Sisters Natalie Keane and Karen Keane make tasty artisan chocolate from their base in Wexford, and part of the business involves occasional workshops for corporate customers.

“They are ideal for promoting team building and for encouraging team members to get messy and creative using their hands,” says Natalie.

“The teams that join us use ingredients from our gardens and foraged from the local countryside, and learn the traditional art hand-making chocolate on marble slabs, the process of infusing ganache, as well as rolling and enrobing truffles.”

Bean and Goose launched in 2014, and prior to setting it up, Natalie ran a shop and worked in property refurbishment. Karen moved to the UK to teach, before returning to Ireland and a career in HR.

Natalie recalls: “We enrolled on a course with chocolatier Benoit Lorge in Kerry, and then we decided to work with single-origin chocolate and pair it with seasonal Irish flavours.” The sisters made their first chocolate in the kitchen of Karen’s farmhouse.

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“Our investment in equipment was just €400. That’s the advantage of growing organically: you minimise your financial risk and ensure that you have customers before you spend.”

The company name was inspired by the Bean Goose, a migratory bird that spends winters in Ireland’s south east. Dublin design agency Designgoat created a bespoke mould for the chocolate bars that mimics the topography of the family farm.

Bean and Goose’s chocolate varieties are infused with ingredients such as lavender and honey, as well as whiskey, rose petals and nuts. The 500g bars costs around €30, with smaller bars priced at €6.

The company uses single-origin couverture chocolate sourced from various suppliers in Europe, and this facilitates the creation of different flavour profiles, which are used to produce all sorts of chocolate varieties for the Tasting Club, which launched in 2017.

“With a Tasting Club subscription, customers receive three bars of chocolate every month, including chocolate that is exclusive to members,” Natalie explains. “It’s a thoughtful gift and a taste of home for people abroad. It is really connecting with customers and proving to be an important part of our revenue stream.”

The business accesses loan finance from Microfinance Ireland to fund capital investment, and the founders have participated on Bord Bia’s Food Works programme and the Acorns programme, a mentoring scheme for female entrepreneurs in rural Ireland.

“Our overheads are lower than they would be in Dublin but the downside of our rural location is definitely the lack of reliable broadband,” says Natalie. “There have been days over the last three years when we are unable to access emails and orders, which when it happens is very frustrating.

"Our other challenges are securing finance to fund growth and making sure that your story is heard by customers. Maintaining cashflow is crucial, and we dedicate a team member to the task of managing this area.”

Lacking Confidence

Natalie muses that she and her sister should have had more confidence at the start that their venture would work out. “We knew that Bean and Goose had the potential to be something quite special, and if we had the confidence to communicate this in the early days then perhaps we would have hit our milestones faster.

“It can be intense to be family and to work together, and to overcome this we take turns leading the way. Overall, working together has been very positive and we have shared many special moments.”

Photo: Natalie Keane (left) and her sister Karen