Lily O’Brien may be the most famous girl among the chocoholics of this world. Wrapped in a duck-egg bow, her name represents everything that is yummy and decadent, but who exactly is Lily?

“It’s my eldest daughter,” laughs Mary Ann, the lady behind the sensational chocolate company.

“If anyone reading this is starting their own business, it might sound cutesy to name it after your child,” says Mary Ann. “In reality, my Lily is all grown up, attending university and she constantly has to say: ‘They’re not my chocolates; they’re my mother’s.’”

So, how did Mary Ann, who comes from a farm in Tipperary, end up building this international business?

“Sometimes good things happen out of bad situations,” she says.

“Back in the 1990s, I was diagnosed with ME [myalgic encephalomyelitis]. I had a great career until then working as the marketing manager in the Phoenix Park Racecouse, but when I got sick I took some time out to accompany my husband Jonathan on a business trip to South Africa. It was there, in a small town called Hermanus, that I met a family who were making chocolate chestnuts. I tried my hand at it and I haven’t stopped making chocolate since.”

Chocolate Testing

Mary Ann arrived home with moulds and cookbooks and started selling in the local hairdresser’s in Maynooth.

“Those ladies were my focus group and, within a few months, I was selling chocolate eggs, bunnies and chickens for Easter. Nobody was really surprised that I had this mad idea. I was always a serial entrepreneur. Even as a child I was making lemonade and selling it at the side of the road. However, even I couldn’t believe it when Superquinn took me on board within just a few months.

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“There was more demand than I could handle so I invested every penny and borrowed a massive €36,000 for a tempering machine, which makes large quantities of chocolate. I did everything to grow the brand. In the mornings you’d find me making chocolate but in the afternoon I’d be packing, and making deliveries at night. I moved into the industrial kitchens in the closed Phoenix Park Racecourse.”

Famous son Jack

As the business grew, so did Mary Ann and Jonathan’s family.

“After Lily came Fonzie and my youngest Molly is 14, but I did lose two babies along the way. One is my famous son Jack. Jack was perfect when he was born in 1996 but a few days later he nearly died from cot death. By the time they resuscitated him, he had been deprived of oxygen for 20 minutes and he couldn’t see, hear or swallow. He was reduced to a life of serious epilepsy and had to be tube-fed. And so started a journey we will never forget.

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“I remember I had about 40 employees at Lily O’Brien’s Chocolates at that time and, to be honest, I don’t know how it kept going. I just went into neonatal intensive care land.

“Then one day after three months, a doctor asked us what our plan was for us and Jack. We had been there for three months and we knew there was nothing that could be done so we decided to take Jack home. I’ll never forget that doctor saying: ‘I know he is your son but he will ruin your lives.’”

Jack & Jill

“We were determined to prove him wrong but Jack needed 24-hour care. It took 20 hours a day just to tube-feed him. In reality, we only lasted three months and they were horrific. We were sleep-deprived, living in our pyjamas, too afraid to even hold the baby as there were tubes everywhere. We admitted him back into Crumlin but that wasn’t the solution either.

“Then one day a friend called Nora Byrne, who had trained as a nurse, came to the house. She walked in the door, took the baby and the whole room, including Jack I believe, breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God, someone who knew what they are doing. It became very clear we needed full-time medical help at home.

“There was no Government funding but people had been fundraising for us. This is what we needed the money for, and this is what other families needed as well, and quite simply around the kitchen table the Jack & Jill Foundation was born.

“Our little Jack died a month later but there was a real reason for his life. We knew that we had to keep fundraising for families and to date the foundation has raised over €48 million, helping 300 families every year. Although Jack was the inspiration behind the charity, it’s the families in Ireland that have made it a success.”

The Road for Lily

With such achievements under her belt, it’s no wonder Mary Ann received a phone call from An Taoiseach Enda Kenny one Friday in 2011 asking if she would consider a position in the Senate.

“It was the most surreal day. First of all, I thought it was my friend joking with me, and then the Taoiseach said he needed an answer by the end of the day. Politicians aren’t popular but I never thought: ‘What if this has a bad effect on Lily O’Brien’s Chocolates?’ I always thought: ‘How could it help Jack & Jill?’”

Lily O’Brien’s Chocolates is still her pride and joy that Mary Ann wants to continue growing.

“We have 15 million branded pieces of chocolates on airlines alone, as well as a new chocolate mousse dessert. I’m also really into health and wellness, and we’re really looking at the idea of producing indulgent chocolates but with more natural ingredients.”

Add in a new product design, a variety of flavours and who knows what the future holds for Mary Ann. One thing is for sure, though – it certainly sounds sweet. CL