3 SOME OF THE COMPANIES WE WORKED FOR
3.1 Company Profile of Goatsbridge Trout Farm
Goatsbridge Trout Farm is located in Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny in Ireland. It is a familyrun business and was established by Rita and Padraig Kirwan in 1961. For 20 years the
company has been headed by the Managing Directors Ger and Mag Kirwan and is one
of the few independent commercial trout farms in Ireland. The company has five
different product categories which are sold to their customers.
Fillets
Gutted
Whole
Butterfly
Caviar
Company organogram
Key executives/Managing Directors
Ger and Meg Kirwan
Administration
Marketing and Sales
Mairead
Margaret
Orders
Factory
Ger, Margaret, Bob
Liam and Michael
Pond Manager
Elena
Operator
Jimmy
Factory Operators
History:
As has been mentioned above, the company was established by the parents of the current Managing Director
Ger Kirwan in 1961. The company has about 17 employees and they only sell their products on the Irish
market. They supply high-end supermarket chains and shops and also the fish market is one of their target
markets. To understand how the company works, you have to know a lot of details and procedures.
The Goatsbridge Trout Farm buys 1.2 million eggs from an egg supplier in Denmark called Trout Lodge for
about €25.000. Trout Lodge delivers the eggs to Gary Hill – which is the name of the hatchery and the eggs
stay there for five to six months until the fish have 15 grams. This process costs about €15,000 per year.
Included in this price are food and medication for the fish. By the way, the food for the fish makes up 60% of
the costs of a fish farm. Then the fish come to Goatsbridge where they are placed in different ponds,
depending on their weight. Goatsbridge aims to produce 250 tonnes of fish per year which generates a
turnover of 1.2 million. Since Goatsbridge is too small to produce enough fish, there is another production
site in Ballyduff. In 2012 the farm is not making any profit because they invested a lot of money into new
machines and in developing their company.
A big advantage of the company is that the demand is higher than the number of fish they can produce. So
they don’t have to be afraid that the demand will go down at the moment. Another big advantage of
Goatsbridge Trout Farm is that they have almost no competitor, there is maybe one producer but they are
no serious threat to them. A milestone in the history of the Trout Farm was the success of the production of
Irish Trout caviar in March this year. Ger and Mag Kirwan are very proud that they are the first company in
Ireland which produces caviar from trout. This is also a reason why the farm is so successful. They always
want to try something new and with this success the company earned a lot of money, which can be invested
in expanding and improving the company steadily.
As mentioned before, Goatsbridge Trout Farm sells their products to supermarket chains and shops. Here is
a list of their customers:

