Ice Cream Ireland

It might have been another wet summer in Ireland, and the economy doesn’t look like improving any time soon, but at least here in the Kingdom of Kerry we can look forward to a big day out in September. Kerry may not have defeated Meath in scintillating fashion, but defeat them they did, and we can now look forward to meeting Cork in the All Ireland Senior Football final. It doesn’t look like little Róisín (photo above) wont be traveling, but I am making plans already…

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There are some who think working in a shop is a poor profession, but I have to say that the hours I manage to spend in our own shops are some of the best hours of my week. It might seem obvious, but we wouldn’t exist without our customers, and it’s good to constantly come back to that fact. It is they who keep us in business, pay our salaries, make the place lively, and decide by their purchasing decisions and suggestions what it is that we do. Making our ice cream would be meaningless without people to enjoy it, and their enjoyment creates such a buzz for me.

There is a social aspect as well, as one has the opportunity to meet so many new people. In just one example, this morning, I spent an hour or so talking to the food editor of the Vegetarian Times (photo above), a woman who loves music, loves food, lives in Brittany, and has a wealth of interesting viewpoints and information. With people like her involved, no wonder that publication has such fanatical supporters.

Last night, I wandered into our Dingle shop for an ice cream with my partner and the baby, and we had so much fun talking two sets of customers, both of whom remembered us when we first opened in 2000, that our walk went by the wayside (not that anyone, even the baby, minded that much).

In these times, when there’s so much financial gloom and negativity about the place, there is no tonic like spending time with customers – seeing things through their eyes, listening to their feedback on what we do, and remembering, through their joy with the ice cream, why we started this business in the first place.

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Like many people who work in the tourist industry in Ireland, we here at Murphys Ice Cream, have been fuming for a few days over an article published in the last Sunday Times. For those of you who didn’t read it, it’s called “Bandit Country.”

It’s hard to know where to start on an article with so many flaws, one so poorly researched and seemingly a sensationalist attempt to bring a bit of profile to the author (and that did work – she repeated her nonsense on the radio). For feedback on value in Ireland, she managed to find all of two tourists with whom to talk. In quoting her prices, she clearly did not research (or conveniently ignored) the prices elsewhere, or why would she mock the Dublin Zoo for being expensive, when it is €25 less than the London Zoo for a family of four? How could she mock €27 for a bus tour around the Ring of Kerry, when a comparable bus tour in Cinque Terre in Italy would cost €60? When a jarvey in Killarney, at €35 for an hour in the spectacular Killarney National Park, is half the price of a horse and cart in Central Park? When green fees at a Killarney golf course at €35 are less than half the price of a comparable course in the US or UK? And how could she compare a package holiday to regular hotel rates?

Throwing out prices without context is such nonsense. If I told you I bought a car for €2000, was that expensive? Cheap? It’s impossible to know without knowing more about the car.

The price of ice cream in Dingle came up in the article, but instead of showing some journalistic initiative and investigating herself, she used as her source a letter to the editor of the Irish Times (“Recently I purchased three ice cream cones in Dingle. The cost? €11.40. Is this a record?” the letter asked). The answer is no. There’s more expensive ice cream both at our shop and elsewhere in the world. We’re not even sure the letter was a complaint, since the writer doesn’t mention whether he thought the ice cream was worth the price, which would be the question we would have asked. However, this particular journalist doesn’t seem interested in such questions.

Here’s a letter to the editor that my brother wrote to the Sunday Times in response to the article:

Dear Sir,

I am writing in about Gabrielle Monaghan’s article “Bandit Country” from July 5, 2009. She uses the following, flawed logic: there are exceptional (and expensive products) in Ireland, therefore we are a race of thieves and you should not vacation here. Has she no pride in what Ireland offers, and will she only be happy when we are a bargain destination with third world wages and cheap products and services?

Mention was made of three ice creams being €11.40 in Dingle. If the author was referring to Murphys Ice Cream, our goal is to make the best ice cream anywhere, not to compete on price. To use us as an example of the cost of ice cream in Ireland is like saying Jimmy Choo is representative of shoe prices in London. Are New Yorkers bandits because New York is home to Tiffany? Are Parisians bandits because Paris, the #1 tourist destination in the world, has Pierre Herme or €2000 hotel rooms? Are the Japanese bandits because in Tokyo you can pay €150 for a single melon (or €7.50 for a scoop of ice cream)? Are golfers ripped off at Hilton Head or St. Andrews, both of which have higher green fees than Killarney?

Shame on the author for believing Irish people do not deserve quality comparable to other countries. Shame on the Sunday Times for calling Irish people bandits and for not believing Ireland can compete with the best in the world.

We have a beautiful country with world-class scenery, products and services. We have hundreds of thousands of Irish people who know this and will enjoy a dream holiday at home this summer. We will be proud to serve them.

Yours etc.

