The Cork SME firms shortlisted for the Cork Chamber Company of the Year Awards

In the second of a four-part series looking at the finalists for the Cork Company of the Year Awards 2023, we profile the contenders in the SME category
The Cork SME firms shortlisted for the Cork Chamber Company of the Year Awards

Cool Running Events creative director Orla O’Neill, with staff members at the firm’s Alpine Skate Trail at Fota House and Gardens. Picture: Gerard McCarthy

Cool Running Events transforming Ireland’s adventure tourism

Cool Running Events is an example of a company that has expanded successfully during the pandemic to establish itself as Ireland’s only adventure tourism business employing people on a full-time pensionable basis.

Headquartered in Little Island, the company delivers experiences, adventures and memories to customers all over Ireland and is known for its seasonal ice rink attractions and zip-lining.

A family-owned business, it has delivered Ireland’s biggest pop-up winter ice-skating events since 2007. However, the firm has expanded significantly in 2021.

In August of that year, it acquired Zipit Forest Adventures, a seasonal high ropes business with locations in Cork, Dublin, Roscommon and an office in Waterford. In doing so it merged two family businesses, retained all employees and created opportunities between both businesses for staff. Today the company employs 19 staff on a full-time basis.

Its ice skating rinks in Cork and Dublin catered for 200,000 skaters in 2021. Its zip-lining businesses currently operate from three sites and the company is in various stages of planning for additional sites. Its most recent zip-lining season saw it cater for 80,000 customers, the busiest year since Zipit was founded.

Prior to the pandemic, the company had identified that the biggest issue with the business was that it was not sustainable. Each year Cool Running Events would hire temporary staff from August to January. These employees would be trained, work the winter season and once the season was over these staff would leave. It was an endless cycle of recruitment and training. Cool Running Events needed something to retain key employees in their roles all-year and ultimately improve the quality of what we were doing.

Following the acquisition of Zipit, Cool Running Events has created roles that work in both businesses. The Waterford customer care office now works in both businesses and the company has created permanent salaried roles for managers to work in Zipit and ice skating, creating paid, non-seasonal, pensionable roles in the adventure tourism industry.

Cool Running’s operations director Louise Cremin said the company is delighted to be shortlisted as a finalist. “As a family member of this family business, I take great pride in what our business has become over the last number of years, integrating Zipit, creating a corps of permanent salaried year-round roles, always improving the customer experience and I’m excited about the journey we’re on and the new events and activities we’ll bring to Ireland over the coming years,” she said.

“We’re not a large multinational dealing with a fund in New York or an office in California or putting products on a boat to the UK or Europe. We are a local family-owned SME that prides itself on delivering fun, memories, challenges and experiences to people all across Ireland and being named a finalist for this award is a great acknowledgement of the importance of businesses like ours and the effort we put in everyday to make our business what it is.”

M&P O’Sullivan continues 118-year history serving Cork

Eoin and Patrick O'Sullivan of MP O'Sullivan. The company was founded in Cork in 1905.
Eoin and Patrick O'Sullivan of MP O'Sullivan. The company was founded in Cork in 1905.

M&P O’Sullivan is a fourth-generation, family-run wholesale food business that was founded in Cork in 1905.

Today, the firm is a one-stop shop for the foodservice, fast food and retail sector. Its product portfolio is over 15,000 lines across frozen, ambient, minerals and catering equipment.

The company has a highly skilled and dedicated team of 65 employees who supports over 3,000 customers from their purpose-built, multi-temperature warehouse on Sarsfield Road.

Run by Eoin and Patrick O’Sullivan, the company is a shareholder of Gala Retail Services which has over 180 Gala stores and 40 Your Stop stores nationwide. M&P O’Sullivan supplies 30 of the Gala & Your stop stores in the Munster region.

MP O’Sullivan operates a fleet of seven multi-temp delivery trucks and seven vans which are on the road six days a week.

The business operates a cash and carry service for customers that want to shop in-store across its 15,000 product lines. The company’s product portfolio is made up from frozen, chill, ambient, minerals, packaging, alcohol, food equipment and non-food products.

M&P O’Sullivan is competing in a very competitive market and its unique selling point is its customer service.

The company’s 10-strong sales team are in daily contact with customers, conducting surveys and feeding this back to the business during our monthly review sessions

Recently, the firm has made a number of innovations within the business, introducing a new online ordering platform, mobile app and implementing a new warehouse management system.

The business also acquired Brennan’s Caterworld which is one of Cork’s oldest catering companies. This acquisition broadened their non-food and catering equipment category by 5,000 product lines.

M&P grew turnover in 2021 by over 22% to €37.9m. It says it has similar growth targets (or are exceeding growth targets) for 2022 and is on track to double turnover in the coming five years. M&P also continues to expand with new acquisitions.

The Cork-based company has been a pillar of the local community for 118 years, supporting local jobs, local suppliers and communities.

