There’s room for just one shopaholic in Paddy and Tammy O’Connell’s marriage.

And it’s not Tammy.

“I could walk around a supermarket for two or three hours happily,” confesses Paddy, while Tammy exclaims: “You know the breakfast aisle of mostly every shop in Ireland.”

Well, it’s retail therapy of sorts. But as the couple behind PaddyO’s Granola, a little loitering between the Weetabix and Cornflake section is entirely logical, as they aim to make their brand the bestseller in Ireland.

The couple tied the knot in Tammy’s native South Africa just before Christmas, though their story starts in 2006 in east Cork.

Tammy, who grew up on a sheep farm turned game park – complete with giraffes and rhinos – came to Ballymaloe cookery school during her gap year before college. Paddy, whose parents run The Sportsman Inn in Cullahill, Co Laois, was on the same course.

“I spotted Tam first and had totally fallen for her within a matter of seconds. It took her... maybe a week?” jokes Paddy.

“A month,” she corrects him.

However, the course of true love did not exactly run smoothly, as, after completing the course, Tammy returned to South Africa and then moved to Australia to study, followed by a stint in China.

“I had to seriously chase her,” says Paddy, who at one stage flew to Beijing for just four days in an effort to woo Tammy back to Ireland.

Paddy laughs: “I was on a mission.” Well, one of two missions. While Paddy was studying auctioneering in DIT, he began making granola in his spare time to sell at Stillorglin farmers’ market. After graduating, he worked in property for a year (“I couldn’t have timed it better with such a massive crash,” he smiles ruefully) but soon realised that the granola business gave him greater satisfaction.

Approaching AIB for a €7,000 loan, he invested in packaging and three ovens, which he got his brother to wire up, and he set up production in a room above his parents’ pub before hitting the farmers’ market trail in 2010.

“I started with 1,000 stickers with Paddy’s Granola written on them,” he recalls. “I just didn’t know how I was going to sell these... and 1,000 of them – it was like Everest.

“I remember going to one farmers’ market and I just sold one bag. The wind was coming in sideways, I was cold for three days after it, but I was like: ‘This is what makes a brand.’

“I knew that I had to be in SuperValu stores, I had to be in Tesco stores, I had to be in Dunnes Stores and I wasn’t going to rest until I got that... basically, I was trying to impress Tammy. And that really led to me progressing.”

For example, having been tipped off as to what buyers would be at Bloom, Paddy approached the rep for Tesco and asked straight out for a meeting.

“I was 24, 25, really naive I suppose, but I think it helped,” he recalls. “They said: ‘Why not?’ So it’s a matter of asking.”

The decision to borrow another €60,000 to invest in the business – particularly in branding – was also key to growth; though it almost proved a downfall after Paddy ordered far too much packaging to avail of a lower cost through bulk-buying.

“We ordered 50,000 of each and we should have ordered 5,000,” he says. “We were so lucky to survive that, honestly. Cash is wrapped up sitting in attics when we could have made that really work for us.”

Nevertheless, they pulled through and PaddyO’s Granola is now available in 280 stockists nationwide, as well as in leading hotels including The Shelbourne and Ballyfin House.

Having long outgrown the pub, production is now carried out by Bocomo Foods in the UK, but with Irish-grown oats from White’s in Co Armagh shipped over and cooked to Paddy’s recipes. Partnering with the company means that they no longer have any restrictions on production, and they aim to be in SuperValu, Tesco and Dunnes Stores nationwide by the end of 2015.

“The only thing that’s limiting the company is ourselves,” says Paddy.

To this end, Paddy is taking a back-to-basics approach and hitting the road, with the aim of attending 250 sports and outdoor events this year – from triathalons to farm walks – to give out free granola pots with Avonmore protein milk in order to introduce up to 150,000 new people to the product and, in turn, creating up to 10 jobs for brand ambassadors.

They also plan to extend the granola range (current flavours include blueberry and raspberry, and apple and cinnamon) and introduce muesli to target more female customers, with Tammy taking a more public role with the brand. While her day job actually involves looking after social media for Groupon for Northern Europe, she has steered PaddyO’s digital strategy from the start.

“It’s a really fun time,” she says, “because what has gone from essentially farmers’ markets and very word of mouth, is growing to be a national brand.”

Which probably means a lot more time in the breakfast aisle from now on...