Homegrown talent of Athlone’s Broke Boy Pizza entrepreneur

By Rebekah O'Reilly

Athlone-based entrepreneur Paddy Moran first started his business, Broke Boy Pizza, with a YouTube video, a rudimentary back garden oven, and a sprinkle of passion.

Paddy was just 15 years of age when food videos on YouTube first led him to experiment with pizza.

“My parents, Maura and Padraig, both deliver post for a living, and Dad was also a professional footballer, but there was no real culinary background in my family," Paddy said.

“I always loved cooking, and watching food videos on YouTube. It started with American barbecue. I would spend every penny on these steaks and briskets, and the charcoal for the meat.

“For a 15-year-old to be at that craic – it was a bit strange! It's not your normal kind of hobby. Then I started to get an interest in New York-style pizza, and that's what really got me into it.”

It was then that Paddy started to compile a list of New York pizza joints, and experimenting with different doughs and cooking methods.

“I asked my Mum if we could get these pizza bricks that I had been researching so I could practice making stone-baked pizza at home. I was destroying our oven with bricks that weren't meant for it!

“Eventually I wanted to cook on open flames, so I built this kind of rudimentary oven from insulation and concrete.

“I used to make pizzas and bring them kind of door to door, until one night (the oven) blew up while we were sleeping. I did build another oven then, from better materials, so I could keep going.”

When Paddy went to college in Galway, his pizza business started to take shape with his Broke Boy Monday Club in which he would sell pizzas to students for just six euro each.

“I loved making them, and it was a way to sustain the Galway lifestyle,” he said. “That's when it really started to take off.”

The 22-year-old now features prominently in Athlone pub Peddler Mac's, where he employs five staff including his brother Colin Moran, Charlie Kelly, David Gavin, Fionnán Henry, and Dualta Higgins.

After four years operating at the popular Custume Place venue, Paddy has established himself among his many return customers who pop in between Thursdays and Sundays for a delicious slice of sourdough pizza.

“It all came down to luck,” Paddy said. “I'd love to say I had some grand plan, but I was just very lucky to have gotten the opportunity.

“I was working as a barman in Peddler's for three years before there was any talk of pizza. They found my pizza account on Instagram, and one thing led to another from there.”

When asked about his biggest role models, Paddy mentions Dublin's Reggie White, from Reggie's Pizza, and Ronan and Eugene Greaney of The Dough Bros in Galway.

“I used to text Reggie on Instagram asking for advice - it was these kinds of Dublin-based institutions that I looked up to.

“I also worked in The Dough Bros in Galway for a while, and Ronan and Eugene taught me so much. They're such a staple of Galway.”

Paddy noted that there's a growing appetite for “proper pizza” in the Midlands.

“Nobody is doing proper Neapolitan pizza like us. I think people really enjoy good food, and what we make here is great pizza.

“I don't have time to sit back and take it in, but when you see people enjoying something that you made, and it brings them value and joy – it's a great feeling.”

Whilst the culinary talent doesn't run in his family, Paddy does credit both his parents and his grandparents for the huge role they have played in his success.

“I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up, they were a huge influence for me. When I see them enjoying the food, and other people from their generation, that's really rewarding.

“It's not your typical takeaway pizza. It's fresh sourdough and Irish ingredients with the classic Italian techniques, which is something different that they wouldn't have tried before.”

Paddy also pays homage to Peddler Mac's owners Bryan and Kevin O'Gara, and their father Larry, who he says offered him 'a wealth of business knowledge'.

“Kevin and Bryan have been great mentors for me, and Larry is in his 70s, so if I could sit down with him for a couple of hours I would learn so much more.”

He added: “For anyone starting out in business, my advice would be to do something that you love, and don't go into it for money.

“I started with a passion for pizza, and a small Instagram page. If you go on there, you see the story of Broke Boy Pizza from the beginning. It's all about following your passion.”