Eugene Scally does not own a mobile phone. If you want him, you’ll know where to find him.

“I was in the bakery crumbing bread this morning, I’ll be behind the meat counter wrapping meat, I’ll go in behind the cheese counter,” he lists, matter-of-factly.

“I don’t use a mobile because I’m hands-on. It’s a disruption and a distraction and if I answer the phone out on the shop floor and there’s a customer looking for something, she may not be too impressed either.”

The internet gets similar short shrift – after 30 years in business at Scally’s SuperValu in Clonakilty, Google ain’t going to tell Eugene his business.

A supporter of small food producers from the very start – €2 million was spent last year with 55 local suppliers, directly and indirectly sustaining 800 jobs – the supermarket has just launched a gluten-free range of fresh meal solutions after investing almost €400,000 in a standalone kitchen and bakery at the supermarket. It’s the first of its kind in Ireland. That it coincides with Lidl opening a new store in Clonakilty is no skin off Eugene’s nose. (In fact, he says it’s good for them as it will increase footfall in the town.)

“The biggest challenge – and the biggest threat – to our business in Clonakilty is ourselves,” he counters.

“Let you not be fooled by thinking anybody will take your business off you. I have no concerns about anybody coming to town; if they all come to town, you will still get a unique shopping experience at Scally’s of Clonakilty because it’s driven by innovation and knowledgeable and passionate people. And that is not replaceable.”

Midlands To West Cork

There’s no doubting Eugene’s passion. One of nine children raised on a mixed farm in Westmeath, he left school at 16 to train as a butcher in a supermarket in Dublin.

“I liked the work, but I didn’t like Dublin,” he says.

He returned home and, in 1979 at the age of 21, bought a small shop with his older brother outside Tullamore. When they first took over, it was doing £300-£400 a week. By the time they finished, they were turning over up to £18,000 a week.

“Both of us had energy to burn,” says Eugene. “We stayed there from morning till night.”

Eugene could see the potential for growth, but could not get extra land to expand. Frustrated, he approached a neighbour, Seamus Scally, who was working with Musgraves, and hit the road looking for a site for a new supermarket.

“He brought us to Clonakilty and I said: ‘This will be fine,’” says Eugene.

“We started in August 1984 with 3,500 sq ft employing seven people; today we have 28,000 sq ft and 150 employed.”

Shortly after arriving in Clonakilty, Eugene met his future wife, Catriona, who grew up on a mixed farm five miles from town (her brother, Martin, supplies potatoes to Scally’s.)

“I had got a job as a teacher in Wexford and when I’d leave here at 5.30 on a Monday morning, Eugene was starting here,” she recalls. “His life was the supermarket.”

Having worked with suppliers in Tullamore like Jack Cleary (who established Glenisk), supporting local producers was part of Eugene’s philosophy from the start.

“I will brag about supporting over 55 local suppliers, sustaining over 800 jobs, but the reality is that’s consumer-driven. I’m just the guy in between,” says Eugene, who compliments SuperValu’s support of local producers, with events like the recent Cork and Kerry food forum.

“It’s never too late to start and give the small producer every opportunity in your business. But don’t be greedy. When somebody small comes in, rather than messing around with dockets, we would pay them out of petty cash.

“It’s all recorded and above board, but we do that because the small food producers can’t afford to wait for a month [to be paid].

“We certainly don’t ever ask any of them to take returns out of here. We have to realise how hard those people work to get it to the shelf in the supermarket,” he says.

Reinvention

By the early 2000s, however, Eugene knew it was only a matter of time before a competitor emerged and they needed to be a cut above. So when Catriona’s aunt Marie, a Columban sister in the States, recommended that they visit Roche Bros stores in Boston, they flew out with 10 of their staff.

“I wouldn’t be the greatest man to get on a plane,” says Eugene, “but we saw whole fish being boned, legs of ham being cooked, bread being baked – and we weren’t doing any of that.”

Not that the reinvention went without its hiccups. Having invested €330,000 in an in-store bakery, for example, Eugene estimates it took 18 months “of grief” before it started to pay its way.

“The easiest thing to do in business today is to invest the money,” he says. “The challenge is to get it right.”

But they did.

“Ten years ago, we weren’t cutting cheese; now we’re cutting about 250 varieties,” says Eugene. “And we would probably sell more fish now in one week than we were selling in a year in the old shop.”

And innovation continues with the new “Clonakilty Gluten Free” range, with 25 products ranging from breads to sauces and fresh meal solutions like chowder, fish pie and lasagne. If all goes to plan, there could be 10 new jobs created, with the range also available in his brother’s SuperValu store in Blackrock, Cork.

Eugene doesn’t refer to his employees as staff; he talks about his team. He has lunch every day in the store canteen because “you will be told what you need to be told, as opposed to what you want to hear”.

Catriona is a sounding board (“There’s never a dull moment with Eugene,” she laughs), and their children are also involved, while also pursuing their own paths: Eoghan has just finished medicine, Niamh is studying food marketing, Martin is doing commerce and Fiona is going in to fifth year.

Awards are almost too numerous to mention, though titles include former SuperValu of the Year, honours for best dairy, bakery, seafood and more and Checkout’s best in fresh winner three years out of seven.

Though, after 30 years in Clonakilty, there’s one honour Eugene is still holding out for.

“We did market research a few years ago and one woman said she wouldn’t shop with me because I was not a ‘local’,” he laughs.

We reckon he might just have earned his place. CL