Tasteblazer

Under the Radar:These are busy times for Colum O'Sullivan and Cullen Allen. As well as running their own food business, Cully & Sully, they spent a week in Nepal in April helping locals start a microfinance project, writes Ciarán Brennan.

The Nepal adventure came about when they were challenged to help set up a business in the Third World as part of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for which their company was shortlisted. "After much research, we discovered and started a microfinance project in Simikot in Nepal. Last April, we went to Simikot and helped the village finance an oil-pressing machine," explains O'Sullivan.

"It's about teaching them about business and self-sufficiency. 'Trade not aid' is another way of describing it."

It's hard to know where the childhood friends find the time to trek to Nepal - just three years old, their company already has a turnover in the low millions and big plans are afoot to expand the range of foods it offers to retailers such as Dunnes Stores, Superquinn and symbol stores, as well as expanding further into the pub market. Then there are the Ernst & Young awards and, before that, the ShellLiveWire finals.

Cully & Sully produces a range of upmarket prepared ready-meals using recipes from Ballymaloe House, where Allen, or Cully as he is known, grew up and learned to cook. O'Sullivan, the Sully part of the equation, also has a background in food - his mother owns and runs the Granary Food Store in Midleton and he studied food science in UCC.

"We were always going to set up some sort of business together and it was always going to be in food," says O'Sullivan. After college, he was working for the Musgrave Group but was aware that the pies his mother made in the Granary Store were attracting a lot of attention.

"She had different retailers approaching her and asking her to stock them but she wasn't really interested in it," says O'Sullivan. "We started talking about setting up our own business in June 2003. We had a lot of ideas but I kept going back to the success of the Granary and I said let's go down that road and see how we get on."

In January 2004 he left Musgrave and both men set about establishing Cully & Sully. "We spent the next eight months developing the recipes. We did a lot of research with consumers and we launched in September 2004," says O'Sullivan.

The food market is a bit crowded these days, but taste, ingredients and the method by which the food is cooked set their offering apart, he says.

While they were putting their plans together, Dr Ronan Gormley, of the National Food Centre, strongly advised them to use a method of cooking called sous-vide which is French for "under vacuum".

Basically, by vacuum-sealing the ingredients in the pouches or the bowls, it allows the meals to be cooked free from additives and preservatives, while at the same time giving a good shelf life.

"We decided to go to France to learn about it," says O'Sullivan. "We found a company and worked with them."

Initially, the two men wanted the French company to relocate to Ireland and manufacture for them but after much discussion agreed that it would be better off to produce the food in France.

"We collect everything on Friday and have it into Ireland on Saturday. It works well," he says.

Last September, the company began to sell a range of soups which are made by a Galway company called Galmer. "We subcontract the manufacture. Myself and Cully are the only full-time employees of the company and everyone else works for us as a consultant or on a part-time basis."

All of the recipes are prepared by Ivan Whelan, a cousin of Allen's who was owner of, and chef, in the former Grapefruit Moon restaurant in Ballycotton.

O'Sullivan attributes a lot of their success to their ethos about how food should be prepared and cooked.

"There are a lot of accountants and food scientists in the food world and they don't belong there. Ivan is a chef - he knows more than most food scientists know."

O'Sullivan describes the last three years as a rollercoaster ride. And that looks set to continue with the launch of new soups, a desert offering and a new range of food for the pub trade.

On The Record

Name:Colum O'Sullivan

Age:30

Background:went to Midleton College in Cork and then completed a degree in food business in UCC.

Inspired by:In the world of food, Jamie Oliver. In the world of Irish business, Anne Heraty of CPL, Michael Carey of Jacobs Fruitfield and Jerry Kennelly, founder of Stockbyte. I find their businesses and them fascinating.

Most likes to:be on the water - windsurfing, sailing. When I'm on the water I'm happy.

Favourite film: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Favourite book: Birdsongby Sebastian Faulks.