TESCO

Eurospar Kilkenny

The Butler’s Pantry

Nolans Clontarf

AVOCA

Mortons

Donnybrook Fair

Cavistons Greystones

Cavistons Glasthule

Feeney Fish

Glasrai + Goodies

The Kilkeny Design Centre
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From these stores, private consumers can buy the products for their households. But they can also be
bought online via the website of the farm. (http://goatsbridgetrout.ie/)
My work experience:
When I first came to Goatsbridge Trout Farm I thought that this is a small company with just a few
employees and the work is going to be quiet and silent but this impression soon proved wrong. My
mentor Elena is completely the opposite of quiet and monotonous. On the first day she showed me
the whole company and I was impressed how big this small company really is. She introduced me to
the staff and I felt very welcome from the beginning. After she had shown me the whole company we
planned what I was going to do for the next two weeks. She had planned a project for me to create a
customer service survey and I was very happy with this challenge. Every day I had a lot of fun with
Elena and the others in the company and I got along with the everyday life in an Irish company very
well. I was happy to go to work every day throughout the whole two weeks. The main reason for this
was Elena. She supported me very well and made me feel comfortable. But there are also a lot of other
people I have worked with who made me feel comfortable and treated me as a full member of the
company as well. I tried to speak as much as I could but often couldn’t find the right words but also
this problem was getting better and better every day. I stopped thinking about what I was exactly going
to say and just talked. Mostly I was understood by the others in the company and this felt great. So if
you have the chance to take part in such a work experience programme, you have to do this! I have
not regretted that I joined this trip for a minute and if you can work in a company like this, you’ll be
very lucky! I recommend this trip to everybody I know because this was a great experience for me.
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3.2 Company Profile of Aspect Hotel
The name of the company is Aspect Hotel. The hotel is located in Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located near
the Kilkenny Ring Road for easy motorway access. From Dublin Airport it takes about 90 minutes to
get to the Aspect Hotel. The distance from the hotel to the town centre of Kilkenny is about 25 minutes
on foot.
The hotel was opened on 6th June 2006. There are 30 employees. The hotel provides 80 bedrooms and
six meeting rooms. There is also a restaurant where the guests can have breakfast, lunch and dinner,
if they want. Moreover, the hotel has of a small hotel bar. Apart from catering for their house guest,
the company also provides meeting rooms where meetings, training sessions and presentations take
place. The general manager of this company is Clement Gleesan. The senior manager is Sean Caffrey.
The duty manager is Kevin King and the front office manager is Anne Deveraux.
The main customers of this hotel are private leisure guests and conference guests. Furthermore, there
are also business travellers who stay for just one or two nights.
The responsibilites I had when working in this hotel focused on helping the catering staff and doing
some administrative tasks at the reception. In the morning I was responsible for setting up the tables
for dinner, polishing glasses, folding napkins and polishing the cutlery. In the afternoon I had to book
reservations in the computer system. Sometimes I also had to programme the room keys for our
guests.
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3.3 Company Profile of Cloth of Gold
The company Cloth of Gold was established in 1998 and is
located in Bally Hale in Kilkenny. Cloth of Gold Ltd. is an export
business working within the textile industry. They dye and
print fabric using various techniques and finishes. The fabrics are designed by Sabina Fay Braxton who
is the owner of the company. Sabina is known for her old looking hand-printed textile techniques. She
has been creating fabrics for famous couturiers, interior designers and many private clients for over a
decade. Ranging from designers like Christian Lacroix, Valentino and Armani to Alberto Pinto, Peter
Marino and Juan Pablo Molyneux, her clientele also includes celebrities such as Catherine Deneuve
and Dumbledore himself from the Harry Potter films. She sells her fabric all over the world and has
many international customers. People can buy Sabina’s fabric in her showroom in Paris but she also
has many distributors in America.
In the company in Kilkenny there are 10 employees who work for Sabina Fay Braxton. There is a team
of three directors in all of Sabrina’s offices. One of the directors is Gemma Murphy, the product
manager of Cloth of Gold in Kilkenny. She is in charge of purchasing, the management of the production
schedule, coordinating everyone’s work, inventory management and so on.
In the first week of my work experience I had several small jobs to do. For example I had to sort the
samples in their boxes or took notes of the length of the fabric. In the second week I had to cut samples.
They use the samples I had to cut for enquiries from customers, so that the customers know what the
fabric looks like.
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SPRINGHILL COURT
