Drogheda and Annagassan bread makers had their own challenges
MCCLOSKEY’S Bakery are hoping for a return to normal this week - after a ‘challenging’ few days during the snow.
‘Production leading into the storm was up about 75 %, with everywhere running out of bread, I think all the bakeries countrywide were caught off guard by the reaction of the public to the frenzy being portrayed by the media,’ Patrick McCloskey revealed.
‘Because bread is a fresh natural product keeping stock in reserve for occasions such as Storm Emma just isn’t possible.’
By Wednesday, a lot of stores had run out but with conditions changing, Thursday proved their last full day of deliveries and although they had increased production considerably most customers were out of bread with in a couple of hours of their deliveries.
While many shops announced they would be closing early, others made the call later, with deliveries already underway.
‘As a company we had made the decision for the health and safety of our bakers not to have them on site on Thursday night during the height of the storm, as we didn’t want our team of boys and girls trying to negotiate the difficult conditions getting to and from work.
‘We also felt it would be irresponsible to put our fleet of vans on the roads on Friday as it would jeopardise our drivers, our vehicles and other road users.’
On Friday afternoon they did put a van out supplying as many local customers that had remained open as they could with the limited bread left.
Saturday was hit by electricity problems (‘we are very grateful to ESB network supply team who braved the elements to restore that supply,’ Patrick says) but with a full team in, production was soon heading back to normal.
O’Neills of Annagassan were also very much in demand, but faced the same delivery and production issues as McCloskeys.