144/365: Dee Ryan, Co Kildare
I stumbled upon a really interesting cafe in the woods a while back and approached the woman behind the wooden till to find out more. When I say stumbled, I really do mean it. You wouldn’t notice it was there, it blends so wonderfully into its environment in the Moore Abbey woods in Monasterevin.
Woodstack cafe is the result of an amazing amount of effort by Dee Ryan, her husband Dave and their teenage kids, a true family business in its infancy.
I first thought the name Woodstack was a nod to how the place is designed, with stacks of wood all around making up the furniture and a massive archway that you pass under to enter, but the more I chat to Dee, the more I think it may also be a wee nod to the festival Woodstock, as it’s got a proper festival spirit to it.
Dee and Dave were childhood sweethearts who met in secondary school. It’s out the back of his parent’s house that they’ve created this eco-friendly, festival spirited, community focused cafe. “Dave grew up in this forest, adventuring, climbing trees and I grew up just out the road. We were very conscious about what we were going to put here. We didn’t want to just put a horsebox trailer that would kind of stick out. We needed it to blend in with the land, and to feel like it’s always been here.”
The entire space is made from reclaimed wood, glass, tables and chairs. Everything is upcycled and given a second life. The Glasshouse is the little circular shack that complements the cafe. It was added on when Dee recognised the need for a community space. Somewhere people can shelter from the rain and cold in the winter after their walks, but also a place where they can program movie nights for kids and families, and every Sunday host gigs by local buskers. Dee is very community minded. Yes, she needs to make a living from this business venture but she does it without compromising the ethos of the space.
“You can’t be afraid of a bit of hard work and you have to be open to chopping and changing where you need to, to fit with your customer's needs and their wants. We get involved with so many different groups within the community and a lot of the local clubs would come here to meet. We try to tailor what we do specifically to what is needed in the area, that comes before all else.”
Like anyone you talk to who runs a hospitality business these days, Dee doesn’t downplay the hard work element. It’s tough to break even, but entering into their third year now, things seem to have settled for Dee and Dave, and they’re still focused on doing things the right way.
“We started from scratch. We needed to do it cheaply, but still make it nice and inviting. We also were aware that the coffee industry isn’t exactly eco-friendly and that we wanted to offset that and make it as ethical as we could, usually by using as much locally sourced material as possible. We use Woodland coffee, and they plant a tree for every box of coffee sold. It’s not some abstract tree in a far away land, it’s on a plantation down in Limerick and that matters.”
What’s glaringly obvious at Woodstack is that what Dee has created is an extremely unique family business, full of passion, good vibes, quirky ideas and true community spirit. Dee’s teenage children can usually be found working away at the cafe when they’re not at school, either behind the till, or dressed up in costume for the Halloween, Christmas and Easter events she hosts. Their presence is absent from the cafe today as they prepare for their leaving cert exams. She says that “they're both hoping to study furniture design and wood technology.” It seems that they didn’t lick it off the stones.
Rx
Sin Scéal Eile - That's Another Story was hosted and created by Ruth Medjber, with sound by Ronan Lally. The podcast is produced by Dee Reddy at Poddle Audio with original music by Elaine Mai.
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