From pandemic struggles to St. Patrick's Day crowds, Mary O's soda bread rises to viral fame
The shop's menu is simple, featuring Irish soda bread loaves and scones served with salty butter and fresh raspberry jam. The recipes, passed down through generations of Mary O'Halloran's family, are at the core of her operations. But the secret to her success is precision. Only O'Halloran herself handles the batter, a non-negotiable standard she insists maintains the quality of her baked goods.
'I've had people come and say, 'Why don't you have somebody come in and help you?' It's not going to work,' she said. 'The scone does not come out the same.'
O'Halloran said the demand for her soda bread scones surges every March for St. Patrick's Day, but her journey to success hasn't been easy. Five years ago, O'Halloran was facing the closure of her East Village pub due to the financial strain of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her husband, a longshoreman working in Alaska, was unable to return home due to travel restrictions, leaving her to manage the business alone.
It was her loyal pub customers who encouraged her to start selling her scones, a treat they had grown to love. What began as a small-scale venture soon caught the attention of Brandon Stanton, the creator of the viral 'Humans of New York' social media account with more than 12 million followers.
After interviewing O'Halloran, Stanton offered to help spread the word about her scones. Reluctant at first, O'Halloran eventually agreed, leading to a spike in sales.
'So I wrote a story on this, and we ended up that night selling a million dollars' worth of scones,' Stanton told NBC News. 'It is one of the greatest stories in the world.'
The overwhelming response turned O'Halloran's small baking operation into a community effort. Regular customers and neighbors pitched in by packing orders, printing labels and decorating boxes with handwritten notes and custom drawings from one of her daughters. Despite the surge in demand, O'Halloran remained committed to quality, handling every batch of batter herself.
'Mary is where she is because that scone tastes so dang good,' Stanton said. 'She would have got there without me.'
It took more than a year to fulfill the backlog of orders, but the hard work paid off. The revenue not only saved her pub, but allowed her to open Mary O's Irish Soda Bread Shop in November 2024. Customers from around the world flock to her store to sample the viral scones and meet the woman behind the treats.
'I live in Los Angeles, but they told me, you know, next time you're in town, there's a place we have to go, and it's the best scone you've ever had. It's the best soda bread,' out-of-towner David Murphy said.
For O'Halloran, the hard work has been worth it.
'I love it, so it's easy,' she said. 'Of course I'm tired, but I love what I get from it with people. So it's easy.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
STV News
4 hours ago
- STV News
Leisure centre to reopen two years after closure over severe storm damage
Girvan's Quay Zone leisure centre is on track to reopen early next year after being forced to close due to severe storm damage in January 2024. And it is expected that an extension will be complete by March next year. The facility, operated by South Carrick Community Leisure (SCCL) under a 40-year lease from South Ayrshire Council, was left uninhabitable after Storm Isha and subsequent stormy weather caused major water ingress. Since then, services have been delivered from temporary locations in Maybole and Girvan to keep the community's swimming, gym, and fitness programmes running. Within a month of the closure, SCCL negotiated a temporary lease for the recently vacated Maybole Swimming Pool, allowing general and lane swimming, Aquafit, and a Learn to Swim programme to continue. A temporary gym was set up in Girvan Community Centre in July 2024, offering a full range of equipment and a limited schedule of fitness classes. School swimming lessons were also maintained thanks to funding from Carrick Futures, the Tralorg Community Benefit Fund, and Girvan and South Carrick Local Place Plan funding. In 2025, 289 local pupils took part, up from 242 in 2024, with Girvan Primary joining the programme for the first time since the closure. The report to South Ayrshire Council's Services and Partnerships Performance Panel stated that, prior to the storm, the Quay Zone was on course for a post-Covid recovery year, with income expected to be 7.5 per cent higher than the previous year. While the closure resulted in trading losses, the facility should not lose out overall, with insurance payments expected to bring the 2024–25 accounts to a balanced position. Repair work, managed by the council's design and asset teams alongside insurers, is expected to return the pool, gym, and studio spaces to SCCL by the end of December 2025. , An extension, due for completion in March 2026, will expand the café, add meeting and function space, and create a balcony with views of Ailsa Craig and Woodlands Bay. SCCL General Manager, Peter Linton, praised staff for their flexibility and commitment in maintaining services over the past 18 months, despite operational challenges with older facilities and staffing logistics. Councillors on the Service and Partnerships Performance Panel will scrutinise the update at their meeting on August 20. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
STV News
9 hours ago
- STV News
Cineworld to leave world's tallest cinema next month as staff face redundancy
Cineworld has confirmed that it is to leave its home in the world's tallest cinema complex next month. The cinema giant informed employees by email that the cinema will close on September 28, and that the owners of the Renfrew Street building will take the property back at the end of October. An email sent to staff, seen by STV News, confirmed that a consultation process on jobs is due to begin. A Starbucks branch inside the building is also affected. Cineworld was informed last month that the building landlord intended to take the site back. Clydebankbridge Ltd purchased the site for £7m in May of this year. The company is owned by Omniplex, an Irish cinema group which took over five Empire sites in 2023 – including one in Clydebank. It is understood Cineworld was leasing the building for more than £1m, according to title documents seen by STV News. The lease on the building was due to run until 2036. James, who has worked at the branch for over two years, told STV News that the company had 'forgotten' about its staff and the cinema's equipment. 'We've had countless potential closures over the years I've worked there', he said. 'It's no surprise to any of us. 'Cineworld as a company have forgotten about us in the past few years, old equipment and broken screens that needed updating to compete with competitors. 'They've known for a long time that we were going to be shut down. 