With the family dairy farm having four beaches on its doorstep, Catherine Good was inspired to diversify into farmhouse ice cream that goes from field to freezer in one day.
This diversification led to Catherine establishing the Good Dairy Company in 2021. The Good family farm enjoys the scenic location of Nohoval, near Kinsale in Co. Cork. The dairy farm has been in her husband, Tom’s family for four generations.
“I wanted to tie in a family friendly business with our location. We are located right on the sea, overlooking the Atlantic, and surrounded by beautiful beaches,” Catherine said.
Having done a degree in business management and gone on to have a career in sales, marketing and advertising, Catherine completed a course for female entrepreneurs at Munster Technological University’s Rubicon Centre.
She opted for ice cream making to utilise the raw ingredients on the farm. Working from a production room on the farm also ties in with family life, ensuring flexibility for the Goods, who have four children.
Ice cream
Catherine attended the Ice Cream Science and Technology course at University College Cork (UCC) and participated in several different production days to start learning the craft.
She shadowed a few ice cream makers doing a similar product and travelled to the UK and met with ice cream experts and did several courses with them too.
She worked painstakingly on the recipe as she sought to develop a natural ice cream. 75% of her recipe is milk and cream and she sourced a natural emulsifier and stabiliser.
“The amount produced varies, depending on whether there is an event coming up, the weather and other factors,” she explained.
“It is a seasonal product. That is the beauty of it for me.
“I can keep a number of stockists ticking away and turn my attention to the children. It also gives me time to keep on top of other aspects of the business during the winter.”
The range includes vanilla, ‘Chocolate Cow’s Lick’, ‘Muddy Boots’ and ‘Rocky Cow Path’. She started trading at farmers’ markets and on local beaches and found a demand for her artisan product.
Diversification
In 2022, with the help of West Cork Local Enterprise Board, she joined the Supervalu Food Academy. In June the Good Dairy Company was selected from 130 applicants to take part in this year’s Grow with Aldi campaign.
The business was also a finalist in the National Dairy Award best artisan product. Catherine supplies a small number of shops as she focuses on keeping it simple.
“There have been many challenges and stumbling blocks along the way. You just have to have the patience to sieve through,” she said.
“Determination is a lot of it. There are all sorts of issues that have to be resolved along the way. The key for me was keeping it small.
“I am a year-and-a-half up and running and have achieved so much. If I was to repeat that in the months ahead, I would be doing nothing wrong,” she said.