CONFERENCE, LEISURE & SPA HOTEL
Kilkenny Tel: 056 772 1122
brennanhotels.com
3. 4 Company Profile of Springhill Court Conference, Leisure & Spa Hotel
Name of the company
Springhill Court Conference, Leisure & Spa Hotel
This hotel is a member of Brennan Hotels which is an Irish owned, family run group of hotels.
The group includes:
- Springhill Court Conference, Leisure & Spa Hotel
- Arklow Bay Conference Leisure & Spa Hotel
- Clonmel Park Conference Leisure & Spa Hotel
- Green Isle Conference & Leisure Hotel
Company.location
The Springhill Court Hotel is located in Kilkenny, which is in the south-east of Ireland. The other three
hotels are also located in Ireland (Arklow Bay, Clonmel and Green Isle).
Key.executives
Seamus O’Carroll is the General Manager of the Springhill Court Hotel. June Aylward (my tutor) is the
Sales & Marketing Manager of the company.
Customer.demographics
The Springhill Court Hotel welcomes individuals, families as well as business people as their customers.
They offer a variety of family rooms of all sizes, designated non-smoking rooms and luxurious suites.
Moreover, they often have bridal couples as customers as well because the hotel is well known for
weddings.
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Community.involvement
In March 2005, Brian Brennan travelled to Sri Lanka, four months after the Tsunami disaster in 2004.
Over 40,000 people had died and nearly half a million had been displaced. With €15,000 from the
Arklow Bay Hotel he wanted to support a small project or buy a bus for an orphanage. He purchased a
piece of land for an orphanage so they could build a girls orphanage which opened in November 2005.
My responsibilities During these two weeks at the Springhill Court I had many responsibilities. In the
morning I was responsible for cleaning the dishes, glasses and the cutlery as well as for cleaning the
breakfast tables. After lunch, I helped the staff in the back office. I had to compile several lists and also
some charts in the Microsoft Office Programmes (Excel and Word). On the third day there was a funeral
dinner at our hotel for about 100 people. For this event we had to set all the tables the day before.
When the guests arrived I had to welcome them and guide them to their tables. After that I helped the
staff serving the guests. Later I had to clear the starter dishes and bring them their main dish and later
their dessert. I also addressed the Christmas brochures to over 100 companies in Ireland. One day I
was responsible for the meeting rooms. I had to clear the tables and to bring them more coffee, tea
and biscuits. Another day I helped to prepare the ballroom for a wedding.
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3.5 Company Profile of Knockdrinna Farm
Name of the company:
Knockdrinna Farm
Company location:
The company is located in Stoneyford, which is in Kilkenny. Kilkenny is
located in the south-east of Ireland.
Key executives:
Helen Finnegan is the head of the company and does all kinds of work
on the farm, but she is focused on the office work.
Idelle’s part is in charge of the cheese factory, which means she is
responsible for production and the cleanliness in the factory.
History: Knockdrinna Farmhouse Cheese has been making cheese since
2004. Their first creations began in an ordinary kitchen with some cow
milk from a local farmer. Then they became fascinated with goats
cheese and sourced some milk from local farmers. So they began
making some soft fresh goats cheeses and soon progressed to
experimenting with harder cheeses and soon also started developing
natural rind cheeses. It took some time until they had found the right
recipes and techniques. In 2005 the farm moved from their converted
back kitchen to the small cheese dairy. In 2007, Knockdrinna Meadow,
an ewe’s milk cheese was introduced to the range, which has proved
enormously popular. In 2008 they took over the production of
Lavistown cheese from Olivia Goodwillie, the original maker. In 2011
they developed their new cheese called Kilree, a rind washed goats
cheese.
Knockdrinna cheeses have won some awards, for example the British
Cheese Award in 2011 and Knockdrinna was awarded for the Gold and
Best Irish at the British Cheese Awards 2008. Moreover, they were
awarded “Farmhouse Cheese Maker of the Year 2007” at the
International Cheese Awards held at the SHOP exhibition in Dublin.
There they received a gold medal for its Knockdrinna Goats Cheese, a
second Gold Medal and Best New Cheese for its sheep’s milk cheese
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Knockdrinna Meadow and a Silver Medal for its soft goats cheese
Knockdrinna Snow.
Number of employees:
Knockdrinna has four permanent employees.
Customer Demographics:
Knockdrinna has private individuals and big companies as customers.
For example Mount Juliet is a good customer of Knockdrinna. Other
restaurants or companies with bars also buy a lot of cheese from
Knockdrinna. The cheese shop on the farm is very popular among
families.
Community involvement:
There is a Mum and baby lunch every Tuesday in their café, where they
offer free desserts with any lunch or free tea or coffee with any cake.
They also offer an event, where people can join one of their cheese
making courses.
My responsibilities:
During the two weeks at Knockdrinna farm I had several
responsibilities. On the first day I had to do some cleaning in the
factory and helped packaging the cheese. On the next day I assisted
Helen, when she was promoting her farm on TV3, a well-known TV
