Spirits are high in Castlerea. Not only is there a great buzz ahead of Christmas but people are looking forward to 2024, which will see St Kevin’s playing in All-Ireland club intermediate football championship semi-final and the new Food Hub opening.
Located at the Demense, the €1.5 million hub will consist of five single kitchen units and two double kitchen units, which aim to enable startup food businesses to bring their products to market in an approved facility in a short time frame.
Taking inspiration from a similar hub in Drumshanbo, which houses the world famous Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin and The Shed Distillery, it is hoped this new enterprise will help create good sustainable jobs for the local area.
It is open to start-up businesses and existing businesses thinking of moving to new premises.
The 10,000 square foot facility has received funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development and Roscommon County Council.
“Things have never been better,” said Enterprise Castlerea Chairperson Benny O’Connell who has lived in the town for 42 years.
He is optimistic about the year ahead and while reflecting on the past 12 months he said that An Chistin has been very busy.
An Chistin is a state-of-the-art training and community kitchen, which offers a range of courses and services to the food and hospitality sector.
“We have 42 students training in our facility on a 48 week course,” he said. This is being run by Kathy O’Neill who is a professional chef with over twenty years of experience of a wide range of catering businesses.
Kathy has worked at festivals and events as a manager/chef all over Ireland, including the National Ploughing Championship and Electric Picnic where she was part of a team that won a Bridgestone award. She previously taught catering for 10 years while keeping her own skills up-to-date working in local restaurants/food businesses and in her own catering businesses. She also spent time working for multi-nationals in varied locations as a relief chef and provided advice for several small businesses in their establishment and growth. She holds a CERT in Professional Cookery and Business Degree in Tourism and Event Management.
She is assisted by Atila Taveres, who is originally from Brazil. Atila grew up on a farm in a very rural area near the Uruguayan border and it was there that his passion for local, quality foods began.
He moved to Ireland in 2002 and once here, he quickly became involved in the food industry and settled in Roscommon.
He gained his level 7 in Professional Cookery from AIT, Athlone and now has over 20 years’ experience working with many local restaurants, festivals and businesses including Regan’s, Gleeson’s and the Roscommon Lamb Festival. He is also a certified HACCP tutor.
In the last number of months The Hub has hosted a number of events for the Credit Union, the Oscarz night (a fundraiser for the St Anne’s National School), Leader and Comhairle na nÓg.
All of these events were catered for by An Chistin and as Benny pointed out it is very important for the students to have the practical experience as well as the theoretical. And that was very much in evidence at the weekend when the Food and Craft Fair was held at the centre which brought a large number of people into the town on the first Sunday in December.
Castlerea has a lot to celebrate at the moment and hopefully will have a lot more to celebrate in the new year.
