A Double Golden Anniversary: The Munster Couple Celebrating 50 Years of Marriage and 50 Years in Business
As they celebrate both their golden wedding anniversary and 50 years in the speciality food business, Michael and Maura Horgan reflect on building a family, a business and a food legacy together
When Michael and Maura Horgan married on June 2nd 1976, they were building a life together from scratch: a growing butcher’s business in Mitchelstown and all the uncertainty that came with running a family business at the time.
Following the completion of a significant extension and major upgrade to his butcher’s shop, Michael came under serious pressure from his bankers. Just days before their wedding, he was given an ultimatum: urgently bring the business account back into credit or face its closure. Coincidentally, the amount required was £3,500.
At the time, even affording their honeymoon in Spain felt uncertain. A last-minute short-term loan from a friend working in another financial institution saved the day and allowed the newlyweds to set off on honeymoon.
Fifty years later, the couple are celebrating both their golden wedding anniversary and the 50th anniversary of Horgans, the family-run food business that helped introduce generations of Irish consumers to speciality cheeses, continental foods and premium deli products long before they became supermarket staples.
What began as a traditional butcher’s shop has grown into one of Ireland’s leading fine food businesses, supplying more than 1,000 speciality food products to retailers, cafés, delis and consumers nationwide. Still headquartered in Mitchelstown and still family-run, Horgans today employs 80 people, works with more than 120 suppliers across Ireland and Europe, and generates annual turnover of more than €60 million.
Reflecting on the milestone, Michael Horgan said: “To see Horgans mark 50 years in business is an immensely proud moment for me and for the whole family. There were risks, challenges and difficult moments along the way, but if we hadn’t taken those risks, we wouldn’t have the business we have today.
“To now see the next generation involved, to still be here in Mitchelstown, and to have staff, customers and suppliers who have been with us for decades means an awful lot.”
Maura Horgan added: “We built the business side by side while raising our family. There were challenging times, but we had great fun along the way too. We travelled all over Europe together, met incredible people and built friendships that lasted a lifetime. Looking back now, we’re incredibly grateful for the life we’ve had.”
The Horgan family’s food heritage dates back to 1921, when Michael Horgan’s grandfather first opened a butcher’s shop in Mitchelstown. Michael himself took over the business at just 16 years of age following his father’s illness and subsequent death, learning quickly how to survive in business while trying to modernise and expand beyond traditional butchery.
Together, Michael and Maura gradually transformed the company over the following decades, travelling across Europe to food exhibitions in Cologne, Paris and London in search of products, suppliers and ideas that Irish consumers had yet to discover.
“Most people didn’t even know what Parmigiano Reggiano was back then,” Maura recalled. “We’d go to these huge food exhibitions in Germany and France and walk every hall looking for products we thought people in Ireland would love someday.”
Those trips became legendary within the family, from initially staying on hotel ships along the Rhine during trade fairs in Cologne to spending family holidays across Europe, wandering around Speciality Delicatessens supermarkets for inspiration, and returning home with new food ideas, flavours and products long before they became mainstream in Ireland. The business went on to become an early pioneer of Ireland’s evolving food culture, helping introduce speciality cheeses, continental foods and premium deli products to Irish retailers and consumers long before they became everyday staples.
The Horgan family was among the first to bring products such as Mascarpone and Cambozola to the Irish market, with Mascarpone later featuring in Darina Allen’s first Tiramisu recipe. They also played a pioneering role in bringing Irish farmhouse cheeses from farm gates to supermarket shelves nationwide at a time when artisan Irish cheesemaking was still in its infancy.
Today, the second generation of the Horgan family, including sons Edward and Paul, alongside daughters-in-law Claire and Cora, work across sourcing, procurement, sales, operations, HR and marketing within the business. Their middle son, Roy, who resides in London, established his own business in retail technology several years ago. He is now a director of a major French IT company that provides significant advice on sales and marketing trends to the retail trade. Roy’s advice, when sought by the family, is of immense value to the Horgans business. Having grown up around the business from childhood, the family’s first-hand culture and close working relationships remain central to Horgans today.
A defining moment for the business came during the financial pressures of the late 2000s, as the main retailers were changing from direct store deliveries to central distribution. Initially, this had a significant effect on rising distribution costs, and the company’s rapid growth forced it to seek external advice and investment. In 2007, Michael Horgan made the difficult decision to sell a 51% shareholding in Horgans to Italian dairy group Castelli to stabilise and protect the future of the business.
Castelli’s advice and support were invaluable to the family in reshaping the business to meet the new needs of retailers. On their advice, members of the Horgan family were appointed as key account managers across the company’s retail customer groups, a move that proved extremely successful.
The company has continued to evolve in line with changing consumer habits, with strong recent growth in premium convenience products, protein-focused foods and Mediterranean-inspired ranges. Horgans has significantly expanded its warehouse and cheese-cutting and packing facilities at its headquarters outside Mitchelstown.
More than a decade later, when Castelli itself became the target of acquisition by global dairy giant Lactalis, Michael took what the family describes as one of the biggest risks in the company’s history. With the support of his bank, he bought back the 51% stake and restored Horgans to full Irish family ownership in 2018. The move marked a major turning point for the company, enabling Horgans to accelerate investment, strengthen operations and drive the significant growth achieved in recent years.
Despite its national reach, the heart of Horgans remains firmly rooted in Mitchelstown, where the family continues to live, work and support local schools, clubs and community initiatives.
Horgans specialises in speciality cheeses, continental foods, charcuterie, fresh pasta, deli products and premium food ingredients sourced from Ireland and across Europe, supplying retailers, cafés, delis and foodservice customers nationwide.
