‘We can literally offer our diners a sea-to-fork experience,’ says founder
Micheál Flannery of The Fish Box in Dingle. Photo: Domnick Walsh
The family-owned firm that operates the well-known Dingle restaurant and take-away The Fish Box last year recorded average post-tax profits of more than €11,000 per week, in what was a record year for the business.
During the busy summer season in Dingle, queues of tourists waiting outside the restaurant on Green Street are a regular sight – and accounts filed show that The Fish Box Restaurant Ltd recorded post-tax profits of €597,910 for 2024. This works out at an average of €11,492 per week.
The post-tax profits for the business last year area show a more than fourfold increase on the post-tax profits of €137,576 for 2023.
The 2024 profits are also a multiple of the post-tax profits for 2022 (€107,144) and 2021 (€105,179).
Accumulated profits at the end of last year were 1.04m.
Cash funds declined from €253,080 to €185,448 as the company re-invested in the business with the book value of tangible assets rising from €1.13m to €1.73m. Numbers employed last year increased from 45 to 48.
The Flannery family business opened in 2018 and it has picked up multiple awards since then. It has also featured in several guides listing the best places to eat in Ireland.
The surge in profits in 2024 coincided with the company significantly expanding its operations last year after completing a €400,000 investment in the business.
The Fish Box offers both a takeaway and a sit-down option with an outdoor area
The Fish Box firm has used the investment to put a food truck on the road, introduce a fresh-fish counter and add solar panels.
The company received €200,000 in grant aid towards its investment under the Brexit Blue Economy Enterprise Development Scheme, as recommended by the seafood taskforce and implemented by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM).
The Fish Box offers both a takeaway and a sit-down option with an outdoor area. Following the investment, the restaurant expanded from 20 seats to accommodate 100 customers indoors.
Thirty-one year old Micheál Flannery has a majority share in the business and at the time of the grant-aided investment last year, he said: “We fish from Dingle and land our catch in Dingle which then goes directly to our restaurant in Dingle.
“There is no travel. I know who catches the fish, who handles it, who fillets it, who cooks it and finally who eats it. We can literally offer our diners a sea-to-fork experience.”
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