For the latest in our series of editorials focusing on Irish Women in Business, we’re talking to Ciara Troy, who is the Managing Director of Oishii Sushi.
Back in 2011 she received Image Magazine’s Young Business Woman of the Year Award while the company has received four Great Taste Awards.
Here, Ciara, in her own words, chats about changing her career path and her definition of success…
When I finished school I actually wanted to be a music teacher! I play piano and violin and I was studying for the BA Music Education in Trinity. A summer in New York gave me a desire for freedom and more travel so I decided to keep music as a hobby and instead worked various office jobs and travelled quite a lot for a few years. I always loved food and cooking so wherever I could, I would attend a cookery workshop or try my hand at new dishes. My travels took me to the States, Australia, South East Asia and London so my culinary tastes were quite diverse. I never considered working in a food company until I set up on my own but with my background, I’m not sure I fitted the typical job profile.
When I was 23, I returned to education to study BESS (Business, Economic and Social Studies) in Trinity. I had an amazing experience studying in Tokyo as part of the degree and when I finished the final exams, I decided to start making some of my favourite Japanese foods at home. Having been to some farmers markets in Dublin, I got talking to the manager and he told me there would be space if I wanted to try to sell produce at their new Greystones market starting in the July of 2006. This was where Oishii began. I registered the company name, bought a second hand market canopy and rented a few gastronorms from Caterhire!
In the beginning, I went from farmer’s market to market… I made so many different Japanese products, everything from green tea drizzle cakes, tofu Gyoza dumplings, chicken katsu curry, various noodle salads and every type of sushi I could think of. The aim was to be innovative, to give customers a taste of the Japanese foods which I love myself and to educate people about the various foods and their healthy attributes. In that sense, I think my aim has remained the same and seven years later, we are still trying to be innovative and educate consumers about Japanese cuisine.
It was hard work. I absolutely loved meeting customers at the markets every week and to hear their feedback. But the markets at that time were exhausting as I was making everything at home, packing up the van, setting up the stall, working at it all day and by the time packing up at 4.00pm came around, I was just on my knees. The nature of the sushi meant I couldn’t sell my products the next day; I had to make everything fresh. But the positive feedback from all those who bought my food spurred me on to find a way to keep going and to focus on other sales avenues to grow the business further. Without customer loyalty, support and kind words Oishii Foods wouldn’t be where it is today.
Oishii Foods has grown organically since the start and we’ve followed positive sales leads and outlets that are interested in our products. In this sense, we grew on a needs basis and not always at a consistent rate. The pattern has been to use every inch of work space until we simply have to find a bigger kitchen and to work all the hours we can until we can afford to hire more staff. I think this is the way for small businesses where cash flow is tight and sales are up and down. One element of building the business since inception has been to constantly look at our systems and processes, identifying better ways of doing things, to improve quality, efficiencies and to function better on every level. This is an ongoing process of changing, adapting, searching for the right staff to join the team. I’m proud to say that I’ve a good team working within Oishii right now, with the right energy, attitude and enthusiasm that is needed to drive the business forward.
I don’t have a structured work pattern that I follow every day. I am a list maker so I tend to draw up lists the night before of what I want to get done the next day. I would say I spend half my week dealing with internal issues and liaising with my staff, the other half is spent communicating with customers, buyers and suppliers. A portion of each day is taken up with responding to emails, keeping an eye on social media activity. I’m glad to say that I have a very varied working life!
The definition of success keeps shifting for me! I thought I would be happy with doing the markets but that wasn’t enough. Then, I told myself I’d be happy once I got into some retail stores, but the goal posts just keep moving! But yes, there have been some milestones that have marked the journey, getting the first major retail listing was an incredible vote of confidence. Getting emails from customers that didn’t know me personally, to say how much they liked my products. Also, when Oishii got shortlisted as a finalist for Outstanding Small Business with the Small Firms Association in 2009, I felt very proud that I had made it all happen. Even better was when Oishii Foods won Wicklow Company of the Year in 2010, the recognition and praise just made me want to work harder and smarter to be successful.
Every day and every week has its challenges, but it is finding solutions to problems that make us a better business. One ongoing challenge is that of product returns. If our sushi or spring roll products don’t sell, we take them back. I really hate waste and with a two-day product, it’s hard to control and takes constant vigilance. I think for such a fresh product, it will remain a challenge but we do work hard to keep wastage to a minimum. What we must throw away goes through a company called Food Surplus Management so our products are disposed of in the most environment friendly way possible, with the food being converted into animal feed where suitable.
It’s hard to pinpoint one single best moment. I was definitely jumping for joy the day I found out we won four Great Taste Awards in 2012 for the four products we had entered. Actually I’m pretty sure I took my Dad for a pint to celebrate. Other best moments would include receiving emails from customers telling me how much they enjoy our products and several customers have thanked us for making products that are not only delicious but have helped them lose weight / maintain weight loss.
Winning Image Magazine’s Young Business Woman of the Year was a major highlight since setting up Oishii Foods. I was very proud indeed and it was such a fabulous experience to be involved with the Image Magazine Awards and to meet so many entrepreneurial, successful women. It all happened quite soon after I had my son Luke so getting hair & makeup and awards made me feel quite the glam mama.
Some people may say that business is business and to keep the personal out of it. But to me, Oishii Foods is personal. I feel every high, every low and all the stuff in between. I push and push the business because I care so much, about the products, about the people who buy them, and about all the staff that I employ. There are 20 people employed in Oishii Foods, I know what’s happening in their lives, their families and I feel the weight of responsibility I have to them. This business must work to support all of us and we are a team. The other element of our business that makes us unique is our policy of up skilling and honing in-house capabilities. We invest in our staff and all are encouraged to study, attend seminar or training courses. What’s good for the staff is good for Oishii. We also have been working with a UK based sushi consultancy team who travel to our kitchen once a month to work with the kitchen team on innovative sushi concepts and better techniques.
What comes next for Oishii Sushi? That’d be telling! To be honest, there are several avenues to explore so it’s a matter of planning out our strategy for the coming year and beyond. Whatever comes next, we promise it will be innovative, it will be quality and we’ll do it as best we can.
To find out more about Ciara and Oishii Sushi, visit their website here.
To suggest other great Irish women to feature in this series, please drop us a line to editorial@her.ie
