One of my first food memories is of the Sunday morning baking sessions with my mother.
My name is Margaret Fleming and I founded DessertFirst in 2010. I am the eldest of four children from Co. Waterford and I grew up watching my grandmother and mother cook and bake.
We were a traditional Irish family. We’d have Sunday roast and afterwards have apple tart with ice-cream from a block. The tarts were always the first to go in our house, but there would also be buns and fruit cake. When they were gone, they were gone and we had to wait until the next weekend for more.
As the eldest, I had the most interest in helping in the kitchen. That interest has stayed with me all my life. Having originally studied to teach Home Economics, I decided instead to pursue a career in food. After working in Graduate Management in London for a major supermarket (Sainsbury’s) in the 1990s, I came home to Waterford and started producing quiches and tarts for local retail stores.
Cookery School
I then honed my skills with the best at Ballymaloe Cookery School and set up my own outside catering company called MFC Catering. Clients included Waterford Castle Golf Club, Waterford City Council and local tennis and sailing clubs. Lots of customers asked where they could buy my desserts and I discovered there was a niche business for really good quality desserts.
I discovered there was a niche business for really good quality desserts.
…the core has always been, and will always be traditional home baking of the highest quality.
Rum and Raisin Parfait
After a break from the food business and time spent working in other areas and completing an MBA, I found that people were still asking about those desserts like Chocolate Brownies, Rhubarb Crumble and Red Velvet Cupcakes. So DessertFirst was created in 2010 to fulfil a need for quality desserts for food service & catering customers. My first client was a superb Thai restaurant called Sabai where our Chocolate Rum and Raisin Parfait became a house favourite.
Tarts and Crumbles
When the recession began to bite, I needed to adapt as business became more difficult. People couldn’t afford to eat out much, but they still wanted their treats. I tried a few dozen Rhubarb and Strawberry and Apple and Summer Berry Crumble Tarts in Waterford’s Ardkeen Quality Food Stores and they sold out in hours – my retail business was born.
Today, DessertFirst has expanded to include quiches and ready to bake scones and cookies as well as the ever-popular fruit crumbles, apple pies, cupcakes, brown soda bread and restaurant-style desserts.
The business has adapted many times over the years to suit the times, but the core has always been, and will always be traditional homestyle baking of the highest quality.
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