A trip to Caffrey's Chocolate Warehouse

Alisha and Abigael of 5th Year LCVP wrote this report about the recent LCVP trip to Caffreys Chocolate Warehouse.

"Our LCVP Class planned to go to Caffrey's Chocolate Warehouse as part of our LCVP course. After our trip we would complete a Summary Report about it. All of the 5th and 6th years LCVP students met up in the school reception and the roll was called. All the students and two teachers got on the bus and we began our journey.

We had great fun all together on the bus journey by singing and having great chats. At around 11am we reached Caffrey's Chocolate Warehouse, in Walkinstown. We waited in the reception area for a roll call. There was Willy Wonka music playing in the background and the scene was beautiful.

 

Everyone was so excited, we wanted to eat everything. We were advised to put our bags on the shelves while we went for our tour.

We were led into a room with a big TV and were greeted by our speaker Mary. She showed us a DVD on how chocolate is produced. None of us realised there was that much effort put in to making chocolate! Our speaker passed around a massive bar of chocolate for us all to feel the weight of it, and it was really, really heavy! We wanted to take it home with us, but we were told it was very plain and bitter. After the DVD we were given time to ask questions. The speaker answered all of our questions.

We were taken to the factory, and beside it was an exhibit of Umpa Lumpa's and chocolate fountains. It was almost like we were in the Willie Wonka movie. After this we were shown a short demonstration of how chocolate Easter eggs were made and how the eggs are decorated.

We were then allowed to decorate our own chocolate and we all found this really fun and enjoyed it. Mrs Leahy took some lovely photos of us all having fun.

Overall it was a great experience and we all grew closer as a class. We will all remember our trip to Caffrey's Chocolate Warehouse and all the chocolates we decorated. We would recommend any LCVP class to visit the Chocolate Warehouse as we learnt a lot about how a large business operates."

Well done Alisha and Abigael.

Mrs L :)

 
 

 

 

Visit Caffreys Chocolate Warehouse on Facebook or Twitter

Thinking like an entrepreneur

Thinking Like An Entrepreneur

View more presentations from Gian Fiero

No Jobs? These Mexican Immigrants Made Their Own

Meet the women of the Apple Eco-friendly Cleaning Cooperative.

Apple is a collective of five Mexican women living in New York City who got tired of working odd jobs and wanted more control of their careers. After meeting at a Brooklyn day laborer hiring site, where they would compete for cleaning jobs with dozens of other women, the quintet decided go into business for themselves, and formed an Limited Liability Company. 

They also began making their own cleaning products at home out of natural ingredients. The result is a less toxic home for their growing roster of clients and a safer cleaning day for the women themselves, who would sometimes get headaches from working for hours amid traditional chemical cleansers.

Source _ www.good.is

What were the reasons for these women setting up their own business?

What skills did / do these women have to become entrepreneurs?

What qualities of an entrepreneur did / do they have?

What steps are the women taking to ensure their business is a success?

Entrepreneur profile

Here is Blaithin's profile of Feargal Quinn - Superquinn

Feargal Quinn was born in Dublin on the 27th of November 1936. He was educated in Newbridge College, and is a commerce graduate of University College Dublin. He also learned the grocery trade in Lipton’s in the UK.

He grew up with a business background as his father ran the Red Island holiday camp in Skerries. This influenced Quinn to start up his own business. He opened up a new shop in Dundalk in 1959, at the age of 23. In 1960, Feargal Quinn founded a new business called ‘Quinns Supermarket’ in Dundalk. The trading name was later changed to ‘Superquinn’ in the late 1970’s.

In January 2005 it was announced that Superquinn was to be sold to a company called ‘Select Retail Holdings’.

In January 2009, the company made the decision to close the Dundalk store. This was the second time that Superquinn had failed in Dundalk, but in September 2010 a High Court order forced Superquinn to re-open in its home town again.

To date, Superquinn employs over 4,500 people in 23 locations nationwide.

Feragal Quinn shows a lot of qualities and characteristics of an entrepreneur. He is a risk taker as he continued to open up shops although his businesses in Dundalk were failing, he his highly motivated as he is still in the business trade and also has his on television show on RTE called “Fergal Quinn’s Retail Therapy”. He is also shows leadership as he took on the responsibility to run so many shops successfully.

