A six-pack of Tayto crisps, the potato chips beloved by the Irish; a canister of Bisto gravy granules and the Cadbury white chocolate cookies called Snowy Fingers can all be found in the hampers that the Paddy Box delivers around the globe.
“It’s a bit of nostalgia, not just a pack of crisps,” said Mark Loftus, 37, who founded the hamper service focused on Irish expatriates in 2017. “You’re sending a feeling most of the time. It’s the thought of your Mam or your best friend thinking about you.”
Sending hampers at the holidays is a popular practice in the British Isles — consider the scores of selections offered by the luxury department stores Harrods or Fortnum & Mason. And in the United States, for example, Neiman Marcus has a $95 version that includes biscotti and New York State honey.
In Ireland, there are long-established companies such as Carrolls Irish Gifts and Giftsdirect.com that ship regional goods and hampers outside the country. But Mr. Loftus decided to start a business after shipping his own gifts abroad that “often arrived bust or not at all.’’
He and his family spent a lot of time considering the business’s name: “In the 60s, even the 80s, people were called ‘Paddy’ as a derogatory name, but if someone said it to me now, I wouldn’t mind.” (“Paddy,” short for “Patrick,” is a common name in Ireland. yet the Merriam-Webster dictionary notes that, as a term, it is “slang, often disparaging and offensive.”)
“It was always ‘The Paddy Something’ and we decided on ‘Box’,” he continued. “I wondered would there be a backlash, but it’s gone past that now.”
Mr. Loftus, who previously worked in events management and nightclub promotion, started the business in his mother’s kitchen in Portmarnock, north of Dublin, just before Christmas seven years ago. Social media, and follow-up coverage by local radio and TV, turned it into an immediate success, forcing him to enlist family, friends and neighbors to help cope with the orders.
But after Christmas, “I was booted out,” said Mr. Loftus, “because Mam’s house was upside-down!” Two moves later, the business is now in what he described as “a proper warehouse with pallet bays” in the Clonshaugh neighborhood of Dublin.
And there now are Paddy Boxes for all occasions, including the Birthday Box, at 59.95 euros ($65), the New Mammy Box (from €66.95) and — the most popular — the Build Your Own Custom Box (€66.95).
The Build Your Own allows customers to choose a total of 10 items from six categories: Crisps, Tea and Biscuits, Chocolate and Sweets, Savory Foods, “The Heavy Stuff” (which includes McCambridge Bread’s soda bread mix) and Gift Items (mugs, caps and signs with jokey Irish messages). Tax is included in the prices; shipping is calculated at checkout and ranges from €10 to €20.
The hampers can be shipped to most locations. “The States and Australia are the big two,” Mr. Loftus said, “but Canada, the U.K., New Zealand and Germany are close behind.”
By mid-October, Mr. Loftus had 15 workers packing boxes. “We do 50 to 60 percent of our business before Christmas,” he said, “we might take over 800 orders a day.”
Maura Forrestal of Newport, a town in the western Irish county of Mayo, sent a Paddy Box to relatives in Chicago in October. “They were delighted with it,” she said. “I ordered it on a Wednesday and it was delivered on the Friday. It’s an excellent service.”
And Joe and Ruth Henegan, residents of Westport, Ireland, who were living in Australia at the start of the pandemic, were forced to have a small wedding in Sydney rather than a big celebration in Ireland. Two of their wedding gifts were Paddy boxes.
“At the time when we couldn’t come home for our wedding,” Mr. Henegan said, “it was a taste of home.”
Other Choices
The holiday season is a busy time of year for many small, artisan food producers in Ireland who ship their products abroad.
Wildwood Balsamics, an organic vinegar producer in Lacken, a town in County Mayo, offers a Four Seasons gift box containing four 225-milliliter bottles of vinegar infused with foraged fruits, herbs, berries and blossoms, at €85. And Achill Island Sea Salt, made on the island off Ireland’s west coast, has hampers with a selection of salts, salted caramels and chocolates, cookies and housewares at €60 to €120.
The Burren Smokehouse, in the southwestern county of Clare, ships a selection of hampers featuring their own award-winning smoked salmon. For instance, the Burren Breakfast Basket includes hot and cold smoked salmon, Burren Gold Gouda cheese with garlic and nettle, marmalade, granola and brown soda bread mix for €55.
And Irish whiskey is well-known — but Irish wine? David Llewellyn grows the grapes for his Lusca wines in his north county Dublin vineyard and sells through the online site Celtic Whiskey Shop.
Lusca now produces two reds — a cabernet/merlot, €58 and its Rondo 2018, €60; a sparkling white, €70 and a sparkling rosé, €70. In October, the Rondo won a gold medal at the PIWI International Wine Award in Germany.