National award adds some spice to Ballina caterer's 'whirlwind' year

A Ballina businesswoman is celebrating after her catering company scooped a prestigious national award.

Claire Howley Sabin set up Claire’s Kitchen in 2022. It was named Ireland’s Best Event Caterer 2023 at the Virgin Media Business Gold Medal Awards, which took place at the Galmont Hotel, Galway in late January.

Claire told the Western People that 2023 was a memorable year for Claire’s Kitchen, one in which the company catered to presidents, ministers and the world’s media.

“2023 was a bit of a whirlwind for us," she noted. "A big highlight was catering during the visit of US President Joe Biden to Ballina. We got a call from the Department of Foreign Affairs and they booked us for that.

“Then we were getting calls from Washington to have different food available at different times. The whole experience was really magical.”

Claire’s Kitchen also catered for the Building Better Business event at the Ballina Arts Centre, with Minister Simon Coveney among the diners.

Claire said she felt the business defied her expectations in taking home the Virgin Media Business Gold Medal.

“It was fantastic. We entered the competition and then we were shortlisted. The judges came out to the premises and watched how we did for half a day to see how everything went.”

“Two months later, we heard we made it to the final, ourselves and three others. We only found out that we won on the night and we weren’t expecting to win at all.

“We were up against some massive names and it was so amazing to win.”

Having expanded her business previously, Claire said she is happy with how things are going. She employs three members of staff currently.

“Overall, we’ve been nearly two and a half years in business. We hit the ground running and it has been busy, busy, busy," she said.