Superquinn retail site here.

Senator Feargal Quinn - Independent Senator biography page here.

Feargal Quinn's Reatil Therapy at RTE

Entrepreneur profile

Here is Lauren's profile of Lily O Brien Chocolates founder Mary Ann O Brien 

Mary Ann O Brien - Lily O Briens chocolates

Background

Mary Ann was born in Tipperary.

She has one child named Lily and another who passed away after 18months called Jack.

She is also the co-founder of the ‘Jack and Jill’ foundation with her husband Jonathan Irwin, as well as ‘Lily O’Brien’s chocolates’

How she started her business.

When Mary was over in Africa she explored the hotel and found out what she loved doing. Cooking! For the 2weeks she was over there she helped (in her bikini) the owner’s daughter cook these chocolates in the small business she ran there.

When she arrived home she decided she would try and make the chocolates and sell them at her local hairdresser to see if she would get a positive feedback, and she did.

In 1992 Mary O’Brien had started up her business in her own kitchen in Newbridge, Co. Kildare and made her living from it

Mary tried to sell her chocolates at her local Superquinn and to her surprise she got an offer of a contract to sell her chocolates at the store! Mary leaped at this offer and set up her own business and borrowed money off the bank to help her do this.

Name of business

She run’s the successful Lily O’Brien’s Chocolates.

It is called Lily O’Brien after her daughter because Lily was born when Mary started up her business.

How many people do they employ?

Lily O’Brien employs over 100people and they make over 55-60tonnes per week!

Did she get help?

No, Mary Ann O’Brien started up her own business from at home. Starting to sell them at a hairdressers, venturing on to her local Superquinn and then it became a €16million-a year company, selling all over Europe including little travel boxes being sold on airplanes!

“Absolutely Fabulous Florists” - SWOT analysis

Swot Analysis - “Absolutely Fabulous Florists”
by Tara

Strengths:

1. It is the only florists in Celbridge.
2. It has a good reputation.
3. It has a wide variety of flowers and products.
4. It has a good location.

 
Weaknesses:

1. It can be considered quite expensive.
2. A lot of people can’t afford to buy flowers because of the economic downfall.

 Opportunities:

1. To expand to other locations in the country.
2. To make deals with wedding planners, hotels etc., to provide flowers for events.

 Threats:

1. A lot of major supermarkets (eg.Tesco and LIDL) sell flowers now and for a cheaper price. So many people may decide to buy flowers there instead of a florists.

Thanks Tara

Supervalu - a SWOT analysis

Swot Analysis - Supervalu Clane
by Elaine

Strengths:

1. Friendly staff.
2. Good products - cheap own brand products.
3. Good reputation.

Value for money.

1. Supervalu has won awards for it's store which indicates good management.
2. Loyal customers.
3. Location easy to get to.

Weaknesses:

1. Shelves not always stocked fully.
2. Can be difficult to find things in the store.

Opportunities:

1. New markets opening up with new housing estates that were being in recent years.
2. Expand branches in new housing estates or smaller villages and towns.
3. New products - convenience foods for today's society.
4. Experienced staff.

Threats:

1. Competition from similar stores especially large stores such as Tesco in Celbridge which is open 24 hours.
2. Economic downturn is affecting all businesses today.
3. Cost of finance for improvements or expansion, is getting more expensive in the economic downturn being experienced in Ireland.

Supervalue http://www.supervalu.ie/ is part of the Musgrave Group http://www.musgravegroup.com/en/index.php

Thanks Elaine

Halo Café - a SWOT analysis

SWOT Analysis - Halo Cafe

Strengths:

1. They have friendly staff.
2. The food is nicely presented.
3. The cafe is kept clean.

Weaknesses:

1. The cafe is very small in size.
2. Some of the meals sold there can be considered to be expensive.
3. It is a busy cafe so you can sometimes be waiting a long time to be served.

Opportunites:

1. They could open up a bigger cafe.
2. They could deliever food to more schools for lunches.
3. They might be able to win awards for their business or food.

