New gourmet capital has appetite for a challenge

The Co Cork town of Kinsale, with its many restaurants and annual food festival, used to be known as Ireland’s gourmet capital, but now Thomastown is putting up a challenge, having recently been chosen as Co Kilkenny’s first “Town of Food”, a victory which puts the town in line for up to €775,000 in grant and financial support.

The Kilkenny LEADER Partnership initiative, launched in January, invited towns in the county to submit business plans outlining how they would create and implement a “Town of Food” strategy for their community. The judging panel, which included Bobby Kerr, owner of the Insomnia coffee chain, Colin Jephson of Ardkeen Quality Food Stores, Helen McDaid of Fáilte Ireland, and representatives from Kilkenny LEADER and Teagasc, chose Thomastown over Callan, Castlecomer, Kilmacow and Piltown.

Mag Kirwan, owner of Goatsbridge Trout Farm and spokeswoman for the eight-member steering group, said: “We kept our proposal community-focused. We approached our plan as if it were a business plan for a start-up that we wanted to see prosper and grow way beyond three years.”

Central to the winning bid was a plan to offer a chef training programme incorporating classroom learning along with work experience with food producers and in local restaurants. The steering group plan to establish a food hub, where the course will be run and where other community-based food projects will be established.

According to steering group member Noel McCarron, Thomastown Town of Food plans to refurbish the old Boys’ National School as a base for the food hub, planning and funding permitting. “This refurbishment project is in the early stages and will require planning consents and a public tender process, so the Food Hub would come on stream in mid to late 2014. The refurbishment will be 75 per cent funded by Kilkenny LEADER Partnership.”

A temporary premises is being sought so that the first course can go ahead next September.

McCarron, who owns Sol Bistro in the town and Café Sol in Kilkenny city, echoes industry concerns when he says he has difficulty finding chefs for his restaurants.

“Because of the difficulty in filling chef vacancies, the Restaurants Association of Ireland made a proposal to the Department of Education and Training to run a 36-week chef apprenticeship programme whereby students would spent 12 weeks in a classroom and 24 weeks in restaurant and hotel kitchens. Initially, chef students will be drawn from the live register, with possibly two intakes of 16 students per annum in Thomastown,” he said. Discussions are ongoing with FAS Ireland.

John O’Connor, chairman of the steering group and co-ordinator of the Camphill Community at Jerpoint, which runs The Watergarden in Thomastown, believes the project will promote social inclusion.

“The proposed training and educational courses will cater for a cross-section of the wider community. The community garden will provide opportunites for organisations like Camphill, scouts and Grow It Yourself, as well as individuals, to participate in a positive community project.

According to Mag Kirwan, the biggest challenge facing the group now is “getting key people into the co-ordination/ marketing roles”. She believes the benefit to the community will be immense.

“This will bring much needed hope into the town in the form of revenue, jobs, and more importantly a sense of community.”

Kilkenny LEADER partnership CEO Declan Rice highlighted the spirit of co-operation the winning town had demonstrated. “Theirs was a truly inclusive, well thought-out and achievable vision for their “Town of Food”.

Kilkenny food strategy co-ordinator Kilian Duignan said that the winning town’s submission stood out because of their ambition and vision.

“The judging panel was impressed by their clear understanding of where they want to be in the future and how they are going to achieve it.”