It has long associations with initiatives such as Cork On a Fork, Marymount Hospice Ball, the Irish Grocers Benevolent Fund, Cork Business Association, Carrigaline Lions Club, and the Carrigaline Youth Club Internship Program.

“It is a huge honour to be nominated for the SME Cork Chamber Company of the Year, not only for the O’Sullivan family but for everyone who has helped build M&P O’Sullivan’s into the company that it is today,” Eoin and Patrick O’Sullivan said.

“To win the SME Cork Company of the Year would be a huge honour for M&P O’Sullivan and great recognition for supporting local jobs, local suppliers and local communities in Cork for the last 118 years.”

Barry & Fitzwilliam makes a successful pivot during Covid-19

Michael Barry of Barry and Fitzwilliam Ltd, more than 40 years in business. Picture: Des Barry
Michael Barry of Barry and Fitzwilliam Ltd, more than 40 years in business. Picture: Des Barry

Barry & Fitzwilliam is Ireland’s exclusive distributors of some of the world’s leading alcohol brands including Tia Maria, Remy Martin Cognac, Cointreau, and Bols liqueurs.

The company was founded by Michael Barry in 1982. Since then it has grown to become one of Ireland’s leading independent drinks companies.

Over the past four decades, it acquired a number of other firms as it expanded including McCullagh, Maxxium Irl and Allied Drinks & Approach Wines. Today Barry & Fitzwilliam is headquartered in Ballycurren where they employ 60 people.

The firm’s business model reflects management’s hypothesis about what the customer wants and is both product and service driven. Barry & Fitzwilliam’s track record over the last 40 years speaks for itself. The company previously won the SME category of the Cork Chamber awards in 2011. Even though heavily involved in the hospitality sector they were able to pivot the business successfully during the Covid-19 pandemic to concentrate totally on the retail sector during the lockdowns. As a result, the firm has grown turnover continuously since 2019.

Over the last three years, they have also focussed on celebrity wine brands and acquired the distribution rights for Graham Norton wines and spirits, Kylie Minogue wines, Sarah Jessica Parker wines as well as those from Gary Barlow and Gordon Ramsey. The firm is also focused on the retail sector and what it views as the huge untapped potential for cocktails at home which saw their brands such as Tia Maria, Cointreau and Bols Liqueurs doubling their sales.

Barry & Fitzwilliam was the first company in Ireland to launch a hard seltzer which is a new category in alcoholic drinks. It launched White Claw in 2020 and the brand now has 62% of the market. It has also recently signed a contract with OBOLON Brewery in Kiev, the largest brewery in Ukraine, which it hopes to have on the market here before Christmas.

Michael Barry and his company have been actively involved in the business life of Cork and supporting charities with various sponsorships. The firm has had a long association with the Cork Film Festival. Over the years they have sponsored the Down Syndrome Association, Cork Penny Dinners, ARC, and Cork Simon. It has sponsored the Marketing Institute Ball Southern Committee as well as sponsoring many major local artistic and business events.

In relation to ESG, Barry & Fitzwilliam is working with all its brand owners on a sustainability project. The lighting in their 50,000sq ft warehouse has been changed to LED to reduce energy.

Having spent celebrated 40 years in business in 2022, Michael is looking forward to marking 50 years in business in 2032.

“We are absolutely delighted to be chosen as a finalist in the Cork Chamber Company of the year awards,” Michael said. “We previously won the SME section in 2011 and we would be honoured to win the award a second time.”

more articles

The international firms shortlisted for the Cork Chamber Company of the Year Awards The international firms shortlisted for the Cork Chamber Company of the Year Awards
The Cork large firms shortlisted for the Cork Chamber Company of the Year Awards The Cork large firms shortlisted for the Cork Chamber Company of the Year Awards
 The emerging Cork firms shortlisted for the Cork Chamber Company of the Year Awards The emerging Cork firms shortlisted for the Cork Chamber Company of the Year Awards

More in this section

JD Sports shares Sports retailer JD posts fall in January sales amid 'challenging market'
Hands typing on labtop keyboard. Cork IT firm PFH posts 50% drop in profit as staff costs surge 
UK insurers face claims of up to $3bn from Baltimore bridge disaster UK insurers face claims of up to $3bn from Baltimore bridge disaster
The Business Hub
Newsletter

News and analysis on business, money and jobs from Munster and beyond by our expert team of business writers.

Sign up
Lunchtime News
Newsletter

Keep up with the stories of the day with our lunchtime news wrap.

Sign up
Home Delivery
logo-ie

HOME DELIVERY SERVICE

Have the Irish Examiner delivered to your door. No delivery charge. Just pay the cover price.

Revoiced
Newsletter

Sign up to the best reads of the week from irishexaminer.com selected just for you.

Sign up
Cookie Policy Privacy Policy Brand Safety FAQ Help Contact Us Terms and Conditions

© Examiner Echo Group Limited