What does it mean to Champion Green in Hospitality?

The hospitality sector employs 180,000 people directly in Ireland and that doesn’t even take into account the supporting businesses as well. Think about purchasing a sandwich at your local cafe. Before it gets to your plate, there could be several dozen people who contributed to getting it there. From the staff and business owners in the cafe who made it and served it and kept the place clean, to the company who delivered the ingredients, the supplier of the ingredients, the supplier who supplied their raw ingredients, the businesses who the cafe bought napkins, cutlery, furniture, upholstery from. It goes on and on with the resulting spend on direct suppliers totalling €3.2 billion per year in Ireland.

While looking at the broader numbers are vital in understanding why supporting local matters, the individual insights from people in the community are equally important in understanding what Champion Green is all about. Martin Corcoran is the Restaurant Manager at Kilkenny Design Centre Food Hall where he oversees 25 employees, he shared his thoughts with us.

What do you love about the local community here in Kilkenny?
It’s the variety of people who come in here everyday, of all ages from all walks of life. They all have a story to tell and we usually have a laugh with them, especially the locals who come in regularly. It might be as often as every second day so we get to know them. We all stay positive in these challenging times together.

How do you think people can get behind local businesses right now?
Encouraging people to spend locally, that extra €20 a week has a giant impact on the economy as a whole as well as the business that you are spending it in. We need to get out to our local butchers, small groceries, everything we can buy local produce from so we know the impact goes further to support local.

Why is it important to Champion Green?
I think it means that we’re keeping Ireland in Ireland, spending our money with local businesses to help put their children through college means a lot. It’s worth spending an extra couple of euro on something that’s made in Ireland when that’s the result.

Thanks to Martin for sharing his thoughts with us, when we see this kind of impact it brings home all the reasons to #ChampionGreen. So please go out and support your local cafes and restaurants even if it’s in a very small way and let’s keep those 180,000 jobs going!