 people, and Higgins always attributed his success to his "luck", with a committed and loyal staff. The Higgins' first staff member was Eugene Clyde, who stayed with the company until he retired last year.
Pat and Rita Higgins had four children, Paddy, Mick, Jim and May, who all still live in the Granard area. The family grew up working in the business and three of them are still closely involved in the running of the firm today.
Throughout the sixties and seventies the business expanded at a time when all other local bakeries were closing down and the famous Pat the Baker bread vans became a regular sight around an increasingly expanding radius from Granard.
Higgins attributed his success to his ability to adapt to changes in the market place. He recognised that local businesses were losing out to supermarkets and he adapted his bakery products for that market.
When the government introduced a series of packaging rules, he bought specialised packaging and slicing machines so that the gap between production and his sliced pan reaching the shelves reduced dramatically.
In the 1980s he built a specialised baking plant, and it became necessary to expand the plant again a couple of years later to cope with the growing popularity of the Pat the Baker brand.
In 1984, the bakery opened a depot in Dublin to provide a variety of breads for the city's customers.
One of the biggest contributors to the company's success was the legendary cartoon television ad that became directly associated with Higgins and his early morning baking. The catchy jingle and the slogan "so fresh it's famous", secured nationwide fame for the bakery.
Rita Higgins died in 1991 and was sorely missed by her husband, both as a companion and business partner.
She was regarded as the "softer side" of the business in the town. Pat gave Rita credit for the development of his home and his business.
Although Pat Higgins's name became closely associated with the town of Granard, the baker never lost touch with his hometown of Kilkelly and he was a huge supporter of the Mayo GAA football team.
Although he took little time for recreation, he eventually became a keen angler in later life and he won several fishing prizes over the years.
He is survived by his daughter, three sons and many relatives and friends.
Pat the Baker Higgins: born 1923; died August 26th 2007