Kilkenny company celebrates 20 years in business!

Popular Kilkenny catering and food retail company Mise En Place is celebrating an impressive two decade in business – having survived and thrived through a recession and a global pandemic.

Local entrepreneurs Robert Cowley and Nora O’Malley are the hard-working owners of Mise En Place, a brand synonymous with creating magical meals, dessert and sauces from their Drakelands base since 2004.

In 2004, the talented chefs set up Mise En Place as a catering business to serve the southeast, having worked in some of the world’s finest five-star hotels and restaurants such as the Monaco’s Hotel du Paris, Four Seasons Hotel London, the Merrion Hotel, and Hayfield Manor.

The Covid pandemic saw them reimagine their business by launching a retail arm. It was an instant hit and today their Drakelands shop is a destination onto itself with customers constantly coming and going to stock up on the Mise En Place ready meals, desserts, fresh breads, salads, cakes and sauces.

“It could be a very different story if we didn’t pivot during Covid and change our offering. It paid off for us and we have never looked back. We even had to build on a car park to cater for our growing customers”, commented Nora O’Malley.

Located just two kilometres from Kilkenny City off the Kilcreene Road, the retail shop at Mise en Place is open from Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm and a staff of eight assist Robert and Nora in providing a range of all the catering outfit’s most popular dishes, alongside a selection of new offerings, pastries, salads, quiches and sweet treats. 

“At the start, we wondered how many people would make the journey out to us but thanks to a loyal customer base, combined with ease of parking we always have a steady stream every day. Whilst the shop is busy and the main day-to-day part of the business, we still cater for larger family events and groups. Larger pre-booked quantities of food can be collected from the shop with heating instructions”, said Nora.

“Our foods are simple to heat and serve. We wanted to provide everyday dishes – Lasagne, cottage pie, stroganoff, tagine, Rogan Josh, beef Guinness, alongside salads soups, fishcakes, tarts, our own preserves, vinaigrettes and granola. We also stock a range of local Kilkenny products. Everyone has a favourite but one thing is for sure – if we ran out of Thai curry, there would be a riot!” laughed Rob Cowley.

Twenty years in, Robert says they still love what they do.

“We want to thank all the people who have helped us along the way, from our loyal customers, brilliant staff and of course our families – they put up with us in the crazy busy periods!” said Robert.

Quality and convenience is ever-important for today’s busy customers and one of the biggest successes of recent years and has been Mise En Place’s Christmas menu.

“We offer everything bar the turkey and ham – starters, prepared vegetables, potatoes, stuffing, gravy and a range of desserts, mince pies and pudding. We will be working right up to Christmas Eve afternoon. Then we can rest up with our own families knowing that our foods are on hundreds of tables around Kilkenny over Christmas”, said Nora.

Visit miseenplace.ie or phone 056 7702936