Ballymaloe serves up modest profit

Allen family’s hotel and cookery school report operating profit of €62,134 for 2018

Accumulated profits at the company behind the Allen family’s Ballymaloe Country House hotel last year increased marginally to €2.25 million.

Yeats Room Ltd operates the venue and the new accounts show that the company recorded modest profits of €17,177 in the 12 months to the end of October last.

Numbers employed at the Co Cork hotel and restaurant last year increased from 51 to 52. Pay to directors declined from €408,920 to €404,545.

Ballymaloe Country House can accommodate 60 guests for bed and breakfast and 120 in the restaurant. The company has turned the grain store on the farm into a venue where they can cater for corporate events for up to 250 people.

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The late Myrtle Allen started the original Ballymaloe business with her late husband, Ivan, in 1964. It subsequently spawned the cookery school, and the second- and third-generation Allens have created 16 separate business enterprises.

Accounts recently filed by Ballymaloe Cookery School Ltd show it recorded an operating profit of €62,134 in 2018.

At the end of last August, the company was sitting on accumulated profits of €2.7 million.

The school has been operating since 1983 and the main driver of its success is its 12-week cookery course.

One of Darina Allen’s sons, Toby, is general manager of the school and was appointed to the company board in February last year.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times