Galway businesswoman launches Kickstarter to open county’s first chocolate factory

Kilchreest native Gráinne Mullins founded Grá Chocolates in 2020 from her parents’ home, and she told the Irish Independent many things have changed since then as it has been a “crazy” journey.

She said: “The business has grown, it’s no longer just me anymore, we have an amazing team of 18 people, it’s developed, people know about us, people love the product, and we have such incredible loyal customers.

“When I first set up I didn’t even know if anyone would buy the chocolates.”

Her chocolates, crafted over three days using the finest ingredients, were immediately a success and as her business kept growing, so did her ambitions. Now, Gráinne thinks it is the right moment to take another leap forward.

The Galway woman added: “Our prices are going up, our rent is going up, and I kind of want to take back control of that, in any ways I can. I have dreamt of having my own chocolate factory since I first set up Grá Chocolates so I really was trying to think outside the box of what to do and I thought maybe there’s no better time than now.

So this July, Grá Chocolates officially launched a Kickstarter campaign to build Galway’s first chocolate factory.

Gráinne explained: “I think the first step was seeing how I could possibly fund it, so it was a lot of research, asking people how they have funded different projects in the past. And I ended up researching Kickstarter and thought this could be a fantastic way to back my dreams.”

She explained the project is currently on its first phase, finding a site where to build or a suitable building to refurbish.

The project is expected to take two years and, once completed, it will include a State-of-the-Art Chocolate Factory, an Interactive Visitor Centre, Retail Shop, Innovator Hub, and Content Studio.

Supporter rewards include everything from having your name on a chocolate fountain, a year’s supply of Grá Chocolates, to truly exclusive experiences like having your very own pop-up Grá Chocolates shop or an exclusive dinner party cooked for you in your own home by Gráinne Mullins herself.

The project has already received great support from the community as Gráinne highlighted how the project would not be possible without the love and support of her loyal customers.

The 30-year-old said: “The support that we have seen over the last few weeks and since we told people it’s just growing and growing.

“The amount of people who have reached out and want to help us, we have builders reaching out saying they will help us building it, we have architects reaching out saying they will give us advice, we have so many people giving their help and their advice.

“It’s so appreciated that people are going out of their way to help my dream a reality.

Gráinne added she is extremely excited to start this new project and is not afraid of the challenged ahead: “There’s lots of it [concerns] because I’ve never done anything like this before, but at the same time I’m very excited. Any challenge that has come up on me over the past four years I’ve always just embraced it, and if there’s a problem you always find a solution. I think when you really action on thing you can make anything happen.

“I hope that people see how well the Kickstarter model can work for certain businesses. And if your community is there, it will all work out.”