Ice Cream Ireland

I don’t know if the blog is the right place for this, but I thought I’d make the press release available on-line:

Cool Summer Treats in Dublin

Murphys Ice Cream, an Irish company that has built a cult following for its frozen artisan delights, is celebrating its 10th Anniversary by opening two new shops on Wicklow Street and in Temple Bar Square, Dublin, creating 15 new jobs.

The new locations have been designed as little havens of delight amidst the hustle and bustle of Dublin and will give denizens and visitors to the capitol an opportunity to taste some of the Murphy Brothers more interesting creations. Besides the signature ice creams, Murphys will also serve carefully sourced, biodynamic coffee and a range of sweet treats.

“We are thrilled to announce such a positive move, especially in such a difficult economic environment,” say Sean Murphy, “but we believe there is no wrong time for good ice cream.”

There are many in the capital already familiar with the brand since Murphys is sold in some of Dublin’s top food stores, and visitors to Kerry will most likely have ordered up a scoop of their favourite Seacláid, Brioscaí or Sú Craobh in Murphys Dingle and Killarney shops.

So, what can the uninitiated expect? Kieran Murphy says their flavour inspiration at the moment is a return to basics, with ice creams that highlight top quality ingredients along with a base of fresh cream, milk of the rare Kerry cow breed, and free range local eggs.

“We’re offering interesting but simple flavours this year,” he says. “What’s new is that we’re encouraging customers to combine two flavours, even in a small size, which allows for a little experimentation. For example, you could choose our Dingle sea salt ice cream with burnt caramel or intense dark chocolate, or you could order mint leaf and raspberry sorbet.“

The two shops will open Friday, 25th June 2010.

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Photos and samples available on request

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We’ve been up and trading in Temple Bar for a few days, even though the shop is not finished. Specifically, we are missing the glass front and side, wood cladding, and a few other bits and pieces. When the shop is done, it will be a glass cube, and hopefully the glass will arrive on Wednesday, so we will close for a couple of days to let that happen.

In Wicklow Street, we’re also getting really close. With a bit of luck we’ll be open on Thursday. The majority of the work is done, and we’re just missing the finishing touches.

As always, with a project like this, we’ll have to accept that there will be imperfections and bits and pieces that we’ll have to address over the next weeks and months.

Still, I’ll breathe a very big sigh of relief when the doors are finally open!

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My multi-talented sister, Deirdre, sent this along…

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I know that Dublin Zoo now have one of these full-sized replica cows, but we had our eye on this baby long before we ever heard there was one in Ireland! Our idea was that we’d stick it in Temple Bar Square outside our new shop there, and it looks like it will be making its way to us shortly. I know that we should probably make it a Kerry Cow, as in the little black indigenous cows that we use for milk, but we have half a mind to paint it blue (see photo) just for the craic.

I’m not sure if it’s any good with the skateboard, but I guess we’ll find out!

Should we have a naming competition?

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I think I’m going to find it a bit hard to post over the next couple of weeks, as things get really crazy, but I’ll do my best. I will, however, be posting photos and updates of the process to Facebook and Twitter, so if you wish to do so, look for me there!

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Say “Hello” to our Dublin team! We’ve done our hiring, and I think we have a super team of people to launch our Dublin shops. They’re all in Dingle for a week of training (eating ice cream, drinking coffee, etc.) and hopefully are having a great time. With the weather here in Kerry, Dingle looks it’s best, and it’s such a buzz for all of us to have the new energy and enthusiasm of this group of people.

I have to head back to Dublin tomorrow to keep things moving along, but if any of you are around, come in and meet the Dubs!

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AHHHHH! It’s finally happened, and I can finally talk about it!

Hello, again, everyone! I must apologise for my relative silence over the last weeks and months, but here’s why – we’ve been working on a deal to bring Murphys Ice Cream to Dublin, and I’m delighted to announce we have the keys!

So, as of now we have possession of two premises, both formally occupied by Haagen Dazs, one on Wicklow Street, and one on Temple Bar Square.

There! It’s out! Ahhhhh.

It’s not easy for a blogger to keep secrets, and I feel so, so much better!

Given that finalising the deal took so much longer than expected and that the summer is upon us, we are going to try to open as quickly as possible (a matter of weeks), even if the shops are not quite perfect. We hope you’ll understand that we’ll have time to improve the shops once the summer is past and that you’ll forgive any bits that are not perfect!

I’ll pass on more news as we go along.

WHOOP,  WHOOP!

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