2024 | MAY / JUNE ISSUE
NEWS
CATEX 60 YEARS
HOTEL & RESTAURANT TIMES
“Back then, while my mother would have assumed a career in teaching Domestic Science was in my future, I knew I wanted to lead in business & industry.”
CATERING for the NATION Joan O'Shaughnessy's journey through Ireland's evolving catering and hospitality landscape Joan O'Shaughnessy
The biennial catering event CATEX celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2025. For the greater part of its existence, Joan O’Shaughnessy has been a great advocator of this large-scale annual event, having sat on the board of IFSA (Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance) from 2012 to 2016.
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hile the tourism industry is undoubtedly facing multiple challenges, Joan’s professional trajectory is one of overcoming adversity and of embracing every challenge that has come her way. In December 2021 Joan stepped down as Chair of Tourism Ireland after 5 years, she continues to support the industry. “When I finished my tenure
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with Tourism Ireland, which was a fantastic experience, I continued to mentor for a number of years, I believe it’s incredibly important to share knowledge and support future leaders in industry,” says Joan. Prior to this Joan spent over 20 years working in the Foodservice industry including 11 years as CEO for US Food Service and Facilities
Multinational Aramark following the acquisition of Campbell Catering and spent 12 years at the helm of the Irish operation. From a young age Joan knew her passion was with food and hospitality, having grown up in a household that entertained frequently she gained insight to the organisation and grasped a flair for cooking and entertaining.
WWW.HOTELANDRESTAURANTTIMES.IE
After completing her Degree at Cathal Brugha Street College of Catering (now Cathal Brugha FET Campus); she began her journey in the hotel and catering management industry. I knew I had found my path and never wanted to do anything else” she recalls.
Overseeing Growth Beginning her career in the former 5 Star Royal Hibernian Hotel Dawson Street Dublin as a Housekeeper but missing the food side of business she moved to catering company Gardner Merchant as Regional Manager. Following 4 years there she and her husband took an opportunity to run their own hotel and restaurant in the west of Ireland. After a number of successful years and having 2 small children, Joan decided to move back to the catering business because at that time it allowed her to spend more quality time with her young family. She returned to work with Gardner Merchant, relocated to Dublin and became Intel’s first General Manager of the catering services, over 4 years she oversaw the growth and development of catering services of Intel Ireland serving up to 7000 customers per day. WWW.HOTELANDRESTAURANTTIMES.IE
MAY / JUNE ISSUE | 2024
The Innovation Challenge By the mid-1990s, contract catering had evolved to meet the demand of the growing corporate sector as well as the evolving tastes of their employees. Joan was at the cutting edge of that revolution. “The challenge then was to be innovative,” recalls Joan. “Navigating this shift posed a distinct challenge, as it necessitated training the staff to be highly efficient with costs and to delve deeper into the financial aspects of the business alongside their culinary responsibilities.” Joan took the opportunity to move to Campbell Catering in 1995 as their Operations Director. Our ambition was to become the market leader in Ireland, and we did that by changing our approach to client services, introducing in-house training for their chefs and reassessing the entire product range. We would take clients into the market, introducing them to different propositions, inspiration for better kitchen design and innovative approaches aiming to enhance their service to employees and elevate their catering service into a highly valued workplace benefit.
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