This is fun dining, not fine dining, so leave the formality at the door.” This is the first of The Dough Bros’ house rules, printed on the wall of their restaurant, and one which the brothers themselves, Eugene and Ronan Greaney, seem to follow as religion.
The Galway restaurant has grown hugely since starting off in a food truck five years ago, but it hasn’t been a straightforward journey to success. Before they opened in 2013, Eugene had been laid off from his marketing job, while Ronan was just finishing his degree in the same field at UL.
They grew up in the hospitality industry and always discussed opening a restaurant together one day and what better focus than their childhood favourite: pizza. They couldn’t afford a premises at the time so they researched mobile pizza ovens instead.
“We went on a family trip to Naples when we were kids and that’s where we first saw wood-fired pizza and that is where pizza originated and, for us, where the best pizza in the world is …For years after we came home, there was never a pizza that tasted like Naples,” Eugene says.
“We put our wood-fired oven into a Gator trailer for events, markets and private parties and we started there with the aim of having a restaurant within five years – and it just kind of happened a bit quicker than that.”
This food truck progressed to a beloved pop-up restaurant and then, almost two years ago, to their current location just off Shop Street. And it is clear that the Greaneys are never ones to stand still, with a new menu that will be using a huge amount of fresh, local ingredients
“We could easily rest on our laurels here and be like: ‘The menu is great, we are getting great reviews, customers are happy, we are really busy.’ We can easily sit back and say: ‘Let us just let it do its thing here,’ and get lazy and get complacent, but that is not who we are,” says Ronan, the younger of the two.
Ingredients and suppliers
While the fundamentals like the flour, San Marzano tomatoes, yeast and Buffalo mozzarella come from Italy, everything else is sourced from Galway and across the country, with suppliers including Colleran butchers, Gannet Fishmongers and Sheridans Cheesemongers, along with pork from Gubbeen in Cork and Pigs on the Green near Tullamore, while Toons Bridge Dairy in Cork makes the fresh fior di latte cheese.
“Ireland is so well-known around the world for dairy and meat, the quality of ingredients or the beef and all the rest, so we are looking to celebrate that and pair up with these on-the-ground farmers that are providing us with this amazing quality product and create a menu around that,” says Ronan.
The latest addition to the ingredients list is a chilli infused hot honey, which they developed with Sliabh Aughty Honey from Loughrea in Galway. It will be drizzled over one of their new pizzas, The Peter Stinger.
“We were over in New York and we tried it [hot honey]. We thought it was really nice on a pizza but we were like, we are not going to just take that and hoard it in from America. Why can’t we work with a really good Irish producer here, an award-winning honey producer, look at the change we want to make, but not just copy what they have done in America. How can we make it unique to us?” says Eugene.
Sustainable
Not only do they care about delicious pizza, but the environment is clearly on their mind too. The brothers recently switched from single-use plastic to compostable cutlery, napkins and pizza sheets after some encouragement from sixth class students at Scoil Íde in Salthill.
“They wrote to us and said we were one of their favourite restaurants and they really like what we do but said: ‘Maybe this is how you could do things better?’,” explains Eugene.
The Vegware recycled and compostable cutlery used in the restaurant is four times the price of plastic cutlery listed online. Is it worth the extra cost? “We understand that not everyone is in a position to do it, but for those that have been thinking about it … we would urge you to make the change,” says Eugene.
The Future
After five years of fresh dough and bubbling cheese, will the brothers ever tire of making pizza?
“Our energy levels might tire over time but definitely not the passion – that will keep burning,” says Ronan, following it up with a wink to emphasise the cheesy pun.
You might have to queue to get your hands on a Dough Bros pizza, but it is worth it to get that unforgettable Naples flavour without the cost of a flight.