'We're struggling, to be honest' - Carlow café owner on the cost of keeping his dream alive

Running a small business in today's economy is no easy feat, but for Carlow café owner Brian O'Gorman, it's become a daily balancing act between passion and pressure.

As the owner and founder of Neighbourhood café, Brian opens up about the realities of keeping his dream alive - from rising costs and long hours to raising a young family and managing the mental strain that comes with it.

"In the short term, I suppose we are getting by, but in the long-term I don't know if it's sustainable," says Brian.

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Brian founded Neighbourhood on Barrack street, county Carlow, in 2016, after working for years as an accountant in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dublin training in tax and audit, Brian left Ireland in 2009 when he travelled to Australia before moving on to New Zealand where he worked as an in-house accountant for two different companies, including Pernot Ricard who own Irish Distillers, and another which was a food services company who also had a coffee arm.

It was from here where Brian discovered his love for quality sourced coffee and the booming coffee world in general after buying his first home espresso machine.

From volunteering in the emergency department of a hospital in Auckland, he recalls loving the chats he would have with everyone in there, swapping stories and having the banter with everyone, "It was really enjoyable, so the coffee thing goes hand in hand."

"I loved the whole coffee scene in New Zealand, being in cafe's talking to people, I felt it would be a really fit for me to change directions."

Brian met his wife Kelly, a Dublin native, while living in New Zealand where the pair got married and had their son Harris. Tired of the accountant game, Brian dreamed of returning home to Ireland to open his own café.

"We moved back in September 2016 when Harris was three months old and started the café in Carlow in February of 2017. A year before coming home to Ireland, I remember I couldn't sleep, it was such a live thing in my head."

Brian said as soon as returned home he knew what he wanted to do, start a café of some description, and just get going with it.

"I didn't know where we would end up, I had left Ireland in 2009, so I was away for over 7 years," said Brian, "We looked at possible premises in Carlow, Wexford and Kilkenny. But luckily, a place became available in Carlow, after the original owner who had a young son was looking to move on, so I hopped into Barrack Street."

Brian shadowed the previous owner for about a month, having no experience in the hospitality industry, which was a "completely brave and bold move", added Brian. 

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"At the time my Dad said 'what are you doing?', I had trained to be an accountant. Back in 2017, coffee wasn't really a thing in Ireland, so starting off it was quite difficult. The first couple of years were hard, it was sink or swim, but thankfully I was always able to get a wage from it."

"It wasn't easy", says Brian. Having a young family, a mortgage, and bills to pay, Brian was supported by his wife Kelly who helped get the café up and running.

After already having received some coffee training while working in New Zealand, Brian says he was in awe of how some café's roasted their own coffee, something Brian does very proudly for his own café today.

"It took us a while before we found our feet but we have been roasting our own coffee since 2018, a single origin coffee bought direct from suppliers."

After Covid hit, businesses all over Ireland were forced to shut their doors, not knowing when they could open again, however, Brian said Neighbourhood actually thrived during the pandemic.

"Before the pandemic, the café was fairly flat, we were just grinding through...definitely no great waves back in those days. But we had some staff changes that brought a new energy and we really started to find our feet around the back end of 2019. And then of course, Covid hit in March 2020 and we were closed for 6 weeks.

"We opened back up for just takeaways, and I remember Barrack street was completely desolate and empty, all of the buildings were grubby and dusty, it was so bizarre.

"But then we got back into it just for takeaway coffees and the takeaway food followed shortly after, but that time was probably our best, it really kicked off the café.

"We just had to look at what was in front of us, you have to get up and get out and get moving again, there was no choice.

Brian said that although there were some income supports that helped people who were self-employed, it wasn't going to cover everything. But over the course of the pandemic, new customers started frequenting Neighbourhood as other places like Costa  and other cafés around town weren't open, and a lot of those new customers kept coming back. 

"It was a good time to be in business," said Brian, "People were working from home, and buying a coffee was their venture outside. That was when we set up our outdoor seating, which definitely helped us, especially in the summer."

Looking at the last 12 months in businesses, where rising costs of suppliers, energy, and pretty much everything else has been on the up, Brian said the café has been trying to keep it's head above water.

"The last couple of years have been fairly tight to be honest, the cost of everything has been bananas," he said, "and our landlord has recently put us through a rent review, which resulted in a significant increase of 35% for us, but across the board, everything has gone up.

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"We are a small café, running a breakfast and lunch menu, with just under 10 tables inside, so our capacity isn't big. Our overheads like power, gas, utility bills, are all quite expensive, and competition is fairly heavy as lots more café have opened up in the town in recent years.

"Food, drinks, cups, containers - everything is through the roof, and that's along with yearly rates, wages every week, and with hospitality, wages are always going to be a factor, and you need good staff."

Brian currently employs 10 staff members, between part-time workers and those who work in the coffee truck located outside Fairgreen Shopping Centre. With an increase in minimum wage taking place from January, as per Budget 2026, Brian remarks the new increase will also have to reflect holidays, PRSI or Bank Holidays.

"We close on a Bank Holiday Monday, but that payment still has to be made, so really the real cost of wages is quite high.

"To be honest with you, we're struggling," Brian says candidly, "You're looking at the bank month to month and you're seeing you're getting on OK and then you pay your bills, your rent, or food suppliers that are usually paid monthly, they are big lumps going out, everything has to be paid.

"So in the short term, I suppose we are getting by, but in the long-term I don't know if it's sustainable."

Thousands of café and restaurant owners across the country have been feeling the pinch with ever increasing costs and nearly all establishments have had to increase the prices of their menus to reflect the current economic climate, something Brian says he'd rather not have to do but it will have to be looked at that in the coming weeks.

