Retail therapy for Ennis bakery

THE owner of an Ennis bakery is currently getting the advice of retail mastermind, Feargal Quinn, to progress her business.
Caroline Gardiner from the Tulla Road is the owner of Carrie’s Cakes in Salthouse Lane. She was contacted by the production company, Amino Television some months ago to see if she was interested in being included in Senator Quinn’s RTÉ Retail Therapy series, where the hugely successful businessman helps businesses to improve what they offer customers.
In the series, Senator Quinn works with six independent shops to help them battle the economic downturn and remain relevant in a cut-throat and over-crowded market. As the founder of the Superquinn chain of supermarkets in the 1960s, he has built the business up into one of Ireland’s most popular and respected brands.
Ms Gardiner said that she felt being involved in the programme was a great opportunity.
“I only opened the shop in March, so it’s still a very young business. I’ll take advice from wherever I can get it but I’ll particularly take it on board when it’s coming from someone who knows business as well as Feargal Quinn does.
“The production company put a number of ways forward that would be explored to help advance my business, which all sounded interesting to me,” she added.
She is a qualified chef and worked as a pastry chef in a number of Ennis restaurants in the past couple of years.
“It was a life-long dream to open a confectionery shop. This is my first solo business venture, so I’ve got a lot to learn. People tend to play it safe with cakes and confectionery and I feel what I do is a bit different. I’ve had great feedback from customers so far but obviously, any retail business is facing challenges at the moment,” she commented.
She explained that the series, which will be aired in early 2011, will be looking at small ways, which don’t necessarily cost much, which will help businesses make it through the recession. “I can’t give anything away about what Feargal is working on with me but it is very helpful,” she said.
Filming was ongoing at Carrie’s Cakes this Tuesday and Wednesday. Caroline admitted she was nervous being filmed but that she did get into it after a while.
Mairéad Tucker, associate producer of Retail Therapy, said in this series, they wanted a good spread around the country and of different businesses.
“We were looking for a bakery in the Mid-West Region and we came across Carrie’s Cakes and her business perfectly suits the series, especially as it’s quite a new business. Feargal is working on a number of areas with Caroline and it’s all been going very well.
“We’ve found everyone that we dealt with in Ennis to be lovely and so helpful. Caroline is well up for the challenge. She’s been treating us all to a fair share of gorgeous cakes too,” she added.