Soup, Friendship & Starting Young: The Cully & Sully Story

In this episode of the Ballymaloe Festival of Food Podcast, we visit the Cully & Sully team at their offices in Ford’s old head office building in Cork.Cullen “Cully” Allen and Colum “Sully” O’Sullivan started their business in the early 2000s with little more than a good idea, a €100,000 loan, and a belief that honest food could find its place on supermarket shelves. What began with handmade pies soon grew into one of Ireland’s most recognisable soup brands, now selling a soup every 1.4 seconds across Ireland and the UK.In a warm and candid conversation with our hosts Bree Allen, organiser of the Ballymaloe Festival of Food (and Cully’s wife), alongside Joleen Cronin, photographer and long-time collaborator with Cully & Sully and the Ballymaloe food community, the pair reflect on friendship, naivety in business, learning finance and branding from scratch, the decision to sell the company in 2012, and the journey that followed.The episode also captures a moment of transition as Cully steps away from the company after more than two decades.Along the way they share insights for new food producers, thoughts on the future of Irish food, and the long-standing connection between their story and the Ballymaloe Festival of Food.It’s a conversation about creativity, resilience, and why sometimes the best way to start a business is simply to begin.Podcast Chapters00:00 — Welcome to Ford’s old head office in Cork 02:00 — The early days: starting a business at 27 04:30 — Pies, soup and the first €100,000 loan 07:00 — Building the Cully & Sully brand 10:00 — Creativity meets business: how the partnership worked 14:00 — Asking for advice and learning from mentors 18:00 — Building a team and company culture 22:00 — Scaling the business and outsourcing production 25:00 — Why they sold the company in 2012 30:00 — Running the business after the sale 33:00 — Cully stepping away from the company 36:00 — Advice for new food producers 41:00 — What excites them about Irish food today 46:00 — The soup question: one soup for the rest of your lifeThanks for listening to the Ballymaloe Festival of Food Podcast. You can find out more at ballymaloegrainstore.com and follow us on all platforms @ballymaloegrainstoreUntil next time, let’s keep savouring the stories. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.