Donal O'Keeffe

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“Providing people with local products from their own back yard”, is how Donal O'Keeffe describes his, and his family’s, ambitions for their Montenotte food store, O'Keeffe's.

That sounds simple, but there is something huge about the modesty of the statement. In a country that needlessly imports €5billion euro worth of food that it could produce itself every year, at a shocking financial and environmental cost, the beautiful simplicity of the O'Keefe's philosophy is one that cannot be overstated: thinking local, eating local, saving the planet. In the microcosm of that thought there is a mighty future for us all, if we could only see it, if we could only realise that what we buy, and where our money ends up, are the biggest economic questions of all.

Helping microcosmos food producers create significant waves of effect is what Donal O'Keeffe does, and his family have been doing it here in St Luke's cross since 1899. The shop, for instance, should really be called The Tardis: how can so much of the great artisan foods of Cork city and county be crammed in to what is an extremely modest space? Turn every corner, scan every shelf, and the great food icons of Cork are sitting there waiting for you. It's incredible, a blissful bounty.

And just as important as what is on the shelf is the aesthetic of the shop, the fact that it still feels like a neighbourhood store, with none of the tacky design aesthetic that has blighted so many private stores that have signed up to franchises. “Remaining independent gave us the opportunity to be unique”, says Donal. He seized the opportunity with both hands: O'Keeffe's has an aesthetic that is all its own, and the charm of the staff congratulates the character of the shop. Everything that an independent store could be and should be is realised here, and their secret is to listen carefully to both customers and suppliers, as well as listening to their staff: they are learning all the time, moving forward, a fulcrum of the artisan community, a fulcrum of the Cork community.

O'Keeffe's, St Luke's Cross, Montenotte, Cork, County Cork