Grandma’s jam a recipe for success

December 1998

A Bray-based business which has been built on the cornerstone of a great-grandmother’s age-old recipes has hit the jackpot for two enterprising local sisters.

And some of the finest food halls in Ireland, Europe and the US and have queuing up to stock the winning local jams of Kelly and Jackie Spillane.

Amongst the first tenants to move into the new Sunnybank Centre on Upper Dargle Road in the spring of this year, the local siblings have used the Bray premises as the base of operations for their winning ‘Morley’s Fine Irish Foods’ since then.

Producing a range of specialist jams, marmalades and dessert sauces, the Bray business is supplying to no less than 85 Irish supermarkets, including Superquinn and Tesco, and are currently negotiating a deal which will put them in to SuperValu outlets in the spring.

Operating initially from a base of operations at Jackie Spillane’s home in nearby Shankill, Morley’s Fine Irish Foods has been developed around a range of preserve recipes handed down from the sisters’ great-grandmother, who lived at Morley’s Bridge in County Kerry.

The local business has been established with the support of An Bord Bia, while the company is currently in discussions with the Wicklow County Enterprise Board about plans to expand their business.

Christmas has witnessed a massive rush for the fledgling Bray-based enterprise too, as shop sales of their luxury range have increased, valuable deals to have their products included in festive hampers have been landed, while the business has come under particular pressure to meet the demand for their plum and red currant preserve – an excellent alternative to the traditional cranberry sauce with Christmas dinner, says Kelly.