Glasnevin-based Honest2Goodness continues to attract food-savvy Dubliners in search of quality, value and interesting new developments in the specialty Irish food scene. Brid Carter tells us more about the food and wine business she founded with her brother Colm in 2009.
Brid, what inspired your interest in the world of food and drink?
I have been interested in food all my life, with my interest in wine developing in my twenties. I think I must have had the first wok in Dublin 7, when myself and my sister branched out into Asian cuisine using the first Ken Hom cookbook! My professional career was in the public sector ‘til ten years ago, when an opportunity arose for me to leave and set up business with my brother Colm. Initially our business was focused on food and wine education, but during the recession, not many people had the money to join our food and wine workshops, so we had to innovate and our business now is primarily as wine merchants and of course our Saturday Honest2Goodness Market.
What’s the philosophy behind your approach?
We believe that ‘quality starts at the point of origin’ and we apply that to both food and wine. We work with small wine producers who are equally committed to quality, and whose wines reflect their focus on tending the earth, minimising pesticides and sprays and producing the best grape varieties for the conditions in their vineyards. Our food and wine education activities are now mostly the occasional wine tasting evening at the Honest2Goodness Cafe, and we work with our customers (restaurants, independent wine shops and wine bars) to run wine tastings, wine-makers dinners etc. And of course, market shoppers exploring the world of cooking from scratch frequently ask for advice on ingredients, cooking methods and so on.
What led to you setting up the Honest2Goodness Market?
I have always loved going to European ‘proper’ food markets when abroad. A former business partner had a part-share in the building in Dublin Industrial Estate in Glasnevin that was lying idle for several years, and the idea came about during a brainstorming session.
We opened in 2009 and for the first year I was never sure if anyone would turn up, so Saturday mornings were very nervous affairs! We knew that if we wanted to enable people to change their habits, they had to be able to do their full weekly shopping at the market. This led us to set up our own Pantry Stall, alongside our Wine Stall, which stocks anything that other stalls aren’t providing. We always vet any new producers at the Market to ensure that quality is maintained and in any event, our food-savvy customers soon let us know if things aren’t up to scratch!
What can people expect to find at the market?
We like to get the best health products that we can; kiefer, Kombucha, unpasteurized milk and as many unpasteurized cheeses as we can get our hands on, so we cater very well for people who need to use food for their health.
Now that’s not to say that there aren’t some lovely treats and goodies there for people, but we like to keep a good balance.And of course where I think there’s something really interesting being brought to the Irish specialty food area that our customers would be interested in, then we’ll go for that too. So you’ll find a really nice selection of artisan food including Cloonconra Cheese, handmade Irish sheep’s yoghurt from Velvet Cloud, garlic and asparagus products from Drummond House and Violetta potatoes from Ballymakenny Farm.
What have been the main challenges so far?
It has definitely been a challenge to get the word out about the market, as we are tucked away in an old Industrial Estate, which has very poor signage and local knowledge in the area. We have great customers and word of mouth is a great marketing tool, but we still get people arriving at the market for the first time who live close by and only came across us by chance. Sustainability is a challenge. We pay for the space for seven days of the week and only trade on one day of the week. We experimented with a Wednesday Market in 2012, but couldn’t make it work.
With the wine side of the business, it takes some time to become established and to gain the reputation for quality wines. The recession meant that people had very little money to spend on treats like wine or a meal out, so we had to really work hard to find wines at good prices. Added to that is the excessive Excise/VAT on wines which is punitive. To really add insult to injury, VAT is applied to the Excise Duty as well!
What else do you have in the pipeline?
Lots of new wines have been added to our portfolio this year as our wholesale business continues to develop. We take real care over selecting our producers and we have a super selection now, lots of Italian, Spanish and French as well as a sprinkling of more unusual ones from Greece and Portugal. In response to demand we recently put together a small group of independent wine shops to make it economic and environmentally ok to source and bring in a container of Argentinian Malbec once a year. So we’re not totally compromising!
With the Market, things are always shifting, as new producers look to join us, and existing ones move on. There’s a great sense of community and our Café area hums with conversation every Saturday morning. There’s always plenty of choice, great value and lots of bargains to be had!
Honest 2 Goodness Market is located indoors at 136A Slaney Close, Dublin Industrial Estate, Dublin 11. The entrance to the Industrial Estate is at Woodies, on the N2/Finglas Road opposite Glasnevin Cemetery, and first turn right off the main Slaney Road.
Words: Martina Murray
Photographs: Aoife Herrity