'This is clear, as the Silverburn location recently got upgrades, but our site saw no change. Our location has only been paying 10% of the building's rent per month, so it was no surprise that the landlord sold it to Omniplex. 'It's a case of payback.' Cineworld said that Cineworld Silverburn would be undergoing 'its most ambitious transformation yet' following the Renfrew Street closure. A statement added: 'As we say goodbye to Renfrew Street, Cineworld Silverburn is undergoing its most ambitious transformation yet – with major investment bringing a 4DX screen and a full upgrade of every 2D auditorium to luxury recliner seating. 'We can't wait for you to experience the new Cineworld Silverburn, for the most superior entertainment experience in Glasgow.' Opened in September 2001, the UGC Cinema stands at 62m tall, has 18 screens across 12 storeys and can seat more than 4,200 people, and is known as the world's tallest cinema complex. After entering administration in 2023, Cineworld announced the closure of six cinemas in a major company restructure. It closed sites at Glasgow Parkhead, Bedford, Hinckley, Loughborough, Yate and Swindon Circus. Cineworld operates eight cinemas in Scotland with three locations in Glasgow, two in Aberdeen and sites in Dundee, Falkirk and Edinburgh. An email staff outlined: 'We will close the cinema on or around Sunday, September 28, 2025, and a handover with the landlord will take place on October 31, 2025. 'Please be assured that you will continue to be paid as normal until any redundancies are confirmed. The email also confirmed that a consultation process is beginning. It added: 'We will now be entering a period of conclusion with you. This will involve a collection consultation with elected employee representatives, and there will also be an opportunity for you to have individual consultation meetings. 'The purpose of this consultation is to provide you with the opportunity to discuss any alternative you see which avoids your redundancy. 'Where we can redeploy other people to other local cinemas rather than have to make redundancies, we will do so, and this will be covered in the consultation. 'Current ongoing secondments will continue until the point any redundancies are confirmed.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Business News Wales
11 hours ago
- Business News Wales
The Value of Early Resolution
Having been involved in industrial relations in some form for around 40 years, it's hard to identify a time when there has been so much political, economic and social focus on it, as there is currently. The Labour government has centred 'rebalancing power in the workplace' at the heart of its growth strategy with the comprehensive Employment Rights Bill introducing a new wave of rights for workers and regulations for trade unions. While employers have highlighted risks of increased costs, the direction of travel the government has committed to should provide an impetus for employers to get ahead of these risks by auditing their current employee relations systems and processes. Even without these new rights, there is an incredibly strong argument for managing workplace disagreements better. Analysis by Acas shows that the cost of workplace conflict to UK employers is estimated to stand at £28.5 billion, the equivalent of £1000 for every employee. Even before any new employment rights are brought in, that's a powerful case for improving how we resolve workplace level disputes. When workplace issues escalate and become formal disciplinary or grievance processes, costs, both financial and emotional, escalate significantly. Anyone who has been party to these processes will understand that these are far from pleasant experiences for managers or workers and the more it escalates, the more costly they become. It does seem to be the case that as escalation has become more prevalent, we've lost the skills to disagree well and resolve issues quickly and informally. Acas's 2025-25 Annual Report shows that it dealt with over 117,000 individual disputes, an increase of 13,000 on the previous year, with the figure the highest since the Covid pandemic. There's much evidence to support a better way of resolving conflict. New Acas research carried out by The Social Agency outlines a series of values and characteristics that can prevent issues escalating into costly and damaging formal processes. Because disagreement happens wherever there are human relationships it's critical that we're able to manage concerns as amicably as possible through early resolution conversations. Our research suggests that, while there is no single approach that works best and no one-size-fits-all solution, there are principles that consistently apply. Critically, informal resolution must be early, close to where the issue arose and voluntary. There are scenarios where a formal process is the right one, but there are many cases where a direct, honest and open conversation can lead to a satisfactory solution. The key goal is to create a space where people feel listened to, and their concerns heard and acted upon. Our research too showed that language mattered. The word 'conflict' itself can induce a defensiveness, and any talk of 'grievance' can trigger a sense that the conversation is not informal at all, but merely the first stage in that formal process. The type of conversation for early resolution is, and should be, very different from any formal process. Grievance or disciplinary investigations are ultimately about ascertaining facts and then making a judgement. Early resolution conversations should be about understanding ill-feelings, identifying the basis for those feelings and what will resolve the concern. That includes appreciating that different parties may see things differently. These types of conversation require different skills. Managers are often trained in leadership, managing performance, absence or development. Early resolution conversations require a range of skills we don't often talk about: empathy, compassion and emotional intelligence. Environmental or cultural factors can be an enabler or a barrier, too. For early resolution conversations to take place, let alone to work, there needs to be a level of trust. For workers to have confidence that they will be heard and issues resolved, they need to feel a sufficient level of psychological safety to raise issues in the first place. This level of trust can take a long time to gain and can be lost very quickly. Acas is there to help organisations resolve conflict when it emerges, and we also help employers to establish the culture and systems that prevent disputes arising in the first place. The case for trying to achieve it is overwhelming. Early resolution may not always be the right course, and it may not work, but where it does, there are huge financial savings as well as huge emotional gains to be made.
