It took three years for Jimmy and Bernadine Mulhall to find the perfect location for Jimmy’s dream project. That dream was to help resuscitate the centre of Carlow town with the creation of a food hall to showcase the best of local produce and get it from the family farm closer to the final consumer.
He found his location on Dublin Street in the shape of a butcher’s shop that had been closed down for the best part of a year. Starting at the top it took 18 months to renovate the building, which not only included a food hall, but a 65-seater restaurant and accommodation to boot.
Noel Salmon is the butcher at Coolanowle Foodhall.\ Claire Nash
The stylish Coolanowle Foodhall was designed by Marie O’Neill and features wonderful tile work. Managed by Jimmy and Bernadine’s daughter Lucille, it opened last August with an extensive meat counter, big cheese and bakery counters as well as a food counter and downstairs café. It was only in December that the 65-seater upstairs restaurant was opened for business.
Big hit
All was going to plan and then the coronavirus hit and the impact was immediate. The restaurant was closed and staff let go as they tried to keep the meat counter open from Thursdays to Saturdays from 9am to 5pm.
The Mulhalls went headlong into online sales and developed a new online shop for the Foodhall, with
all its retail produce on sale at
www.coolanowlefoodhall.ie
This offers their customers a fast click and collect service as well as free local delivery (subject to minimum orders) to customers within 10km of the Foodhall.
Coolanowle Foodhall is now in operation under COVID-19 restrictions. \ Claire Nash
“Thankfully online sales took off and we were swamped with orders both on the new website and on our existing meat website www.organicmeat.ie,” says Jimmy. “The couriers were so busy we had to make the deliveries ourselves and we did that across the suburbs of Dublin and nearer home. The success of the websites were a lifeline to keeping the business afloat.”
Working together
Thinking on their feet and working alongside other small food producers, they also set up the Foodhall as a hub for Carlow NeighbourFood market. 
This is an online portal supporting local food producers who were severely affected by the closure of the farmers’ markets.
It allows customers to order shopping online from a wide range of local food producers and their orders can be collected at the Foodhall. Contact www.neighbourfood.ie/carlow for more.
Jimmy finds it hard to understand why most of the farmers’ markets with the exception of the Green Door were closed. After all they were selling food – an essential service and they were doing the selling outdoors. Now that the ban has been lifted he is looking forward to meeting his regular customers again. 
“Ordering online is grand but it’s not the same as meeting the producer.”
As to the restaurant and food hall, Jimmy is as ready as he can be for when it fully re-opens. “We’ve organised social distancing, masks and screens as well as PPE. We will just have to wait and see what happens next.”
Making their own opportunities
Livestock has always been part of life for Jimmy Mulhall. His family, who were originally from Ballyroan, came to live at Coolanowle on the Carlow/Laois border when Jimmy was just six months old. His father was a buyer who finished cattle all year round while heifers were sold by an uncle who owned Mulhall’s butchers in Portlaoise.
Livestock has always been a part of life for the Mulhalls.\ Claire Nash
This was the business they were in and things didn’t change when Jimmy married Bernadine and they took on the farm together, Bernadine saw an opportunity in tourism and developed a multi award-winning B&B, self-catering and events business on the farm. Things were changing on the farm too.
In 2001 and after much thought, the family converted to organic farming. “I could see there was no future in what we were at. We needed a better price for what we were producing and that wasn’t happening.
“However, what I discovered in turning organic was that the situation wasn’t much better. There was very little money to be made in the organics market unless you were selling directly to the final customer yourself.”
Market stalls
Luckily for Jimmy, this was the time when farmers’ markets were being established all across the country. “I’d seen these markets when on holidays in France and thought they might work here. 
So I went along to a meeting with a group of like-minded people and in 2004 we opened the first farmers’ market in Carlow town.”
Within five years and on the back of plenty of hard work, the Mulhall family opened their second stall in Kilkenny, followed by stalls in markets in Clontarf, Ranelagh, Dun Laoghaire and the Green Door in Drimnagh.
“While a local abattoir did most of the first stage processing, we converted one of the sheds into a cutting room and all the boning and making product is done there. Our son Eddie came on board and we have to acknowledge Paddy Ward from Teagasc in Ashtown who taught us to prepare a wide range of products.”
Over time, the Mulhalls took on five additional butchers, who work alongside the family. Meanwhile Jimmy continued to build the market business. “The markets were poor to begin with and there wasn’t a week’s wages in them. Once they covered the wage bill and their costs I was happy.”
They established a website in 2007 but kept it low key. However, that all changed last March with the arrival of the coronavirus.
Some of the meat available at Coolanowle Foodhall.\ Claire Nash
Working a market stall
“It was hard and I found it difficult at the start. I just wasn’t trained to it. But I learned fast. People were prepared to talk to me and they could see I was genuine. Over time we built a strong, regular customer base.
“I always let our customers know that I appreciate their business. I want our customers to leave our stall knowing that I was glad to see them.”
On resuscitating the centre of towns
“There’s a lot of fine towns in this country where the main streets are going to the dogs. But I believe they can be resuscitated. Just look at the appeal of Kilkenny city.
“Sure it takes people with courage but all you need is one or two people to get the ball rolling. I think more than ever now, people will want to spend local and stay local.”
Read more
My Farming Week: Bernadine and Jimmy Mulhall, Coolanowle, Co Carlow
How can you diversify your farm?