channel in Ireland. Afterwards I created labels for the cheese in the
office. Furthermore, I wrote some invoices for the customers,
prepared offers with Idelle in the factory and sent all the mail with the
invoices to the customers. Moreover, I prepared statements, wrote
price lists and created some Excel spread sheets. I also joined the
Kilkenny Food Festival, where I saw a lot of presentations by several
food companies and joined the brunch afterwards.
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3.6 Company Profile of Hotel Kilkenny
Hotel Kilkenny is a four star hotel which was established in 1967 and is located in Kilkenny. It is a
member of the Griffin Group which consists of two hotels and one spa (Monart Destination Spa Ireland,
Ferrycarring Hotel Wexford and Hotel Kilkenny).The heads of the Griffin Group are Michael Griffin,
who is the Deputy CEO and his son Liam Griffin, who is the CEO.
Hotel Kilkenny has 138 rooms and features breath-taking wedding rooms. About 75 weddings parties
take place in their rooms every year and they are assisted by a special wedding planner. The hotel has
about 150 employees in summer and 100 in the winter season. There are a lot of Polish workers,
especially in the kitchen and in the service department. The Pure Bar offers a variety of hot and cold
drinks and is resplendent with its fashionable design. Moreover, the Taste Restaurant is where the
guests are treated to a great breakfast and exquisite meals for adults and children in the evening.
Hotel Kilkenny is very busy because of the high number of bookings for meetings and conferences.
Their clients are big companies and organisations like the Irish Dental Association National or GAA –
Gaelic Athletic Association. The nine meeting rooms can host up to 700 people. The clients are mostly
Irish but they also have international visitors like British and Americans guests.
Source: http://www.hotelkilkenny.ie
My duties and responsibilities:
I had to work with the computer programs HotSoft and Salesforce which save all data about the
bookings and the accounts of all clients. I was also responsible for digitalising international clients’
address books with Excel. Another duty was to put flyers into a purple folder in the right order and to
prettify the flyers with bows. What is more, I had to put sweets into a bowl for the children on
Halloween
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Company Profile of Hotel Kilkenny
Hotel Kilkenny is a four star hotel in the Irish city
Kilkenny, in the south-east of Ireland. The
company was established in 1967. The chairman
is Liam Griffin and the deputy CEO is Michael
Griffin. The hotel belongs to the Griffin Group,
one of the leading hotel groups in Ireland. Other
members of this group are the Monart
Destination Spa and the Ferrycarring Hotel.
Hotel Kilkenny employs 150 people in the summer season and about 100 employees in winter.
The company offers single rooms, double and triple bedrooms. In total there are 138 rooms.
There are often special events like Christmas parties, barbecues and weddings. About 75
weddings are celebrated in Hotel Kilkenny a year. Moreover, the hotels offers nine conference
rooms, the biggest one holds 700 people. What is more, the hotel offers a fitness club, a big
swimming pool, a kids club, a golf academy, extra services like a physiotherapist and a life
coach as well as the “see&do” where they give the guests the opportunity to join tours and
festivals. The price for the bedroom includes access to the Wi-Fi, the swimming pool, the
fitness club, the whirlpool, sauna and the steam room.
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3.7 Company Profile of Petmania
Name of the Company
Company locations
Petmania managing
director
History
Petmania Limited
Petmania is part of the O'Keeffe Group
The warehouse of Petmania is located in Kilkenny.
There are Shops in
Kilkenny
Wexford
Limerick Eastpoint
Limerick Jetland
Tralee
Santry
Portlaoise
Galway
Carlow
Shane O’Keeffe
Petmania is a member of the O'Keeffe Group, which was founded
by Eamonn and Maureen O'Keeffe in the 1970s. Initially,
Petmania was just a department in Gardenia, the city centre
garden centre on John Street, Kilkenny City, but much loved by
local customers. So it was decided to open a standalone pet store
on the same street in 2006. In May 2007 the first pet superstore
in Waterford was opened. Since then they have grown
considerably, with superstores nationwide.
Petmania is an Irish owned retailer and the largest specialist pet
retailer in the country.
Number of employees
almost 200
Customer demographics
private pet keepers living in Ireland
Community involvement
My responsibilities
Petmania supports local communities through their school
education programme and support of local animal rescue centres.
They also work closely with The Carers Association, their
nominated people charity, to help them to raise vital funds to
support the 160,000 family carers that work tirelessly throughout
the country.
To support this worthy cause their annual National Dog Walk
takes place on Easter Monday.
I worked in the warehouse and in the pet shop.
The office is also in the warehouse. I had to file various
documents and check the stock.
I also worked in the warehouse where I helped to pick and check
the products which are sent to the different shops.
In the pet shop I did cleaning jobs but also had to check and print
labels.
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