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It’s chocs away, with a magical escape from the ordinary on the westernmost side of Dingle’s Slea Head

Behind every successful business relationship is a fiscal safety net that allows the entrepreneurs explore beyond the ordinary. For chocoholics Kallam Moriarty and Clíona Walker AIB’s new fast, paperless business loan hit their sweet spot

Chef-restaurateur Kallam Moriarty and his restaurant manager wife Clíona Walker with Róisín Healy, branch manager at the couple’s local AIB in Dingle. Photograph: Bríd Ní Luasaigh

Fri Jun 7 2024 - 05:00

Is this the hardest working couple on the Dingle Peninsula? Husband and wife chef-restaurateur Kallam Moriarty and restaurant manager Clíona Walker are juggling a runaway success luxury chocolate business with a new café opening, while Clíona is still moonlighting with another local restaurant. They’re building their business with the support of AIB and its fast paperless business loan.

It was a tough day at work in the kitchen which made chef Kallam finally promise himself that he would make a change in his life. After a couple of experiences where he’d come up with business ideas and tried to get previous employers to put some money behind them, he realised it was time to strike out on his own.

He had plans simmering away on his mental back burner ever since the pandemic, and that night he set them in motion, taking the first steps to incorporate and register his business name. Éalú is Irish for escape, and for Kallam, cooking is his escape.

Chef-restaurateur Kallam Moriarty and his restaurant manager wife Clíona Walker juggle a runaway success luxury chocolate business with a new café opening, both Éalú. Photograph: Bríd Ní Luasaigh

For customers, Kallam and Clíona’s hope is that the chocolates represent a moment of escape. Collaborating with some of the best local and Irish producers to source ingredients, they have created flavours with whiskey from Dingle Distillery, Dingle sea salt, coffee roasted by Bean in Dingle, Cúl Dorcha dark ale from West Kerry Brewery, and further afield the utter taste sensation that is Rogan’s Smoked Sugar from Westmeath, and Two Stacks Irish Cream from the Newry distillers.

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“It took off more than we ever expected,” says Kallam, whose plan for the chocolates was simply “to do something that people love”.

The vision for Éalú has always been about more than chocolates, according to Kallam, but things have changed since his original idea of supplying desserts for other restaurants. When the opportunity to take on the café at The Stonehouse presented itself, it made sense to him, especially as they are blessed with a truly unique location and an influx of tourists on the world-renowned Slea Head Drive.

The chocolates feature a plethora of Irish flavours from whiskey from Dingle Distillery to Rogan’s smoked sugar from Westmeath. The couple are pictured in the café’s kitchen alongside AIB Dingle branch manager. Róisín Healy. Photograph: Bríd Ní Luasaigh

For the moment they are focusing on online sales for the hand-painted bonbons, as well as corporate gifting orders, and of course, their new café venue.

With a great-grandfather who was a chef in London’s Connaught Hotel, Kallam has fine dining in his blood, and is intent on creating something different with every dish bringing a new twist to a classic, from the rich savoury flavours of the spicy bean and lentil cassoulet to the far-from-classic chocolate brownie encased in mousse and a lovingly decorated tempered chocolate shell.

Kallam is used to surprising people with his creations and has seen this with suppliers he’s been dealing with, who might not at first have taken a new entrant to the market seriously. “They were kind of flippant about it until I gave them a chocolate to try.”

It didn’t take long for them to be bowled over when they saw what he was offering. “It was then that I realised people won’t take you seriously until you have a good product.”

There’s doing something new, and then there’s doing something better. Much like chocolate, business loans aren’t new, but much like Éalú's chocolates, the process Kallam and Clíona went through to get their loan with AIB was simply better than the competition.

Restaurant manager Clíona Walker samples one of the signature desserts made at The Stonehouse. Photograph: Bríd Ní Luasaigh

While they started off with some savings and a lot of help from their families, it soon became clear that a business loan was going to be essential - even if they wanted to draw down grants, they would need match funding.

Things were taking off fast for the in-demand chocolates - they hadn’t even been in business long enough to apply for certain grants, but it’s something they hope to circle back to in time. In the meantime, AIB offered a speedier, paperless solution.

AIB’s business loan platform allows customers to be approved for fixed or variable loans of up to €100,000 within minutes. Photograph: Bríd Ní Luasaigh

A paperless process using the nCino platform means AIB business customers can sign their documents online, making the application quicker and easier. Customers, approved to borrow for fixed and variable loans up to €100,000, can have the money into their account within minutes, ready to draw down 24/7, seven days a week.

Andrew McFarlane, AIB’s chief operating officer, explains the bank’s strategy is to provide the quick decisions and convenient journey that is so essential for customers whose businesses are taking off quickly.

Chef patron Kallam Moriarty at Éalú’s new café in a heritage stone building on Slea Head, Co Kerry. Photograph: Bríd Ní Luasaigh

“Businesses such as Éalú are the backbone of the Irish economy and as part of our strategy to place an enhanced focus on our customers and to drive greater operational efficiency for them, we are committed to ensuring we are offering the best products in the most convenient way possible, so they can focus on what matters most to them by investing in the future of their business,” says McFarlane.

Róisín Healy, branch manager at the couple’s local AIB in Dingle says, “Kallam and Clíona at Éalú run a fantastic business in the Dingle peninsula and at AIB we understand that they want to focus on growing their company and looking after their customers. The new platform for AIB Business loans allows them to do just that by providing a fast and efficient paperless process, with funds available for draw down 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

There’s an oft-quoted saying by Eckhart Tolle - ‘leap and the net will appear’. There’s a dash of that blind faith in what Kallam and Clíona have done, but underpinning it is the self-confidence that comes from knowing that your product is good. Taking the leap has been successful.

“I always had a picture in my head of someone sitting outside The Stonehouse on a beautiful sunny day, looking out across that incredible sea view, with a glass of bubbles in their hand,” said Kallam. “That’s what I wanted.”

He didn’t need to stick a photo of his vision on a manifesting board to make it happen; with a little help from AIB everything fell into place. Now, with a venue, an elegant lunch menu and tempting wine the scene is set - all they need is the weather.

AIB Business customers can apply for their loan by calling their business advisor, relationship manager or 0818 47 88 33. For more information visit aib.ie/business.

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