Post-tax profits at Ballymaloe Cookery School increased by 53 per cent to €135,952 in 2024, according to its accounts, boosted by Hollywood star Kate Winslet enrolling for a course there that year.
The cookery school had recorded post-tax profits of €88,864 in 2023. Post-tax profits at the school last year resulted in accumulated profits rising to €3.05 million.
Total remuneration (including salaries and other benefits) in 2024 of its three directors – Darina Allen, Toby Allen and Rory O’Connell – was €329,847; the previous year they shared €336,478.
The east Cork business sits on a 100-acre organic farm, where Darina Allen is the majority shareholder.
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In April of last year, it came under the spotlight after Winslet enrolled in a two-and-a-half-day course there with TV chef and bestselling cookbook author Rachel Allen.
The school usually has more than 60 courses on offer each year and the flagship programme remains the 12-week certificate course, which runs three times every year.
The course for this September and January of next year is already booked out, with participants paying €16,295 for September’s course and €16,795 for the January option.
The school increased its headcount last year, from 68 to 73 people, with staff costs rising from €2.52 million to €2.6 million.
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Staff numbers are made up of three directors , 70 teachers and administration staff.
The profits last year take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €183,123, while directors’ pay dipped slightly from €336,478 to €329,847.
The firm’s cash funds increased from €944,642 to €988,639.
The book value of the firm’s fixed assets increased marginally from €4.7 million to €4.78 million.
Under the heading of “post balance-sheet event”, the accounts said “there is a significant risk to the global economy arising from the current geopolitical situation and the impact on energy costs and inflation”.
The note added that “this development will have implications for the activities of the company in future months. The directors are unable to quantify or determine what the extent of the implications of these matters are for the company as at the date of approval of the financial statements”.
The cookery school is one of a number of businesses operated by members of the Allen family at Ballymaloe.
