BOUNCING BACK - RECESSION RECOVERIES:The recession has been particularly shattering for people who have lost jobs and businesses. Many, however, pick themselves up and start over again . . . often with encouraging results
THERE’S AN army of people out there who are surviving this catastrophic crash with good old-fashioned values such as shoulder-to-the-wheel hard graft, common sense and fortitude.
The last day mother-of-four Lesley Keogh walked into her old job in the credit accounts department of Eurowaste, she announced to a colleague, “I’m for the chop, I can just feel it.”
How prescient she was. Keogh was made redundant that very day. It was late November 2008 and with the shock of it, she bawled crying. Christmas was coming, who was going to pay the bills? Her husband’s salary had been carved in half, there were school fees and college fees looming and they were eyeball level in debt, like practically every couple in the country.
But Keogh had an ace up her sleeve. She had always baked, running a novelty cake business years before and had continued her passion in her spare time. Out came the trays and Lesley got back to doing what she did best, soothing her worried soul and reducing some of the gap in the couple’s income with confections of cakes. An old customer approached her. Could she provide baked goods for a new venture at Enowines in Monkstown?
Lesley was soon providing all the food for the smart cafe behind the wine shop in Monkstown Crescent, Co Dublin. By Christmas 2009, owner James Connolly asked her to take over the cafe and Lesley’s Kitchen was born.
“Last Christmas I baked a couple of cakes for display purposes and within days I had hundreds of orders. What I thought was going to be a nice little side earner until I got a ‘real’ job has turned out to be the beginning of a wonderful new adventure for me and my family.”
Keogh has been on a steep learning curve. She had no qualifications as a chef, had never run a restaurant before and had to bone up quickly on health and cleaning regulations, food storage and, of course, acres of form filling. “Oh God, the forms for the Department of Health – head damage,” she laughs. She says the department has been brilliantly supportive, helping her with her administrative problems while she got on her feet. And, seriously, a good word for the banks. Ulster Bank has been very supportive of her business.
Connolly and Keogh have a symbiotic relationship. Enowines brings custom to Lesley’s Kitchen and vice versa. Machines called Enomatics in the wine shop sell wine by the glass, keeping it fresh and in a temperature-controlled environment. For the oenophile, an extensive wine list is available to complement Lesley’s food.
Ah, the food. “It’s Irish and European cuisine. I’m a cook first and foremost. I love to experiment. The food is home-made with the freshest, finest ingredients I can source, margins are tight and prices are kept at a highly competitive level. I now have many regular customers and I know exactly what they like. I try to accommodate my customers and keep them happy.”
She does indeed. I brought the spare heir for lunch a while back and Fussy Gussie, as he’s affectionately known, polished off his large bowl of pasta with sun-dried tomato sauce (€3), surely the best-value meal for kids in Dublin. Prices for two delicious adult meals, starters, main courses and wine come in at around €40. Customers can pick up a bottle of wine in the wine shop and there is no corkage fee.
Keogh has started wine-tasting evenings. Enowine chooses the wines and Lesley researches a menu to complement them. Tellingly, their evenings are booked out for the next few months. This month’s offering is a Bordeaux night with aperitif, four wines and full dinner.
So how is Keogh managing all this and a cake business and a family of four girls?
“The husband and sometimes the girls have been drafted in for Friday and Saturday nights, otherwise we’d never see each other. I easily do an 80-hour week; I haven’t had a holiday in three years, but I feel extremely lucky to have been given a chance.”
Keogh employs one person and hopes soon to employ others.
She has a note for our legislators. “Government makes it difficult to employ people and we could cut the dole queues overnight if every small enterprise was encouraged to employ more staff by reducing the costs to employers.”
And Lesley’s note to the rest of us? “I worked my way through school and college and my kids are learning to do that too. Nobody dies of hard work.”
Lesley’s Kitchen is at Enowine, 23 The Crescent, Monkstown, Co Dublin; she may be reached via 086-663 5093.
Bouncing Back will appear on Mondays over the coming weeks.