It took three years for Jimmy and Bernadine Mulhall to find the perfect location for Jimmy’s dream project. That dream was to help resuscitate the centre of Carlow town with the creation of a food hall to showcase the best of local produce and get it from the family farm closer to the final consumer.
He found his location on Dublin Street in the shape of a butcher’s shop that had been closed down for the best part of a year. Starting at the top it took 18 months to renovate the building, which not only included a food hall, but a 65-seater restaurant and accommodation to boot.
Noel Salmon is the butcher at Coolanowle Foodhall.\ Claire Nash
The stylish Coolanowle Foodhall was designed by Marie O’Neill and features wonderful tile work. Managed by Jimmy and Bernadine’s daughter Lucille, it opened last August with an extensive meat counter, big cheese and bakery counters as well as a food counter and downstairs café. It was only in December that the 65-seater upstairs restaurant was opened for business.
Big hit
All was going to plan and then the coronavirus hit and the impact was immediate. The restaurant was closed and staff let go as they tried to keep the meat counter open from Thursdays to Saturdays from 9am to 5pm.
The Mulhalls went headlong into online sales and developed a new online shop for the Foodhall, with
all its retail produce on sale at
www.coolanowlefoodhall.ie
This offers their customers a fast click and collect service as well as free local delivery (subject to minimum orders) to customers within 10km of the Foodhall.
Coolanowle Foodhall is now in operation under COVID-19 restrictions. \ Claire Nash
“Thankfully online sales took off and we were swamped with orders both on the new website and on our existing meat website www.organicmeat.ie,” says Jimmy. “The couriers were so busy we had to make the deliveries ourselves and we did that across the suburbs of Dublin and nearer home. The success of the websites were a lifeline to keeping the business afloat.”
Working together
Thinking on their feet and working alongside other small food producers, they also set up the Foodhall as a hub for Carlow NeighbourFood market.
This is an online portal supporting local food producers who were severely affected by the closure of the farmers’ markets.
It allows customers to order shopping online from a wide range of local food producers and their orders can be collected at the Foodhall. Contact www.neighbourfood.ie/carlow for more.
Jimmy finds it hard to understand why most of the farmers’ markets with the exception of the Green Door were closed. After all they were selling food – an essential service and they were doing the selling outdoors. Now that the ban has been lifted he is looking forward to meeting his regular customers again.
“Ordering online is grand but it’s not the same as meeting the producer.”
As to the restaurant and food hall, Jimmy is as ready as he can be for when it fully re-opens. “We’ve organised social distancing, masks and screens as well as PPE. We will just have to wait and see what happens next.”
Making their own opportunities
Livestock has always been part of life for Jimmy Mulhall. His family, who were originally from Ballyroan, came to live at Coolanowle on the Carlow/Laois border when Jimmy was just six months old. His father was a buyer who finished cattle all year round while heifers were sold by an uncle who owned Mulhall’s butchers in Portlaoise.
Livestock has always been a part of life for the Mulhalls.\ Claire Nash
This was the business they were in and things didn’t change when Jimmy married Bernadine and they took on the farm together, Bernadine saw an opportunity in tourism and developed a multi award-winning B&B, self-catering and events business on the farm. Things were changing on the farm too.
In 2001 and after much thought, the family converted to organic farming. “I could see there was no future in what we were at. We needed a better price for what we were producing and that wasn’t happening.
“However, what I discovered in turning organic was that the situation wasn’t much better. There was very little money to be made in the organics market unless you were selling directly to the final customer yourself.”
Market stalls
Luckily for Jimmy, this was the time when farmers’ markets were being established all across the country. “I’d seen these markets when on holidays in France and thought they might work here.
So I went along to a meeting with a group of like-minded people and in 2004 we opened the first farmers’ market in Carlow town.”
Within five years and on the back of plenty of hard work, the Mulhall family opened their second stall in Kilkenny, followed by stalls in markets in Clontarf, Ranelagh, Dun Laoghaire and the Green Door in Drimnagh.
“While a local abattoir did most of the first stage processing, we converted one of the sheds into a cutting room and all the boning and making product is done there. Our son Eddie came on board and we have to acknowledge Paddy Ward from Teagasc in Ashtown who taught us to prepare a wide range of products.”
Over time, the Mulhalls took on five additional butchers, who work alongside the family. Meanwhile Jimmy continued to build the market business. “The markets were poor to begin with and there wasn’t a week’s wages in them. Once they covered the wage bill and their costs I was happy.”
They established a website in 2007 but kept it low key. However, that all changed last March with the arrival of the coronavirus.
Some of the meat available at Coolanowle Foodhall.\ Claire Nash
Working a market stall
“It was hard and I found it difficult at the start. I just wasn’t trained to it. But I learned fast. People were prepared to talk to me and they could see I was genuine. Over time we built a strong, regular customer base.
“I always let our customers know that I appreciate their business. I want our customers to leave our stall knowing that I was glad to see them.”
On resuscitating the centre of towns
“There’s a lot of fine towns in this country where the main streets are going to the dogs. But I believe they can be resuscitated. Just look at the appeal of Kilkenny city.
“Sure it takes people with courage but all you need is one or two people to get the ball rolling. I think more than ever now, people will want to spend local and stay local.”
Read more
My Farming Week: Bernadine and Jimmy Mulhall, Coolanowle, Co Carlow
How can you diversify your farm?
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