Meet David, Stephen and Darragh Flynn of The Happy Pear

There is a first time for everything… including having an interviewee turn himself upside down mid-conversation on a Monday morning.

“I always wanted to be in the circus,” declares David Flynn – best known as one half of The Happy Pears – as he flips into an impromptu handstand for our amusement.

We discover later that the brothers have installed a set of gym bars at the back of their Greystones shop and cafe to swing off anytime the mood takes them.

Though anywhere appears to be fair game – including a few pull-ups off the frame of the front door, where we are so warmly greeted with kisses on the cheek and concern for our cold hands, before being ushered in for a coffee from their new roaster and a smorgasbord of Sicilian blood orange, quarters of a Comice pear, a “sweetie” grapefruit and – after all the virtuous stuff – salted caramel tart, banana and walnut bread and their take on a Twix bar with an almond date base encased in chocolate.

“Did you try the pear?” asks David – who I can tell is David, because of a distinct curl along his hairline that differentiates him from his twin brother, Stephen, to the casual observer. “You’ve got to get deep into it – they’re beautiful!”

I don’t think I have ever seen anybody get so enthusiastic about a piece of fruit. I sink my teeth in and hope I don’t spray him with juice/spittle in the process.

“I think you should try another piece of this,” adds Stephen, handing us a portion of salted caramel tart. “Excuse my manhandling.”

Meanwhile, younger brother Darragh arrives, bringing a mix of the “super food” sprouts and shoots that he grows at Pearville – The Happy Pear farm – in Kilcoole, just 10 minutes away.

(I silently resolve to torture my friends with all of this information later. When I posted on Facebook that I was off to interview The Happy Pear and asked if anybody had questions regarding, say, healthy eating, the general response was a swoonsome: “Tell them they’re gorgeous!” Which is, obviously, not a question. But I digress.)

While the Flynn brothers have undoubtedly made getting your five-a-day, well, fun, they run a serious business. Between their shop, two cafes in Greystones and the Pearville farm and production unit, they currently employ approximately 100 people. Their first cookbook was the No 1 Irish bestseller in 2014 and 2015, and they are due to release the follow-up, The World Of The Happy Pear, on 2 June, with a bigger push in the UK, where they are part of Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube family.

Meanwhile, their Happy Pear range – from bean mix sprouts and wheatgrass to basil pesto – is available in SuperValu stores nationwide.

Not bad for two Wicklow lads who decided to start a “food revolution” after buying their village fruit and veg shop in 2004.

Stephen and David are the eldest in a family of four boys. Growing up, they were inseparable.

“You know Hollywood, it’s all about finding the other half and connecting,” says Stephen. “But being a twin, you’ve always got someone beside you.

“You were once one, so you always understand each other – it’s so easy and comforting and supportive.”

Both studied business at UCD with a vague notion of becoming investment bankers and retiring by 30. But after a summer of inter-railing – surviving on pizzas and pints – they came back to earth with a bang thanks to a looming marathon. They realised they needed to overhaul their diets drastically.

“Porridge! We’re going to eat porridge, Steve,” laughs David of their first forays into the world of whole grains.

After college, the twins went their separate ways to travel the world (“looking for truth,” quips David, who at one stage lived in a cave behind a waterfall in Costa Rica) but after both turning vegetarian, hatched a plan for their return home together.

“Steve called me up one day and said: ‘Dave, how about we start some health food revolution?’” David recalls. “‘Do you want to see if your man will sell up the veg shop in Greystones?’”

Deal done, the boys invested in a red van and began to plan their “revolution” among the York cabbages and Maris Pipers.

“We had no idea about retail,” admits Stephen, “but we had a dream and something we could believe in.”

Early on, they realised that the key was to engage with the local community, whether it was through healthy eating demos in local schools, their annual apple tart competition or giving away free porridge, which they still do today.

“Community has always been something that is hugely central – how to bring people along and be inclusive,” says Stephen.

But they also took risks – opening a juice and smoothie bar in 2005 to attract younger customers, converting a horse box to tour the summer festival circuit and when the lease came up for the premises next door, opening a cafe and evening restaurant, despite limited experience.

“We’d only ever worked washing pots once before in a restaurant,” admits David, though it evidently did not hold them back. The cafe/evening restaurant most recently featured in The Sunday Times Top 100 restaurants in Ireland in association with the McKenna Guide.

The entry of Darragh to the family business brought further diversification. A science graduate and the youngest of the Flynn brothers, he began growing wheatgrass and sprouts at home to give himself an edge in triathalons but, sensing an opportunity, set up a modular-style farm in Newcastle, Co Dublin, in 2009, before relocating to Kilcoole two years ago.

“There were a few years that were difficult,” says Darragh of the process, from grappling with legislation to learning how to scale-up production in a new area of Irish agriculture. However, having started out supplying their own shop, the range has now gone nationwide through the SuperValu Food Academy programme, as well as approximately 80 independent stores nationwide.

Other strands of the business include their Happy Heart courses, designed to lower cholesterol, demos at events such as Bloom and ambassadorial roles, such as for SuperValu’s Good Food Karma project.

But apart from spearheading their healthy eating revolution, the twins also have busy family lives.

David and his Australian wife Janet are parents to Elsie and Izzy and Stephen and his Polish wife Justyna have their hands equally full with May and Theo. Meanwhile, Darragh married his wife Yesim in her native Turkey in September – the pair actually met when she was buying Darragh’s spouts in a shop while he was making a delivery.

Where they find the time to perfect those handstands is anyone’s guess. But you suspect that at The Happy Pear it’s all part of a day’s work – and play.

“At the end of the day,” surmises David, “it’s all about happiness.”

The World Of The Happy Pear is out on 2 June. For further information, visit

https://thehappypear.ie or follow on

Facebook and Twitter CL