The Fayre – Winners at the 2017 Tipperary Business Awards

 

Tipperary businesses from across the county have been honoured at a special awards ceremony.

Nenagh’s The Fayre and Mullinahone’s celebrated concert and hospitality venue Crocanoir have won best retail, hospitality and tourism awards at the 2017 Tipperary Business Awards. The Fayre’s Susan Madden described the award as a “fantastic achievement” adding there would be plenty of celebrations to follow among its staff.

The family run business has become an institution in the town for its wide range of greeting cards and giftware and prides itself on providing unrivalled customer service that is tied in with expert knowledge passed on to each and every customer.

11 companies including Cashel Blue cheesemakers, Crocanoir, The Fayre, Tipperary Racecourse, APB and Tadgh O’Flynn Jewellers were winners at the inaugral County Tipperary Business Awards at the Clonmel Park Hotel last night. Thirteen awards in all were given out overnight at a gala, black-tie event in the Clonmel Park Hotel, recognising successful Tipperary based businesses in areas such as SME, Sports, Art & Culture, Food & Agriculture, Training & Development, Start-Up, CSR, Retail, Hospitality & Tourism, Large Company, Social Media, Family Business, and Services.

Pride of place, however, went to an adopted son of the county, stud owner and Cork native John Magnier as he received the County Tipperary Chamber President’s Award.

Magnier, who owns both Coolmore Stud and Ballydoyle Racing Stables in Tipperary, as well as employing 1,000 people there is a major benefactor to the local community and commended the county on its pro-business environment as he received last night’s award.

“This is a humbling experience for us and I mean ‘us’ as I accept this award on behalf of everybody in Coolmore and Ballydoyle. It means so much to us when we get this at home from all of you,” he said.

“This area benefits greatly from foreign investment but that foreign investment doesn’t have to stay here. In our case we have offices around the world but we encourage people to come here and we want our headquarters here. This is home for us.

“Tipp has always supported us in Coolmore and Ballydoyle by being business friendly.”

Also speaking at last night’s event, County Tipperary Chamber President TJ Kinsella, Director of Production at Boston Scientific – employers of 1,000 people at their Clonmel plant – said that business in the county deserves to be recognised.

“Lots of folks know Tipperary is a great place to live. We’ve a great tradition of culture, sport. It’s a great rural atmosphere. But what people maybe don’t realise so much is we have some great business, from the multi-nationals to the small and medium enterprises; those start-ups, those family businesses that are just fantastic in Tipperary and we are here to congratulate and celebrate every one of those here tonight.

“My background is with multi-nationals. I am working with Boston Scientific. I have access to a multi-national. We are making great medical devices and yet I live in the countryside ten minutes from my desk.

“For a multi-national doing business in Tipperary, it’s fantastic and has got much better over the years. There’s a history of multi-nationals in Tipperary and what’s grown up is an ecosystem around that of small companies, of suppliers, of skilled employees, who go and bring those skills back to the companies to support them as they grow. So it’s a fantastic place to do business.”

Said John McLaughlin, General Manager, ABP Cahir, winners of the Best Business of the Year award: “It’s really special to win this award. It emphasises the hard work we have put in for a lot of years in this industry. This is an acknowledgement that we’re doing things right and it’s nice to be acknowledged by the other companies in Tipperary.”