Sisters taking property business to new heights

Macfar Property Management was started in 2007 by John McKeown in Balbriggan, Co Dublin, followed four years later with an expansion of the business to Dundalk.

Today this thriving enterprise has passed into the capable hands of the second generation – John’s daughters Adele Murray and Deborah O’Reilly, who successfully manage a number of commercial and residential developments in the northeast region.

Dad is always on hand to help us when any situations arise where his experience is needed

I went to work with Dad in 2011, and then my sister came on board in 2015,” explains Adele on the company’s current status.

“Dad has retired from the business, so Deborah and myself are running it ourselves now. But Dad has always been an entrepreneur and is now involved in another business in Monaghan. That said, he is always on hand to help us when any situations arise where his experience is needed.”

As the man who got the business up and running day one, McKeown’s acquired knowledge provides a valuable source of solutions when the need arises.

“There will often be answer needed to something about work or service in a building – questions we would not have a ready answer for - but which he has at his fingertips. Dad’s forty years in property pretty much guarantees that he’ll have the right answer, regardless of the situation. He can quote case law off the top of his head, and can relate similar situations from the past and how they were handled.”

While the second generation have stamped their own authority on Macfar Property Management – more than doubling client numbers in 10 years – the sisters have clearly discovered the most efficient methods of spreading the workload to best benefit the company.

“Deborah is a wonderful saleswoman and absolutely brilliant at bringing in new clients, whereas my strengths would be more to the administration side of the business. We are lucky that our individual skills work so well together – what I’m weak on, Deborah is good at, and vice versa. It’s a real team effort and works really well for us.”

With a background in accounting and tax, Adele found her way into the family business through that well tested path – helping out here and there and slowly becoming more involved as time went on.

“I started by coming in just a few days a week just doing Dad’s books, and slowly began to really like the business. Gradually, as the business grew, we began to expand and found ourselves adding more staff. It really came together in a kind of organic way.”

It came to a point where the two of us had a sit down to discuss the possibility of taking on the business together

Deborah, who had built up a good career in the telecommunications sector, also found herself drawn to the business, initially coming in, as Adele had, to lend a hand to an enterprise that was growing.

“It came to a point where the two of us had a sit down to discuss the possibility of taking on the business together – Deborah’s background in IT and mine in financials seemed a good combination, so we basically said we’d get in to it together and see where it took us.”

Not only did the sisters commit to the family business, they both agreed to go back to college to properly prepare themselves for what could be a lifelong calling.

“We both committed to doing a fulltime master’s course in real estate at DIT Bolton Street – and we actually did it together in 2015. It was, without a doubt, the best thing we ever did – a really intense year balancing college, work and family. It was an incredible experience for both of us, really brought us together and focused us on what we wanted to do with the business going forward. It was an experience that has helped push Macfar Property management to where it is today.”

Quality key to foodservice success

Amy O’Sullivan knows her spuds, her cod, her sausages and everything else on the menu at Miss Ellie’s Takeaway in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

Already an 11-year veteran of what is always acknowledged as competitive business, she is the second generation catering to the needs of a clientele as numerous as they are loyal.

“I’m very lucky in that my parents, who ran the business before me, still help out on a regular basis,” O’Sullivan explains. “Finding staff has been a big problem going back to the start of the pandemic, so I’m very fortunate to have the parents’ advice and experience to lean on.

“They both come in during the mornings to prepare all the food – fish, fillets, chicken, potatoes, burgers – and get everything ready for the actual cooking and dealing with customers. They’re both in their late 60’s and I’m just so grateful to still have their help.”

Having not only passed along a thriving business to Amy, her parents clearly imbued her with the same kind of enthusiasm for the trade that always makes such a difference in dealing with the public.

“We have a hugely loyal clientele, you can tell when they’ll be in, what they’ll order and how they like it prepared. But it’s also very much about the banter, the bit of craic that you have with them. It’s a very demanding business, but also a very rewarding one if it’s done right,” she explains.

Like any new generation, O’Sullivan brought her own initiatives and innovations to the business: “My parents worked very hard, everything was done by hand in those days with no machines to help them - fierce long hours and constant work to slowly built it up to what it is today.”

Having graduated with a bachelor’s  in Business in Hospitality Management from Munster Technological University and a bachelor’s in Hotel & Catering Management from Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, O’Sullivan found herself offered the business by parents who had built the business over 20 years and were looking toward retirement.

I wanted everything sold across the counter at Miss Ellie's to be fresh every day – nothing frozen

Wisely seeking advice on the specifics of proper takeaway management and business controls, she jumped in at the deep end, determined to put her own stamp on a business ready to be taken to the next level.

“I wanted everything sold across the counter at Miss Ellie’s to be fresh every day – nothing frozen, as you’ll often find in other places. If it’s not fresh, we will not serve it”, she says, adding that a “fish only2 menu is maintained on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

“People actually love that we do that – they are almost our two busiest days of the year.”

And while O’Sullivan is grateful for the assistance of the older generation in running the business, she also looks to the younger generation for ideas in how to promote it to an even bigger audience.

“My niece has been working with me part-time for years, and her use of TikTok and Instagram have added a whole new dimension to the business. We put together a chicken fillet rap for a bit of fun, and she put it on TikTok –within a few days it had a half a million views.

“People were coming to us from Dublin, Limerick, Waterford and Kerry as a result of it. We are always open to doing slightly mad things like green battered sausages on St Paddy’s Day – and the customers really love it. It’s great to bring in the ideas of the younger generation – they really promote the business in a way that would have been completely impossible just a few years ago.”

Regardless of the modern technology that is now available at the touch of a button, Miss Ellie’s Takeaway still adheres to a few sacred traditions that will never go out of fashion.

“Quality is a must in the business - customers expect it and you can never drop your standards where food is concerned,” O’Sullivan believes. “The other thing is personality – people want a laugh, a bit of joking and banter with the takeaway. The more you give, the more you get back – and that is a real strong part of our business.

“People expect a smile with their fish – and that’s exactly what they get at Miss Ellie‘s Takeaway.”