Offbeat Donuts opened new bakery in Cork city this morning.

press release

 Offbeat Donuts opened new bakery

 in Cork city  this morning.

LEADING BAKERY ‘OFFBEAT DONUTS’ OPENS FIRST CORK STORE 

Brian O'Casey (founder)

OffBeat to create 10 jobs in Cork as it opens its ninth bakery in Ireland with €500,000 investment and it celebrates with a special Cork donut

One of the country’s leading bakeries has opened its first outlet outside of Dublin. OffBeat Donuts, which already has eight locations in the capital, has launched its state of the art bakery in Cork city. This marks a significant expansion for the company, which opened its first bakery at Pearse Station, Westland Row in May 2016. 

To celebrate OffBeat is introducing its first ever county donut - the Cork Creamy Red which is a rich red velvet flavoured donut filled with a cream cheese frosting and finished with red and white icing. This limited edition donut is now available from the OffBeat bakery which is now open on French Church Street. 

The new bakery is creating 10 jobs in Cork which brings the number of people employed by OffBeat in Ireland to 100. OffBeat is investing €500,000 in the opening of its Cork location. 

In addition to its large selection of hand-crafted donuts, OffBeat serves loaded ice-cream cones, ethically sourced coffee, cookies and freshly made milkshakes at its new Cork store. There is seating also upstairs at the premises. 

Since it opened its doors in 2016 OffBeat has grown to become one of the largest fresh donut bakeries in Ireland. It has proven to be a huge success story for its owners, husband and wife duo Brian and Sandra O’Casey. In 2021, Irish food investment company BiaVest, took a significant investment in the Offbeat Donuts business. 

Offbeat has plans to expand to additional locations in Ireland as well as further afield. Its international targets include the Middle East, the UK, the USA and Asia. 

All of OffBeat’s donuts are freshly made from scratch on-site every day, with customers able to observe the entire baking process while in store. Any donuts that are not sold at the end of the day will be donated to homeless shelters and charities in Cork. OffBeat also offers corporate deliveries and special occasion and customised deliveries and will also be offering home and work deliveries in Cork. 

Brian O’Casey, who is originally from Cork, said: “We are very excited to be expanding to Cork and bringing the magic of OffBeat donut making to the city. We have secured a fantastic location in Cork City and we are thrilled to be launching our first store outside of Dublin. Offbeat Donut’s aim remains the same and that is to revive the traditional bakery concept and simply to make donuts magic in every corner of the world.”

Amongst the most popular flavours for OffBeat Donut’s existing stores include; 

Apple Crumble;

Happy Hippo;

Raspberry Rhapsody;

Caramel Crunch;

And the ever popular Unicorn.

The bakery has the perfect accompaniment to your donut too - coffee. The OffBeat Donut Co. Espresso is a single origin blend that is hand roasted in Ireland. Believers in a great cup of coffee, you can get that extra boost of magic in the morning, or the evening. 

If that’s not enough, alongside their ethically sourced coffee and handcrafted donuts, there is a selection of perfectly loaded ice-cream cones and freshly made milkshakes to choose from too.

Brian O’Casey added, “What will be interesting is to see whether the donut consumers in Cork have different tastes to those in Dublin. We will be watching sales closely, and working on bespoke products if particular trends emerge that are exclusive to Leesiders.”

Offbeat Donuts is open from 8.30am to 7.30pm daily. To celebrate the arrival of the Cork store, the first 300 customers will receive a free glazed donut today (Monday).  Ultimately, there are all types of donuts for everyone to indulge in, and there is a seating area upstairs in the store to enjoy them. 

Cream Donuts. Sweet, Colourful Creations.

Cream Donuts

Sweet, Colourful Creations

Cream is one of the new wave of donut outlets in Cork City,  its counters loaded with colourful creations, backed by excellent coffee and top drawer ice-cream.

Those colourful rows are something of a sweet shock to anyone, like yours truly, who has been used to the jam and cream filled bullet from previous decades. 

Yes indeed, time and donuts have changed since I first came across the confectionary, possibly of Dutch origins, but now with overpowering American influence,  in the late fifties. For a few years, beginning in 1959, you could find me most school-going Wednesdays digging into a donut in An Stad, a small café in Leitrim Street.

I, along with dozens of other teenagers (not sure that word was even in use then), would have had attended a game in the Athletic Grounds and, on the way back to college, would stop at An Stad (O’Griofa’s) for a donut and a big glass of milk! Quite a treat in those days.

 As we ate, we’d have a look at the black and white GAA photos on the walls. Well, not all B & W. Some had been hand-tinted by Denis Griffin, especially if Christy Ring was featured! Wonder where that collection ended up.

My next distinct memory of donuts (or doughnuts as we'd have spelt it) came from a German master baker (cert displayed) at the top of Shandon Street. Then, on the way home from work, I’d stop and buy a bagful as a treat for my family. Not too sure what decade that was, probably the 80s into the 90s.

The donuts lived up to their name - apparently it means oil cake. By the time I got home in the car, the brown bag was virtually translucent. Still, there was always a major welcome for the sugary treat! But the German left and the outlet closed down and no real connection with donuts until last week's visit to Cream.

Fin Lyons, the ex banker who manages Cream in Daunt's Square (and Oliver Plunket St), told me they were putting the emphasis on quality. And it is local quality, with the coffee supplied by Cork Coffee Roasters, the dough coming from a baker in Ballycurreen and the Ice-cream by Happy Days in Little Island.

And Fin means to make it quality in, quality out and the staff have been trained along those lines. “They are great, industrious and have taken the motto on board.” And they listen to the customers. “We got the word that some wanted a plain donut and it is now available!” Might go for one of those myself, for old times sake!

But when I got the chance, I didn't! I picked the delicious Caramel, a recent Taste of the Week.   CL choose one topped with fruit (cherry and blueberry) and infused with pineapple jam.

Quite a selection there at the moment, considering they opened less than three weeks back (May 25th). “Caramel is our best seller,” said Fin. “We have eight different options and lots of plans to enhance those options.”

Same story with the ice-cream. Nine choices at the moments, including favourites such as Honeycomb and Cherry, but that number will soon be doubled. 

Fin is loving the change of career. “We have a great product, great service, we will keep innovating. And I like talking to people.”

The Daunt Square outlet has a shelf and stools inside and an outside seating area as well. Oliver Plunket Street will be similar downstairs but will have an upstairs seating area where groups can sit and enjoy.

No shortage of competition in this sector but Cream are backing on local quality, as they plot a rise to the top. Their special dough has already come in for high praise and visiting Americans, tough judges, have left impressed.

Doughnuts have a disputed history. One theory suggests they were invented in North America by Dutch settlers, and in the 19th century, doughnuts were sometimes referred to as one kind of oliekoek (a Dutch word literally meaning "oil cake"), a "sweetened cake fried in fat."

Taste of the Week. Cream Donuts

Taste of the Week

Cream Donuts

Cream is a new donut, coffee and ice-cream place in town. Its first base, open just two weeks back, is at the corner of Daunt's Square and Paul Street and a second outlet, in Oliver Plunket Street, is due to open any day now.

Donuts are popular in Cork, always have been. But are now much different, more colourful, than the basic jam and cream filled bullet of a few decades ago. I'm thinking in particular of one, by Cream, the Caramel Donut, our sweet Taste of the Week.

It is not the most spectacular donut on display here but it is amazingly popular, already established as a best-seller. Take a taste of the outside and its good but get those teeth in a little deeper, into that luscious lake of caramel in the middle. Death by caramel!

Cream 

1 Daunt’s Square

Cork.