"We haven't updated our prices since September of last year, so it's been over 12 months," adds Brian.

"Navigating price increases can be tricky, but more importantly, it's about being honest with your customers about where things are at and we unfortunately have to do it."

Reflecting on last week's Budget 2026 announcement, Brian says any benefit that the reduction on VAT rates will bring, it will just be offset by the rise in the minimum wage.

"Over Covid, the VAT rate was reduced to 9% and they put it back up to 13.5%, it's a lot to be paying. We roast our own coffee, a quality coffee, and the price of coffee has been skyrocketing with up to 50% increases on the price of green bean and that's subject to the C market (the global exchange in which the world's Arabica coffee is bought and sold), but because of factors in Brazil such as drought, the demand for coffee globally has gone through the roof, but for me, I don't want to sacrifice quality.

"Our wholesale coffee which we sell has seen an increase in price, but our retail bags have remained the same as last year, so the VAT rate in July will help, but it will definitely be offset by the increase in wages. We want to keep our staff and pay them as much as we can, so it is a bit of a worry at the moment."

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Since Covid, hundreds of businesses have had to close due to rising costs and just this week, it was announced two premises in Carlow will be shutting up shop, the Lazy River Cafe in Graiguecullen and La Caluna Bar and Grill opposite Carlow College.

"It's scary," Brian says, "Everyone needs to live and survive. I work 6 plus days a week, so the time is considerable and the cost of everything makes it almost not feasible to continue in business.

"I have three small kids but you miss out on so much time. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy it, but in the more medium to long-term, it remains to be seen what's going to happen.

"I didn't get into it to make money, I enjoy it, but you have to live and survive, pay your bills, look after the kids and the mortgage, and have some level of income for yourself, but it just seems to be getting harder and harder.

"I think the acknowledgment for businesses isn't there, I mean utility prices in Ireland are the highest across Europe and I think this Government has been too complacent to get involved or give more energy credits, there's just too little being done.

"Wholesale energy rates are down 70% but the fact is, those decreases aren't being passed on to the consumer, so we're still paying really high bills, and it's the same for insurance, groceries. The supermarkets are making a killing off the back of the normal Joe soap consumer who's been hit with all of these increases, but as a small business owner, I have to live as well or else go out of business."

Looking ahead at the next 12 months, Brian said his vision is to just try and get through it and try keep the business going while looking after his staff.

"I do all my own books, accounts and payroll...it's a real labour of love, but having three kids, I don't know would I want any of them to step into the business, It's a real toil and it's difficult, so you just have to put in the time and the effort if you want to look after it.

"I sat behind a desk for so long as an accountant so I'm really happy doing what I'm doing now, I would do it for free if I could.

"We have a brilliant team working with us, the customers love them all, and they are all adamant at maintaining the quality throughout and the level of service so that's fantastic."

Brian also operates a pay it forward system within Neighbourhood where someone can pay for an extra coffee, a post-it note is put on the board and anybody that might come in to the café who is either low on money, or having a bad day, can grab a post-it and get a free tea or coffee. 

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"I saw that idea in New Zealand and I thought it was just brilliant. The café that we used to always go to in Auckland was just down the road from a mental health facility, and they had that initiative, I was just awestruck by it.

"People can pay a coffee forward for someone who needs it, it might be a student who has no money on a Friday, or someone who struggles with addiction who can come in for a cup of tea or a bowl of soup, and then sometimes you might have an elderly person who doesn't have a lot of money that can get a hot drink.

"During Covid it was really popular, we brought coffees to the District Hospital, the Holy Angels in Carlow, and to the volunteers at the Remembrance Tree on Barrack Street at Christmas time. 

"I remember one time, I'll never forget, a lady came in who had sick child at the time, he was only about 2 or 3, and she ordered some coffees, but when I told her they had already been paid for she nearly cried, it was a real teardrop moment. For me, it was just a lovely thing to do.

"We are called Neighbourhood and we have an ethos on our wall that says we want to create a warm and welcoming environment and we're somewhere that doesn't discriminate anyone who comes through the door but that they can come in to a nice, warm welcoming space and just have a coffee or tea and a chat, just some time away from any worries they have.

"Sometimes people can lose sight of supporting local businesses and people who live and work in Carlow. To be spending their money in Carlow is so so important to an independent trader.

"Sometimes people have an assumption, they might come into us on a Saturday and we'll be crazy busy, and that would be our busiest day, but they don't see the other 38 hours of the week, so they assume we are doing OK and making loads of money, but that's definitely not the right assumption. Things are really quite hard for independent businesses."

Neighbourhood has also played a big part in supporting local initiatives and charities within the local community games area through their soccer initiatives and the local Hanover Harps soccer team in Carlow Town but also with the Carlow Mental Health Association in which they sponsored the Elephant in the Room initiative that was recently unveiled.

Brian admits that he has struggled quite a bit with his mental health at times, dealing with the mental load of being self-employed and running a business.

"The whole mental health frame isn't considered a lot by many people, but as one person who is trying to do it all from every end, it can be quite a burden. But thankfully with the support of all the staff and customers, and with my wife Kelly being able to hold it altogether at home, whilst getting her degree and working in social care, I have managed.

"Sometimes the feasibility of everything needs to be weighed up with the heavy cost increases across everything, both from a lifestyle point of view and from a financial perspective, it is definitely something to consider."

Brian lives in Carlow with his wife Kelly, 9-year-old son Harris, 6-year-old daughter Holly and little son Oisín, who will soon turn two.

Although times have been tough for Brian, who is juggling managing his own café and raising his young family, it's clear to see the passion and love he still has for his businesses he started so many years ago, and the loyal customers who return to Neighbourhood week in week out to be greeted by the friendly and caring staff, and of course, the best cup of coffee in town.