Heavenly Bia with Catherine Macklin
Heavenly Bia
Catherine Macklin had worked for many years running Heavenly Foods in Athlone. She spotted an opportunity to redevelop and rebrand the business. Working in food was an area Catherine didn’t image back when she qualified as an Accountant in 2008 and Tax a Consultant back in 2012. Heavenly Bia was set up in 2018 and has been successfully growing under the guidance of Catherine since.
Heavenly Bia supply natural delicious Irish produce directly to your door. Their chicken and beef is all traceable back to its Irish source with nothing added to it but pure goodness, they also have a wide range of fish and shellfish caught by the finest fisherman in the great seas and oceans around us. Every product is individually quick frozen to lock in the freshness and preserve the nutrition. On obtaining the box of food you can then freeze and use when you need. No more having to go to the butchers every evening. They pride themselves on the fact that they want to deliver a service where families do not have to have concern for those unwanted chemicals that find their way onto our plates to often unknowingly. They also supply desserts which again you can leave frozen until you need or even take out one piece at a time for those moments that we need a little sweetness!
They are now supplying in Westmeath, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Donegal, Carlow, Wicklow, Offaly, Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipperary to name a few
Our target market is mainly working families and busy professionals who are time poor and need to come home from work and prepare a wholesome dinner knowing that they have a wide choice of chicken, beef, pork or fish in the freezer ready to be cooked. A common customer feedback comment is “I love being able to plan the weeks dinners ahead knowing I have the main component in my freezer and there is never any waste as it stays frozen for 12 months at least and I can cook straight from frozen”. We have had customers from as far as Texas, US where a lady ordered online and had the box of food delivered to her son in College in Dublin as a gift!!
Catherine says ‘The EMPOWER Programme helped me as running a business is a tough and lonely journey. Some days you have issues regarding administration, HR, logistics etc. I looked forward to our meetings with my fellow peers where I could discuss the issues I had and then we would all brain storm to help come up with answers to the problems. It also enabled me to get the frustrations out and to see that I was not going through these things on my own. I also enjoyed some of the guest speakers as they showed us that yes there are tough days but you can get through them. I am looking forward to giving this advice back to more start-ups and I was delighted to come back as a guest speaker to EMPOWER Growth group this year. That hopefully enabled them to get the benefit of some of my experience in business
In the future I want to start selling wholesale to Shops and Restaurants and concentrate on growing our online sales alongside expanding our team on the road.
Contact: www.heavenlybia.com
