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The Big Interview: Grace O’Shaughnessy – a coffee cup half full person
THE BIG INTERVIEW:
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GRACE O’SHAUGHNESSY – A COFFEE CUP HALF FULL PERSON
Java Republic MD Grace O’Shaughnessy, Fingal Chamber’s 2019 Business Person of the Year, reflects on the lessons of COVID for business, why she continues to be optimistic about the prospects for future international growth, and the vital role the Chamber and its members can play in helping each other navigate these turbulent times.
Grace O’Shaughnessy joined Java Republic from Lir Chocolates in 2006 and became its MD two years later. In this role she has steered the company through times of expansion, times of contraction brought about by the Global Financial Crisis, and the subsequent development of the company as a strong all-island business. Most recently she has been involved in the acquisition of Java Republic by the Spanish private company Cafento, which has ambitious plans to support the Irish company’s growth further afield.
O’Shaughnessy is a coffee cup half-full kind of person. “When we entered 2020 little did we know that come March we’d be experiencing something for which no textbook has been written. Then, like most people, we thought lockdown might last for perhaps two months. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that while the last year and more has been a challenge in many ways it has also brought opportunities and we’ve genuinely been encouraged by some of the changes we’ve seen.”
Explaining the company’s response to the pandemic she says: “Personally I’m very structured about how I approach things. The one thing I’ve learned is to take stock and avoid panic. So we talked daily, identified what we needed to do to ensure viability, identified where we could refocus and spent a lot of time retraining our people, innovating new products and coffees in the market, while remaining open and supporting our customers throughout the country.
“We called each month as it came, making decisions relative to the business needs at that time based on the data and information to hand. That gave us a sense of small, bite-sized chunks we could deal with and even though we’ve been largely socially distanced, a sense of communication and engagement with all our colleagues has been absolutely key. Even now we are still navigating point-to-point, gathering as much info as we can, staying calm and collected, communicating with transparency and ensuring that we remain agile.”
Having built the business nationally through distributors, latterly it has bought out that distribution network, with the final acquisition completed last October. This has given the company its own direct presence on the ground in all 32 counties supported by a full complement of sales, administration and service personnel with a view to getting closer to customers on the ground in understanding their needs and how the company can better support them in in a competitive market space.
“We have a number of strategic pillars for the business and all the pandemic really did was to pause activity on some of those pillars,” O’Shaughnessy says. “That happened May and June last year when we realised we were dealing with something that was going to go on for much longer than we’d envisaged. So then we honed in on some really critical areas that presented immediate opportunities for us to develop.
“Then, as we moved into August and September we recognised that this was going to continue into 2021, so we tightened the strategy even further. We determined that 2021 would be a year of recovery and would be unlikely to see a return to normality, or to a ‘new normal,’ until at least 2022 at the earliest. So earlier this year we signed off our recovery plan but again the core strategy remained the same and what we’re doing is honing in on specific elements of that strategy.
“And as we move towards the end of this year we’ll review that again and tweak things further. But the fundamental point is that the plan is there, our strategy is written. We haven’t changed our product, our offering or our support services – in fact, we’ve probably got better at them because we’ve focused on what we really need to do and pulled back on things that are not core.”
As a result, Java Republic has remained in business throughout the lockdowns, supporting clients in its various channels, from hospitality services to cafes, hotels and restaurants. “We’re not just a coffee roaster or provider, we are partner to our clients. I work in a very passionate industry, with passionate people and a superb product offering, and we strive to position Java Republic as a thought leader in the coffee market,” O’Shaughnessy emphasises.
Positive changes
One of the positive changes for Java Republic is the way in which people consume coffee. “People weren’t coming into the city for coffee. With the switch to working from home they were moving and circulating in their own suburbs. But then coffee became a beverage where you could meet family outdoors and go for a walk and many businesses have pivoted to offer coffeeto-go,” she notes.
