WOMEN WHO LAUNCH

– Sinead Heffernan of Thunders Home Bakery

WORDS: Liv Morgan

For those baking aficionado’s the historical North Dublin Bakery ‘Thunders’ should moisten a few palates. It certainly triggered Sinead Heffernan’s business sense in 2008 when the owner of Thunders voiced an interest in selling.

One would think the investment of purchasing a bakery would be a tricky decision in the midst of an economic crisis with cutbacks, retrenchment and redundancy hanging over the nation. However the Heffernan’s were well placed to make an informed decision as Sinead’s husband had managed Thunders accounts for over a decade.

Established in 1969, Sinead and her husband Stephen knew of the reputation they had to
uphold taking on the bakery. “I’m acutely aware of the reputation it has and as a direct result of that you have to put 100% into it. Even for quality the basic ingredients have to be the best because there’s 41 years of history there.” says the native Northside Dubliner.

The banks were the first point of call in January 2008. Within nine months fi nancial and legal contracts were finalised and Thunders was welcomed into the Heffernan household: “We were pretty comfortable in it because we’d bought our house before monopoly money came in so we were in a good position,” says Sinead.

Far from a poison chalice, Thunders Bakery was better positioned than many businesses
for sale in the downturn assures Sinead, “We knew it had got through the recession in the 80’s and the owner knew it was a success but he saw what was coming down the road and he didn’t want to go through another one.” “He stepped out, we stepped in. No staff changes. Nothing changed!”.

Read more about Sinead Heffernan in the Spring 2011 issue of WMB, on newsstands now!