Irish Examiner, 5th April, 2004

From a first order of 12 cookies, Tara Breen's company now makes over 5,000 of them a week as well as 120 cakes and 1,200 brownies. Trish Dromey reports

Waterford based confectioner Tara Breen savoured the sweet success last week when both Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and multi-millionaire dancer Michael Flatley tucked into her Passion Cake.

Her company Tara's Handmade Quality Foods - which supplies cakes to 90 outlets around the country received orders to supply the cake to an event in Castlehyde Hotel in Fermoy being attended by Mr. Flatley and to another in Faithlegg being attended by Mr. Ahern.

Her company began two years ago as a small home based operation but now employs 14 people and has its sights set on the British speciality food market.

Originally from India, Tara met and married Dungarvan Michael Breen in Britain.

After giving up work to look after their three children she got involved into the cake making business when the family moved to Cork three years ago.

She started doing an adult education training course when she noticed a gap in the market for high quality cakes. She made a Passion cake and brought it to some coffee shops around Cork. They liked it - and they liked her cola cake and her American cookies and her brownies.

“My first order was for 12 cookies, now we make over 5,000 of these a week as well as 120 cakes and 1,200 brownies,” said Tara.

Operating from her family kitchen in Ballincollig - she was supplying 12 outlets around the city by the same time she registered the company in September 2002.

Two months later the family moved to Waterford and Tara rented a commercial kitchen in the town centre for her business.

The following January Michael joined the company full time and by October Tara's needed a larger premises and they moved to a unit in Dungarvan Business Park.

At the end of 2003 the company received a major boost when Tara's Chocolate Brownie and her Passion Cake both won medals at the UK Great Taste awards.

“The business just grew and grew and grew over the last year - we took our cakes to coffee shops and 90% of people who tried them took them,” says Tara who has been quite surprised at how quickly its all happened.

In the last year the turnover has increased by 400% and the customers have grown from 16 to 90.

The company currently supplies coffee shops in Cork, Galway and Dublin and will be starting deliveries to customers in Kerry, Waterford, Kilkenny and Carlow after Easter.

Tara's has entered the retail market and has now started selling cakes, cookies and mini cookies to speciality food shops and gourmet delicatessens.

The company has recently launched an Indian snack food called Namkin.

Michael Breen attributes the success of Tara's cakes to their - “wow” factor and says maintaining the high quality is of paramount importance.

Growing from a tiny operation to one employing 14 people is a big step - and Tara's is one of a very small number of companies making hand made cakes on this scale.

And although the company plans to grow, the Breens say they don't plan sacrifice quality to achieve this.

“Each cake is made by one person - and we don't have a production line,” says Tara.

To date the company has concentrated on developing sales in Ireland although it does supply a chain of Irish pubs in Germany. But the Breens now plan to move into the British market where the market for speciality foods is huge.

The company delivers all its products for the food service industry in reusable plastic containers. The company does all its own deliveries in Ireland and is planning to do the same in Britain. By Christmas this year the Breens hope to get Tara's Passion cakes and Brownies into 20 outlets in Britain and will be targeting high profile outlets such as Harrods and Selfridges.