'We will miss the people' - end of an era for Donohoe's

INSIDE STORY: As one of Cavan Town’s iconic business premises was officially put on the market last week, Seamus Enright caught up with the joint owners of Donohoe’s Foodfare - Phil Jnr and Dessie - to find out what has prompted the sale and how they’re feeling about closing the doors on this well-known family business...

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“It’s a decision we haven’t come to lightly, but in our heart of hearts we know we’re making the right decision.”

“As a man once said to me, ‘the public will teach you all you need to know. You won’t be long learning it, and there’s nobody that’ll teach you quicker’,” says Philip ‘Phil’ Donohoe Junior, joint owner of the iconic Bridge Street butchers and grocery, Donohoe’s Foodfare.
It’s a lesson that has served him and his brother Desmond well through the years, since they took over the running of the landmark family business from their father in recent decades.
Despite mooting their intention to close the store and retire in recent months, the erection of O’Reilly, Taylor, Tweedy auctioneering signs last week, marked a stark reality, and still came as a surprise to many.
“It came as a bit of a shock to us too. We’d be talking about it the past two or three years, but we put the word out a few months ago it was happening. We thought we had the hard sell done, that people would realise it was going to happen. At the end of the day, it will be sad, we will miss the people,” Phil Jnr told The Anglo-Celt.
“Every now and again it’ll hit you,” admits Desmond, or ‘Dessie’, known by many from shoulder height up as a steady fixture behind the shop’s comprehensive and well-stocked meat counter. “It’s a decision we haven’t come to lightly, but in our heart of hearts we know we’re making the right decision.”

Established in 1885
Established in 1885 by Belfast man Randal Black under the name ‘R. Black’s Select Meats’, Phil Jnr and Dessie’s father, Philip Senior joined the business as an apprentice butcher in 1942.
With a keenness to learn the craft of butchering, the capable and hard-working Philip Snr was soon sent to manage Black’s new venture in Bailieborough between 1952-59.

A lifetime on Bridge Street
When Black decided to return North of the border, Philip Snr became partner in the Cavan business and, in 1963, the Donohoe family bought an adjoining premises, the then Cassidy’s ‘Eating House’, to expand what is their now famous shopfront.
Continuing to trade under the ‘Black’s’ name, it wasn’t until 1978 that Philip Snr changed the name to Donohoe’s Foodfare, by which time the fledgling pair of brothers were already ensconced into every element of the family business.
While Dessie himself lives in the Derrycramp area, managing the family farm where much of the fresh meat produce sold in the shop is raised, and Phil Jnr lives on Farnham Road, both brothers admit they have lived a lifetime on Bridge Street working within the store.
“There was no such thing as going home at 6pm, you went home when the work was finished. That’s the way it was, hard days, good days, great memories and plenty of fantastic people we met along the way,” Phil Jnr told the Celt.
“Our father, all credit to him, it was his foresight from day one that set the place up. Our mother was always in the background and, while she mightn’t have had a hand in the day to day running, she was always there for my father - a great source of support. She was a strong woman. Up until very recently, he was always around the shop too, maybe not day to day, but he certainly knew what was going on - always there for advice.”

Beacon of independence
Despite the changing face of retail, with added pressures from major multiples, Donohoe’s Foodfare have remained a steadfast beacon of independence, steeped in the principals of providing great quality produce and equally good service.
“We were approached a number of times to change, but people have always known us for our meat, not for our grocery,” Phil Jnr explained.
Dessie adds: “Coming in under a group, maybe they might have improved the grocery end of things, but they could never bring anything to us on the meat line. They would have probably wanted us to go the way of other supermarkets with central billing. We couldn’t do that. We couldn’t accept that because we knew we couldn’t be bettered.”
Both brothers take after their father, proud in knowing the process of each piece of meat they sell from farm to fork.
A master butcher, Dessie scorns what he describes as ‘box butchers’, buying in pre-prepared stock and selling it with little or no experience.
“There were 15,000 abattoirs in Ireland 15-20 years ago. Now there’s only 200. There was five butcher shops alone on Bridge Street when we started out. There is only three in the whole town now. Of those five shops, four had their own abattoirs,” says Dessie, who accepts that not only has the retail landscape changed, but eating habits too.
“People don’t want to know about the abattoir or where meat comes from. Some do, but the vast majority don’t. People are too far removed from the food process now, they’ve gone two or three generations away from the farm and forgotten where it all comes from. I’ve no doubt there are people out there who believe milk comes out of a carton. I wouldn’t be surprised,” he adds.
Dessie says too that younger generations are driven by convenience and, as a result, are missing out on basic life skills.
“They’re either being forgotten or not being taught any more because it’s a feeding frenzy for whatever is convenient. People were far more active, not sitting around pressing buttons, glued to some screen. There wasn’t a house that, out the back, there wasn’t something growing. People once understood where food came from and the value of it. The retail trade has changed, yes, but it has changed because people have changed.”

Fond memories
Phil Jnr meanwhile chuckles when remembering the first customer he ever served a Mrs English from Church Street, who ordered a roast beef.
“It was on a Saturday, the first time I ever served a customer. She got a roast beef for the weekend. On the Monday, she came back into me and she absolutely devoured me. She ate me, torn strips. And it was all because I didn’t give her suet. I bet a lot of young people wouldn’t even know what suet is today - the best eating I ever got. In this business, you learn by your customers and, I tell you, I learned that day.
“Things have changed, maybe not for the better. There is nearly nowhere in Ireland any more that can bring in a young lad, train him today, from the abattoir to the boning hall, to serve customers in a shop,” says Phil Jnr.

Town centre rejuvenation
He too is highly critical of how planning authorities and county councils have facilitated the decimation of traditional town centres, saying: “They have a lot to answer for. But it was great to read in the Celt that the Council is now once again looking to invest in the town centre. Our parents would always tell us of the road that links the Main Street from Abbey Street, it was a sin that was closed off by the Post Office. That should be all opened up again. It will be a wonderful addition to the town. There are acres of land in there being wasted. We would love to see that, and for the town to improve. If there is anything we can do to help that we will. We wouldn’t step back. We never have,” enthuses Phil Jnr.
The property is listed for sale as a ‘commercial/development property’, including a private 25-space car park, open plan supermarket and EU-licensed abattoir and boning hall on site.

Emotional farewell
Phil Jnr and Dessie are expecting an emotional farewell when they close the store doors for the last time later this year.
Whenever that is, both are keen to acknowledge those who made the shop what it is today.
“We’ve gotten plenty of help from people down through the years. Good advice, bad advice, you name it. But you listen and you learn. We’re very thankful for that,” says Dessie.
An emotional Phil Jnr adds: “We definitely want to thank everybody who made this possible - our loyal customers, naturally enough our families, our father and mother in particular, and to all the staff, past and present. It has been a wonderful experience.”