From fast food to community hub: Kerry bar hoping to spark local revival
Speaking to The Kerryman, Tom said that the idea of opening up the new food truck was borne out of a number of things — the first being financial necessity, as well as his own experience in fast food and his desire to stop people from having to trek to Tralee or Castleisland anytime they wanted a takeaway.
"The model of a country bar standing on its own and hoping for punters to come in is traditionally gone. The model doesn't work anymore. As a result, I had to do something to see if we could generate interest in the place," he said, adding that he's an ex-McDonald's man who was the opening manager of the McDonald's in Tralee back in 1996.
"I have a history in fast food, and so that was my idea for a long time — to get something like the food truck going. We are the halfway point between Tralee and Castleisland – they're about 9 to 10 km in either direction – and so that gives us a good geographical location to work with,' he continued.
It's a case of "so far, so good," Tom said, with business going steadily so far.
"With a bit of luck, we'll generate revenue from the food truck, and hopefully this will help to boost the bar as well.'
As for what's on the menu, Tom said that it's still early days, so for now they're sticking with the tried and trusted: burgers, chips, chicken, and pizzas. He added, though, that they are open to any and all suggestions and that they will ultimately be guided by what the customer wants.
The new food truck aside, Tom and his team have been busy coming up with a number of initiatives to help keep Ballymac a vibrant place for local residents — the result being the recent installation of a new post box outside the bar/shop, with stamps and envelopes on sale there too.
As the talk moved on to the installation of the new post box, Tom said the idea for this ultimately came about through a stroke of fortune. After the old post box went out of action before Christmas, people were suddenly turning up at The Halfway Bar — which was the nearest outlet — to enquire (and give out, Tom joked) about postal services nearby.
After this went on for a few weeks, Tom saw it as an opportunity to set up a post box at the shop. As well as this, stamps and envelopes are sold through the shop. In addition, people can even come and pay their bills there too.
When it's put to him that his bar is almost becoming like the go-to hub for anything and everything the community might need, he laughed and said that's the ultimate goal.
"In an ideal world, that's what we'd love!' he said.
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