Sean Murphy

Murphys Ice Cream

It’s amazing to me, that with almost half a million Irish people out of work and thousands of tourism jobs at risk, an Irish journalist would tell people to holiday elsewhere and call Irish people bandits. These are Irish people who are trying to offer great products or services to our visitors, to make a living and to provide employment in difficult times. They are not thieves.

I wish there was more pride in what Ireland has to offer and more understanding of how connected we are in this small economy. We can survive this downturn, but we are going to need a lot more positive thinking and a lot less of this kind of destructive vituperation.

Ireland is still a great place to holiday. Although it’s expensive, there are world class attractions. There are also bargains to be had at the moment. We invite anyone who can to come and see for themselves and to enjoy a wide range of offerings amidst spectacular landscapes.

Meanwhile, we hope that Ms. Monaghan takes her own advice and heads away to Crete. Permanently.

Technorati tags: Sunday Times, bandit country, tourism, Ireland

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I’m sorry if I haven’t been keeping this up as I should, but here’s why (photo). Besides being the busy season for ice cream, my sister arrived in for a week with her two children, and it’s been a cousin fest and most enjoyable family time. (I’ll get back to the ice cream very soon!)

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Photo from Independent

Now I know I’m just an ice cream man and not an economist, but I think I might have the answer to Ireland’s economic woes. As everyone knows, Christiano Ronaldo has been sold to Real Madrid for £80 million. Sounds a huge amount, doesn’t it?

Photo from RTE

However, at the same time we, the Irish taxpayer, are going to pump €4 billion into Anglo Irish bank. Which is more foolish?

Now here’s a better idea. What if we took the €4 billion and bought football players? With 10 teams in the League of Ireland top division, and 11 first team players, we could spend an average of €36 million per player.

We’d have the best players in the world playing in our first division. Think of the tourism benefits! Think of the TV revenues and ticket sales! Think of the boost to places like Sligo and Drogheda! We could contractually make the players endorse Irish products, which would boost exports. And 110 millionaires coming into Ireland might even help the property market.

This may all sound very silly, but then, so does bailing out a dubious bank. At the very least my idea would be far more enjoyable.

I’ll go back to making ice cream now.

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I’m so sorry about the site disruption here over the last days. I was trying to migrate the site to a new server and failed miserably. The good people at Blacknight are helping now, and hopefully we’ll be able to do it without any more down time.

Thanks so much for bearing with me!

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On Saturday, the Irish Times had an article about how Irish brands were going to start disappearing from the shelves of Tesco as the supermarket chain wants to have Irish shops mirror their British shops in terms of offerings. They will start removing Irish products from shops close to the border and in at least one shop in Cork. It is also understood that if successful, Tesco will do the same across all their shops in the Republic.

It’s a story that should have caught the attention of anyone who loves food in Ireland, since the ripples of such a decision would be immense. Tesco own around 23% of the Irish food market, and the impact upon Irish food producers (and Irish employment) in losing such a huge chunk of market share could be catastrophic. According to Bord Bia, the average spend of Irish people on imported foods has risen 50% since 2000. With Tesco dumping Irish brands, that percentage would skyrocket as a large segment of Irish consumers would lose easy access to Irish brands. There could be many Irish food companies that would not survive losing such a large percentage of their sales.

I’ve already written about the web of connectivity here, and I think it’s time to stop pretending that the decisions we make in our spending habits have no effect of the Irish economy and jobs. I also think we need more pride when it comes to Irish foods. I don’t know where the government stands in all of this, but they would be very wise to take action, or they will be complicit in giving us a poorer selection of Irish food items and facing even longer dole queues. Unfortunately, given their track record, I wouldn’t have faith in them doing much of anything.

Perhaps a better plan would be to have a more activist spirit here in Ireland among consumers. Compared to my experience of living in other countries, we tend to meekly accept many things that come at us (with a lot of complaining) instead of fighting back. The power is in our hands. If enough customers vote with their feet or otherwise make their displeasure known, it would put a very quick stop to Tesco’s plans before we lose Irish food companies and the jobs that go with them.

Just a little note: We do not sell into Tesco, so we have no direct stake except possibly losing Irish foods we love.

Technorati tags: irish, food, producer, tesco

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 As everyone knows, there has been a lot of bad press about banks recently (and with good cause, it seems, for the most part).

However, I have to say that our local bank manager at AIB Dingle has been extremely supportive, helpful, and has extended credit at a time when the media and politicians keep saying “the banks are closed for business.”

We can’t talk about banking as a whole, but we have no problem saying publicly that in our case AIB has been brilliant, has been open for business, and that we could recommend our bank and bank manager to any small business.

Now to the dilemma:

As many people know, AIB has done ad campaigns highlighting small businesses, ads that have been very helpful to the businesses selected. We have been told that we are shortlisted for being included in one. They also want to use us for a poster campaign.

Now, the question is this:

Recognising that this is free marketing that we could never afford and could significantly increase our brand awareness in this country, should we go ahead and do it, or is it too risky linking our brand to a bank in these times?

I’ll put a poll below, but I would also love to have your comments!

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