From embryos to grains, Lisa finds work life balance

It’s not easy leaving a permanent position to start out on your own, but Lisa Larkin from Kilbeggan jumped in the entrepreneurial deep end in 2016 when she started Durrow Mills, Ireland’s only manufacturer of organic sprouted flour.

Lisa’s journey to running her own business had begun a few years previously when some of her family developed digestive issues.

Always interested in nutrition and coming from a scientific background, Lisa started investigating healthier alternatives to mainstream commercial flours when she read about the health benefits of baking with organic sprouted flour.

Flours which are made using sprouted grains are easier for the body to digest as the germination process breaks down indigestible portions in the grain.

While her family quickly noticed the benefits after she started baking with organic sprouted flour, the product itself had to be imported from America and was prohibitively expensive.

With the number of people interested in clean eating rising all the time, Lisa saw that there was a gap in the market. The mother of four’s decision to start her own business was also influenced by the constant struggle to balance family life with her daily commute to Dublin for her job as a clinical embryologist in one of Ireland’s largest IVF units.

 

No more commuting

“Commuting to Dublin was starting to kill me. I was spending four and a half hours a day during the week on the road.

“I have four young kids (now aged 10, 9, 6 and 4) and I was up at five in the morning and not home until six in the evening. I loved my job but it wasn’t working for the family.”

Ireland’s climate is not suited to growing high-protein wheat grain, which means that Lisa has to import it. Lisa sprouts the grain at her production unit across the Offaly border in Durrow (hence the name) before the milling process begins.

It took 18 months of trial and error trying to create a high quality product that she was happy with, and she finally launched the product at the Ploughing Championships in Tullamore. Durrow Mills is now stocked in more than 70 shops around the country, including Nuts and Grains in Mullingar, and also supplies bakeries with flour to use for their own products.

Lisa has also recently started selling sprouted sourdough bread, which is baked using her own flour.

The last few years have been challenging, but Lisa says that does not miss the daily commute on the M6 up to Dublin.

“Definitely family-wise, it’s great. It’s flexible and I can work around my family, but there is no doubt about it: starting a business is very tough and you should use every support you can take.

“If you hit a problem you have to keep going and work though. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster but it’s very exciting.”