You had me at food.
The highly anticipated official opening of Cork’s newest food market, The Boatyard, is set to take place this weekend, from Saturday, 30th of July, after months of planning and development.
Owned and operated by Cobh resident Rob Coughlan, the new venture includes five brand new independent food outlets each offering a range of enticing options, including ice cream, coffee, rotisserie chicken, fish and chips, and gourmet burgers, served out of refurbished shipping containers. Some of the vendors lined up for The Boatyard include ROAST Coffee Cork, Hansum, HOOK’D, Bunz and Mama Bears.
The Boatyard is hosting an official launch event to celebrate the grand opening, complete with special promos, music and family entertainment available all weekend from 9am to 8pm each day.
Rob Coughlan, Owner and Director of The Boatyard mentions, “We can’t wait to welcome everyone to The Boatyard this weekend. It has taken months of careful planning, building and renovating, with all hands on deck to get us to this point. I’d like to sincerely thank everyone involved for all of their hard work and dedication over the past few months. At times I thought we might not ever get here – but we are here and we are ready!”
The Boatyard brings something fresh to Cobh, where friends and family can relax, socialise and enjoy some top quality food in an ideal waterside location. We are delighted to offer something new that will hopefully bring a boost to the town and help attract more visitors and tourism locally. The response on social media has been phenomenal so far – we’ve had over 30k people following our journey before we had even opened! So we are very excited to see what’s next and have plenty of more plans to come.”
The idea for The Boatyard originated when Rob, co-owner of family run business Coughlan Fuels, was seeking a new location for a solid fuel depot and came across the site next to the Cross River Ferry in Cobh. Recognising the rising costs of solid fuel and likely decline in the industry over the next few years, Rob was inspired to diversify and create a container food market venture instead.
With an initial investment of over €100k and employing 15 people, The Boatyard is already planning even further expansion and employment opportunities with potential for farmer’s markets, craft fairs, delivery services, apps and weatherproofing, on the near horizon.
To find out more about The Boatyard and the range of food outlets available, visit their social media pages @theboatyardcobh on TikTok and Instagram.