{"id":552278,"date":"2026-06-24T21:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/552278\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T21:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:02:15","slug":"three-directors-of-ballymaloe-cookery-school-share-pot-of-more-than-e350000-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/552278\/","title":{"rendered":"Three directors of Ballymaloe Cookery School share pot of more than \u20ac350,000 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The three directors of Ballymaloe Cookery School<\/a> in Co Cork<\/a> shared a pot of more than \u20ac350,000 last year, the group\u2019s latest accounts show.<\/p>\n

The east Cork business sits on a 100-acre organic farm, where Darina Allen<\/a> is the majority shareholder. She is one of three directors along with her son Toby, who is general manager, and head chef Rory O\u2019Connell, who is her brother.<\/p>\n

Allen is author of more than 10 books and has been a presenter on six television series. She cofounded Ballymaloe Cookery School with O\u2019Connell in 1983. O\u2019Connell has written three cookery books, and was twice named Ireland\u2019s chef of the year.<\/p>\n

Accounts for the year ended December 31st, 2025, show the three directors, who are described in the accounts as \u201cthe key management personnel\u201d, received remuneration of \u20ac357,793 in the year. That figure includes salaries and other benefits and was up from \u20ac329,847 in 2024.<\/p>\n

The accounts also show the group posted a retained profit of \u20ac3,378,811, which was up 11 per cent from on the previous year. Retained profit is the portion of a company\u2019s net earnings that is reinvested in the business, rather than being distributed to shareholders as dividends.<\/p>\n

The school employed 76 people throughout the year, which was up from 73 the year before, while it spent \u20ac2,859,188 on staff, up from \u20ac2,614,944.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ballymaloe Cookery School profits soar after Kate Winslet enrolled for courseOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In a note attached to the accounts, marked \u201cpost balance sheet events\u201d, the group said there was \u201ca significant risk to the global economy\u201d arising from the current geopolitical situation and the impact on energy costs<\/a> and inflation. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis development will have implications for the activities of the company in future months,\u201d it said. \u201cThe directors are unable to quantify or determine what the extent of the implications of these matters are for the company as at the date of approval of the financial statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Has the Irish building sector got themselves hooked on Government subsidies?<\/p>\n

The school came under the spotlight in 2024 after actor Kate Winslet enrolled<\/a> in a two-and-a-half-day course there.<\/p>\n

The school usually has more than 60 courses on offer each year and the flagship programme remains the 12-week certificate course, which runs three times a year.<\/p>\n

A significant number of the courses currently offered by the school are sold out. Prices vary from \u20ac115 for a half day up to \u20ac17,850 for the 12-week course.<\/p>\n

Contacted for comment, Toby Allen said the school had \u201ca very busy year\u201d in 2025 and that almost all of its courses were full. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis has helped greatly with the running costs of the school as it has allowed us to take full advantage of the interest in our services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur 12-week course, which we run three times a year, has continued to be very popular and thankfully completely full. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have waiting lists for these courses, which gives us confidence to invest in the future. This popularity has been helped by some additional media coverage which has brought our school and what we do to a wider audience around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike many businesses we have had to keep an eye on rising costs, including our food costs. We try to focus on ensuring that we are still getting the very best ingredients and supporting as many quality Irish suppliers as we can.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said the company would continue to invest in the business. The cookery school is one of a number of businesses operated by members of the Allen family at Ballymaloe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The three directors of Ballymaloe Cookery School in Co Cork shared a pot of more than \u20ac350,000 last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[148618,79,1877,236567,18,35808,19,17,75480],"class_list":["post-552278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ballymaloe-cookery-school","tag-business","tag-cork","tag-darina-allen","tag-eire","tag-energy-costs","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kate-winslet"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116807110504696656","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}