O’Connor’s Bakery was established in Ennis in 1961 by Pat and Mary O’Connor. Pat was a pastry chef in Shannon Airport at the time and both he and Mary trained as confectioners in a small coffee shop/bakery in Kilkee. For the first few years Pat commenced working in the bakery at 3am, left for work in Shannon at 7am and then did a few more hours in the bakery when he came home at 6pm.
After working in the bakery in the morning Mary worked in the shop all during the day, and now aged 75, she is still working six days a week, nine hour days in the bakery. Pat, 78, meanwhile, is allowed off one day a week to play his game of golf. The first bakery was situated behind the first shop in Parnell Street, Ennis.
Obviously like most successful family business it has evolved and changed over the past 45 years. Seven more shops have been added and a large modern bakery was first built on a greenfield site in 1981, this was doubled in size in 1998. The shops are in Ennis, Shannon, Limerick, Gort and Galway and all are serviced from the bakery in Ennis.
Three of their children are actively involved in the bakery, one of them Ann Marie is an award winning confectioner. Eight of their 11 grandchildren work in the bakery and shops on Saturdays and school holidays The company now gives employment to around 145 people.
Some of those are with the bakery more than 40 years. The majority of the breads and confectionery are still hand crafted, just like they were in 1961.
In 2001 the company was the first bakery to apply for and achieve certification by the National Standards Authority of Ireland in Food Safety Management (IS 343:2000 ). To celebrate their 50th anniversary, O’Connor’s Bakery are offering a massive 50% off everything (excludes celebration cakes and coffee shop menu items ) in all their stores on August 19 and 20.