Threats:

1. Bigger cafés or restaurants could become more popular.
2. They are not very well known so this could deprive them of business.
3. In today's economic climate the cost of some items could stop some people from returning.

Here is a link to Halo Cafe http://www.halocafe.ie/

Thanks Blaithin

The Orchard Garden Centre - a SWOT analysis

S.W.O.T Analysis. - The Orchard Celbridge.
by Siobhán

Strengths:

1. The Orchard has an excellent reputation for its wide range of products.
2. The Orchard has a wide range of products for both households and gardens.
3. The Orchard has a large task force with friendly and kind employees that are always more than happy to help.

Weaknesses:

1. The Orchard has some expensive products and some consumers cannot afford them in this economic climate.
2. They may need to raise capital for expansion but may not be able to due to the current economic downturn.

Opportunities:

1. The Orchard has the opportunity to provide more products for the consumers.
2. The Orchard can expand their facilities to make the garden centre bigger and better for the consumers.
3. The Orchard has experienced employees that know what has to be done to ensure that the business is kept running smoothly.

Threats:

1. Another garden centre that is bigger and better could open up in Celbridge or the surrounding area and cause competition.
2. The economic downfall may mean that prices will have to be increased and consumers will not be able to afford their products and they will not shop there.
3. Then the Orchard could lose money on goods that are not selling.
4. If employees do not have good customer care skills this would cause some customers to be unhappy about how they are being served.

Here is the link to the Orchard Garden Centre http://www.theorchard.ie/

Thanks Siobhan

Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR at Intel

Young entrepreneurs

Could you start your own business at 10yrs and 13 yras of age?

Hear how these two young boys set up and run their own company, Donegal Pens.



Watch another interview they gave on This Morning on TV3

Visit their site Handmade Pens by Donegal Pens.

Business plans

Entrepreneur develop Business Plans before they start their business.

Business Plan from Topics Education on Vimeo.

Starting a business

Where do people get money from to start a business?

Starting a Business from Topics Education on Vimeo.

Interactive lesson on business opportunities

x
Follow this interactive lesson on Skoool.ie about Identifying Opportunities and Market Research.
The lesson covers sources of ideas as well as generating and researching ideas.

Click below to go to the lesson
http://www.skoool.ie/

Interactive lesson on the entrepreneur

x

Follow this interactive lesson on Skoool.ie. The lesson covers:

The role of the entrepreneur
The characteristics of the entrepreneur
The skills of the entrepreneur
The importance of enterprise in business and the community.

Click below to go to the lesson.
http://www.skoool.ie

Examples of enterprise

Describe two examples of enterprise in action in each of the Local Community.

1. Local Community Organisation/ Tidy Towns committee - This improves the area and creates a sense of pride.
2. Fundraising for locality - This helps a local charity or club so members can get better services.
3. Neighbourhood watch schemes - The local residents feel safer or older people not afraid.
4. Clubs/voluntary groups to benefit young people/aged etc - This means everyone is catered for/cuts down on vandalism/loneliness etc..

Examples of enterprise

Describe two examples of enterprise in action in each of the Household

1. Recycling- Using green & brown bins or second hand shops.
2. Budgeting - Planning income and expenditure over a period of time.
3. DIY-This means you do not have to pay tradesmen to do work. 
4. Growing your own vegetable-this can be healthier/organic and can work out cheaper than buying vegetables in the shops. 
5. Planning- dividing up the chores to be done- This means work is shared between all members of the family.
6. Setting up a home based business. Eg. Home baking/B & B

Enterprise definition

Explain what you understand by the term enterprise.

Enterprise is when you take the risk to set up a business.

or

Showing initiative/being creative/pro-active/taking on new challenges/showing innovation.

Generating ideas

List four methods an enterprise uses to generate ideas. 

1.      Suggestion box for customers/employees/review customer complaints.

2.      Carry out market research/survey/internet/consultants.

3.      Look at what competitors are doing/getting ideas from abroad.

4.      Brainstorm with employees/sales personnel.

5.      Research and Development (R+D).