It’s Sunday afternoon at Ranny Pier on the road between Kerrykeel and Milford and it is the end of summer. A sign for a new tea and coffee service at the Mulroy Drive viewing point has been in place in recent months: so why not call and chat with Shauna McCafferty, the woman behind the new enterprise? It is an exciting new mobile outlet selling coffee, teas, juices and tray bakes with the best of local produce and it is doing brisk business when we drop in for a chat. Shauna’s wagon is specially fitted out and she provides a big range of home cooking and drinks and it is obvious that there’s a lot of hard work behind this enterprise. It has been at Ranny Pier for thirteen weeks and from small beginnings, the service with all local produce is going really well. “This picturesque location in the car park has always been in my mind as an ideal location and I was surprised nobody else had started here because there is a very good traffic flow and there are regular visitors to the pier,” she says. Originally from Ballycastle with close family ties in Drumhallagh, she’s been coming to the area since she was a child. Her grandfather was a local man and so is her fiance. She’d worked for many years in the ticket office for the Rathlin Island ferry, but her dream job was to live in Drumhallagh and set up her own coffee enterprise. “I relocated three and a half years ago when I lost my job and was made redundant. And the whole coffee business has been in the pipeline for three and a half years, and this is my 13th week. So I finally got it up and running and I’m happy. I always wanted to do coffee or food or bakes and try to bring nice home cooked recipes to people. And I’m planning to be here over the winter because I see this as an all year round occupation because commuters have now got used to calling for coffee on their journey into work”