She has also been encouraged by the number of people who have moved to online purchasing of coffee, resulting in an exponential and unexpected growth over the past 12 months. “We recently launched a range of single origin coffees & collaborated with emerging Irish artists which has been extremely well received through our online presence. So I’m now looking forward to recovery, but equally with a sense of cautiousness because we still don’t really know what ‘good’ looks like as we’re not out of the woods yet.”
Another of the positive developments in the last year, she says, is that quality is rising to the top as clients recognise the need to invest in their food beverage offerings. “We’re positioned in a premium space and we are competitive in what we offer – a full coffee solution, something that is bespoke. It’s an offer that can be tweaked to suit your clientele, your competitive landscape, your budget and your needs as a whole. In particular we have witnessed a shift in the hotel sector over the past two or three years as part of their efforts to entice their guests to stay within the four walls of the hotel and capture more of the available spend.”
In the corporate channel, too, Java Republic has seen evidence that while the return to the office will be in a hybrid fashion, just as in the crisis in 2010 employers are aware of the expectations of their employees to be treated with respect. “People are much more focussed now on the culture of the organisation that they work for and the offer on-site – and coffee’s an important aspect of that.”
O’Shaughnessy may be a positive person but she is not blinkered by rose-tinted spectacles. “I suspect as we come out of COVID there’s a reset button which will see a recalibration, a consolidation of certain businesses and unfortunately we will lose some really good businesses,” she says. At the same time she acknowledges that many businesses have grown exponentially during COVID. “Those businesses that have fought and have confidence will come through, although perhaps not in the guise they know today. But the extent of those changes won’t become apparent, I suspect, until well into 2022.”
Spanish opportunities
A change of ownership of Java Republic in May 2019 saw the emergence of plans for opening of Java Republic in a number of large Spanish cities, the forerunner to even more ambitious plans elsewhere in Europe. Buying the business for the DNA of the brand and the passion the team clearly has for the product, Cafento was keen that the existing management team would stay with the business.
“From March 2020, given the impact of Covid on travel, our interaction with our Spanish colleagues was mostly virtual. The team in Spain have done nothing but support our agenda to grow the business, to focus on an all-island commercial approach and are very much guided by what we want to do in the Irish market,” O’Shaughnessy says.
In terms of expansion oversees, O’Shaughnessy points out that the Java Republic brand isn’t synonymous with Ireland ”but it is with coffee and what we stand for – going further and deeper than anybody else to provide the best coffee experience at every touch point.” That message, she believes, is translatable in any country. “Your vision, mission and values remain the same and what you have to tweak are the nuances of local language and customs and maybe certain cultural elements. Underpinning all that is quality and our passion. Interestingly a lot of the values in Spain are very similar to those in Ireland,” she adds.
Seek advice from others
O’Shaughnessy is also a strong advocate of the value of talking to other people at times of stress or difficulty. “In Ireland we’re very proud individuals and sometimes people never put their hand up to ask for help or advice because it might be seen as weakness. But within Fingal Chamber there are many owneroperator run businesses in what is a very turbulent space. If you don’t have people around you to discuss things with and seek affirmation that you’re doing the right thing it can be a very lonely journey and that can add so much more stress that’s really unnecessary.
“I’m very conscious that Fingal Chamber has opened up a door not just to networking and collaboration but to providing a pool of talent, people who I’m sure are willing to give 30 or 40 minutes to other members to bounce ideas off them. There’s a human side to helping others and that’s something I think Fingal Chamber really does well. Why wouldn’t we share our experience with each other?
“Because when you’re in a fog of indecision all you need sometimes is a conversation with somebody to give you a boost or maybe to spark another idea to get you through whatever that moment is. And when you’ve asked for help once, to be fair, it gets easier. I know that whenever I’ve asked for help I’ve never been turned down – and nor would I turn anyone down who asked me, it’s a learning. And making that happen is something that Anthony and his team have done really well in recent years.”
