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18th June 2014
08:40pm BST
What age were you when you decided to set out on your own?
I was 26 when I opened my own business. I had the big highflying sales job with the fancy suits and company car. I worked for a food company who specialised in deli food and bread so it was through this that I spotted a gap in the market for fresh Italian “fast food”. This was 11 years ago when we barely had a Dominos or McDonalds believe it or not, so we were pretty ahead of our time. There wasn’t many people my age opening businesses back then and I looked pretty young too so people used to always ask me to speak to the boss - it doesn’t happen anymore unfortunately!
Did you have many doubts going solo?
Not really, it was a big decision to leave my “good” job as it was going really well and I found sales pretty easy but I was ready for the change. I was a terrible employee anyway, I gave 150% all the time but nearly tried to take over the company, I just cant work for somebody, I get too frustrated that I can’t just control things which is a bit of a problem when working for somebody. I was born to be self-employed. I had no worries about the food side of things as my partner Bruno opened his own Italian restaurant in 1999, which had been very successful; I also had a degree in Business and Marketing so we were a dream team really.
How did you make the transition from the restaurant business into producing sauces?
Over the years we had noticed a shift towards customers looking for restaurant quality food to eat at home and people had started requesting to buy our sauces to cook with their own pasta at home. We did a lot of research into the area before we launched, as La Cucina is too small so we had to take production externally. We spent 2 years in developing Real Italian Foodies as we wanted to get it right. Twitter was a big part of this as the brand basically started there, I got so much feedback and help from our followers and they were involved from the start. We had built a pretty good profile and social media for La Cucina that people all over the country were mad to try our food but not everybody gets to visit Limerick so we said why not bring it to them. The “big plan” is to develop a full range of fresh Italian products of La Cucina standard that can be eaten in every home in Ireland, not just Limerick.
Was it difficult choosing staff or people to work with?
Yes staff is always the most difficult part of running a business. We’re pretty laid back, so only a certain type of person works well with us, I don’t want to be following somebody around all day telling them what to do so we find like-minded crazy food obsessed people work well with us, we have a couple of staff who are with us a long time and who have helped us get to where we are. Our staff tend to stay with us too which is always a good sign.
What has been the biggest hurdle you've had to overcome?
When we opened La Cucina first we were waaaaaay ahead of our time, most hadn’t even heard of Parma Ham (true story), so we had to adjust our menu a few times. People assumed we were a fish & chip shop because it was Italian, we had trouble too with certain dishes doing them the authentic way as Italian food consisted really of lasagne and spaghetti Bolognese in the early days. This is where Social Media completely changed everything as I was able to tell our story and show the type of food we did and why we did it.
In relation to Real Italian Foodies sauces everything has been a hurdle, it is very difficult to succeed in Ireland in food production. It’s a very tough sector, we were listed in a major supermarket but we had nothing but problems. There is no support there at all and you are at the bottom of a very long list of products and you can’t compete against the bigger brands. The problem is that there is no alternative as we don’t have very many Independent Stores like Whole Foods or similar in Ireland, so you are dependent on getting supermarket listings, as volume is key in this game. We have recently decided to change our business model and are setting up an online shop at the moment. Buying fresh food online is still relatively new in Ireland but I have researched other countries and it’s the way forward. My biggest challenge will be to change the mind-set about buying fresh food online but I like a challenge!
Have you had any mentors?
Not really, we had a mentor from the Limerick Enterprise Board at the start in relation to production and she was a great help. We’ve also had a business development consultant involved since the beginning and he’s been great, we’re very creative and I can be a bit allergic to the serious businessy side so he’s been the ‘ying to our yang’ and all that…
What advice would you give to somebody starting off?
My main piece of advice I give to everybody is “outsource”. You can’t do everything, I get asked a lot how I do it all with two small kids and I always tell them “I don’t”. I organise everything basically, whatever can be done by somebody else I have them do it. For example my accountant does everything, I hate accounts and I’m not an accountant so why would I even attempt it? I’d make a mess of it. I’m the best delegator you have ever met, most small business owners are terrified to let other people do things as it won’t be done right, not me. It’s true that nobody will do it like you but as long as it’s done 95 per cent of it I have no problem, and it frees me up to develop my business. This is how we’ve grown from a staff of five to 18, I find the more you let people do the more it empowers them and they are eager to learn and progress.
What's been your greatest achievement since first opening your doors?
Winning ‘Best Casual Dining in Ireland’ twice at The Irish Restaurant Awards and seeing Real Italian Foodies Sauces on the supermarket shelves…
Oh and having my two kids of course!
For more information on Lorraine and her tasty Italian venture you can check her out on Twitter, realitalianfoodies.com or follow all tantalising foodie updates on the Real Italian Foodies Facebook page.
