Kelly brothers begin a new chapter for Fallons

Sean and Patrick Kelly.

Brothers Sean and Patrick Kelly have a simple ambition for Fallons in Kilcullen, which they took over the running of in May, writes Brian Byrne. “We'd love to be the best restaurant in Kildare, and maybe in Leinster,” Sean told the Diary without batting an eyelid. “Also to be the first restaurant in Ireland to get a Great Place to Work award,” adds Patrick. That they intend to elevate the restaurant's position from an already high reputation doesn’t faze them. You get the sense they’re the kind of people who have a plan.

They have a timeline for their ambition too — by this time next year. Which suggests these are a pair who don't hang around. But they're methodical, working each detail of the venture until they have it just right. For that reason, there hasn’t been a big splashy launch of the ‘new’ Fallons. “Maybe in September, when we have everything the way we want it,” Sean says. That’s working to a plan.

Between the two, there's lots of hospitality expertise. Sean started at 17, working the bar in Meath's Bellinter House country manor wedding venue. He went on to study hospitality at Technical University Dublin (TUD) and with that completed, the next step was to the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis — something of a back-to-family roots, as the brothers’ parents are both from Clare. “I was an assistant manager there in a very busy hotel, with two different restaurants and two function rooms," Sean recalls. "It was very different to what I had been doing before.” 

Following a stint in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, Sean then went to The Heritage at Killenard in County Laois. As Conference and Banqueting Manager, he was responsible for weddings and other large events. In May of last year, he and Paul Behan, who had been general manager at The Heritage, reopened The Lobster Pot in Carne, Co Waterford. Mary O'Neill, a former longtime manager at Fallons, was involved in that, and last autumn she gave Sean a heads-up about a possible opportunity at Fallons. "The attraction was to do something new in a restaurant which was already very well established," he says.

For an intermediate period from last November, Sean came to Kilcullen and managed the place for Brian Fallon, to see if it really was something he wanted to take over. "It was a good way of doing it, seeing Christmas as well and the madness that brings. It also gave me a chance to get to know Kilcullen, a lovely town, a good community."

The handover finally agreed, Sean brought in Patrick as manager. With a hospitality career in food operations, including for conferences, meetings, and events, he's well placed to take the role of operating the restaurant. He's committed to the concept that a good front-of-house experience begins at the door of any hospitality business. "First impressions are everything, and then you need to turn that into a good lasting impression. Create a bond that brings people back. We'll do that by consistency, in terms of food quality and what our menu offerings are."

In the couple of months since the Kelly brothers moved in, the visuals have been quietly upgraded, care taken not to drop the 'bistro' style which Brian Fallon had created in 2006 when he bought the former Berneys to replace the Fallon family's famous Red House in Newbridge after it had been destroyed by fire. The main bar-cafe is a little brighter, the Snug has been given a makeover, the frontage is in the process of a repaint, and the various different restaurant and function areas have been freshened up.

"There's a great versatility in the premises," Patrick says. "There's the bar area, the restaurant, the functions rooms. We can have a number of different things going on at once, without them interfering with each other. For instance, this weekend past we had three family events happening, and we were still able to run our normal lunch and dinner service."

From his extensive experience in managing weddings in large hotels, Sean believes the wedding potential in Fallons is something that can be expanded. "The days of big weddings are gone," he says. "People are looking for smaller venues, something a bit different, something retro and intimate. We can do that really well here." Fallons can offer spaces for family gatherings and small weddings ranging from 20 to a hundred people, and those weddings is an area where there's currently 'exponential' growth, Patrick believes. 

As for the main restaurant offering, the new Fallons operators are promising a very seasonal menu, in what Sean describes as a 'continental, fine dining, gastro pub' experience. With occasional surprises. "For instance, I was down in Carne last week and I came back with some lobsters supplied by Nick White there, advertised them on social media as a special and they sold out that night. We'll do other things like that. But the key point is that there will be something for everyone on the menu, without compromising on quality."

As important as the food offering is, so too is the relationship between staff members and the restaurant's customers. In a sector where it can be difficult to get and retain staff, the Kellys say they are fortunate in having a great team. "Everyone works together, everyone seems to enjoy it," Sean says, while Patrick adds that in a place the size of Fallons, the team almost becomes a family. "Everyone needs to be able to cover each other's backs in terms of floor service and relationship with guests, and we're lucky enough that the team here is absolutely fantastic."

There's a long history of good food at what was originally Berney's Bar, turned into a quality restaurant by Pat Keane and Gabrielle Berney who later went on to operate the Hanged Man's in Milltown. Paul and Freda Mullen ran their very highly considered restaurant there through the 1990s, and after some two decades under the stewardship of Brian Fallon, the enterprise has just begun a new chapter. Does that heritage make the Kelly brothers nervous? "No," is Sean's firm answer. "We'll build on that."

Nervous does not figure in the plan.

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