This week marks eleven years of ECOFUEL™.
Eleven winters, eleven summers, eleven seasons of learning how to build something steady in a business shaped by weather, people, and time.
When I started in 2014, I had no idea I was stepping into one of the hardest industries to grow in or one of the most rewarding. Most of what I’ve learned didn’t come from books or courses. It came from cold warehouses, empty bank accounts, and the belief that good work, done honestly, has a way of compounding.
And like every long journey, it began in a single moment.
1. There Are No Overnight Brands, Only Long Winters
Photo: “November 2014, George standing with our very first delivery of firewood in the Ballybane warehouse. No office, no racking, just belief and a cold floor.”
It was the middle of November 2014.
Just me and George, my right-hand man back then, standing inside a freezing, empty warehouse in Ballybane Industrial Estate. No racking. No office. A rented diesel forklift. A stack of blue IPP pallets as our “desk.” A notebook and a mobile phone to take orders.
We were waiting on our very first delivery of firewood and felt ridiculously excited. The kind of excitement that makes twelve-hour days feel like nothing. That first winter was a honeymoon phase full of hope, adrenaline, and the belief that firewood could simply be “better.”
Eleven years on, nothing about those early days looks sophisticated. But they were honest. They were ours. And they taught me that there is no such thing as an overnight brand, only long winters that test how much you want it.
2. A Winter Business Is Built in Summer
Photo: “2015/16, early days in the Ballybane office, learning the business through long summers and harder lessons.”
Summer 2015 almost broke us.
I remember sitting in the tiny Ballybane office trying to make sense of the numbers. Orders had stopped, bills hadn’t, and seasonality had caught up with us like a cold wave.
Every bill became a conversation. I injected my own funds just to keep us alive. Wages? Forget about it, I didn’t take one for years.
But that brutal summer forced us to rethink everything: pricing, product lines, and our customer mix. It’s also when we signed our first pizzerias, a decision that would change our entire business model.
It taught us a lesson we still follow today: Winter businesses are built in summer. Winter cash flow is built in July, not December.
3. Growth Without Financial Discipline Is Just a Nice Story Before a Crash
Our growth from 2020 through late 2021 was the strongest we had ever seen. Online took off. Demand soared. We expanded the team. We opened Dublin. It felt like we had finally “made it.”
Then, in mid-2022, I sat across from my accountants at lunch and heard the sentence no founder wants to hear:
“If costs don’t come down or sales go up dramatically, you’re looking at shutting down.”
It was a grounding moment, a turning point that transformed me from a founder into a financially disciplined operator. Growth is not a strategy. Cashflow is.
That conversation still guides every major decision we make.
4. At Some Point ‘My Company’ Has to Become ‘Our Company’
Photo: “2019 marking five years with the team in our Ballybane warehouse. The moment ECOFUEL™ began shifting from ‘my company’ to ‘our company.’”
For the first five years, ECOFUEL™ was basically just me and George.
Then, in 2019, something shifted.
Gennady joined and later became our Dublin manager in July 2020. Marc joined and brought a fresh eye for brand, launching our weekly newsletters and helping us evolve into something larger than a fuel merchant.
By the time COVID arrived, we had the beginnings of a real team. Remote work forced trust. Trust led to growth. Growth led to a company that didn’t depend on one person anymore.
Even today, with a small team, that transition still defines us. ECOFUEL™ isn’t “my company.”
It’s ours.
5. Not Every Customer Is Your Customer, And That’s a Good Thing
In the early days, we said yes to everyone.
We sold Bord na Móna briquettes with no margin because we needed customers.
By 2015, we realised commodity retail would never build a sustainable business or a sustainable brand. So we designed and launched our own EcoBriquettes. Then, a full range of sustainable fuels.
That first “no” when we stopped selling Bord na Móna was a turning point.
Today, over 20,000 customers choose us because they value what we do. And we’ve learned something important:
You can’t build a purpose-led brand by trying to serve everyone.
6. In a Noisy Market, Proof Beats Promises
When we started, nobody knew the difference between softwood and hardwood, seasoned logs and kiln-dried. Wood briquettes barely existed outside peat.
We had doubters in those early days, plenty of them.
But we had nothing to show.
Today, every claim we make has proof behind it: FSC® chain of custody. EPA compliance. Recyclable or zero-waste packaging. 1% for the Planet membership.
The day we received our FSC® certificate, we didn’t fully realise its significance. Only now, years later, do we understand what it represents: traceability, honesty, and responsibility.
In an industry full of noise, proof matters more than promises.
7. Packaging Is a Decision About the World, Not Just the Product
Photo: “Winter 2020, moving to fully recyclable pallet lids and launching our first EcoBriquettes box. Switching from plastic to cardboard was slow, manual, and absolutely worth it.”
In 2019, we made a decision that would reshape our identity: No more single-use plastic.
Suppliers warned us about the cost and complexity. Customers questioned the practicality of cardboard boxes. Our production partners worried about manual labour slowing output.
But it felt right.
And in summer 2020, the first cardboard EcoBriquettes boxes came off the line, a moment of real pride for our team.
Sustainability is not a slogan. It’s a decision you make long before anyone notices.
8. Some of the Best Chapters Nearly Don’t Happen
Photo: “Progetto Fuoco, Verona, walking the exhibition halls where the idea for Forno1889® first took shape. Some chapters begin quietly.”
In 2022, I walked into one of the largest biomass trade shows in Europe, in Verona. It was raining outside, and inside there were halls full of stoves, machines, briquettes, and suppliers from across the continent.
I could have stayed in Galway that week. Instead, that trip led to a partnership with an Italian sawmill, the birthplace of Forno1889®, our beechwood pizza briquettes.
And two years earlier, in July 2020, while the world was shut down, we opened our Dublin distribution centre.
Small team. No money. Big belief.
Some chapters nearly don’t happen.
Those are usually the best ones.
9. If You Burn Out, the Company Does Too
By 2019, I was running on fumes.
Stress. Long hours. Poor habits. Trying to be everywhere at once.
That year taught me something simple: You can’t lead a company if you don’t lead yourself.
Since then, mental and physical health have become a priority. I quit smoking at 34. Quit alcohol at 38. Changed my routines. Built systems instead of chaos.
A healthy leader builds a healthy company.
The culture starts with you.
10. Small Team, Big Responsibility
Photo: “July 2025, spending a day in the Avoca woodlands with our team and partners. A reminder that impact isn’t about size, but about intention.”
We are still a small team today a fewer than ten people.
But that’s our strength.
Small teams move fast.
They care deeply.
They notice the details.
And every decision we make follows the same filter:
Is it good for the customer?
Is it good for the team?
Is it good for the planet?
Is it sustainable long-term?
If the answer is no to any of these, we don’t do it.
That’s why we often operate like a B-Corp long before having the certificate.
11. The Win Is Simply Still Being Here
Photo: December 2014, building our first office in the corner of the Ballybane warehouse. Looking back now, it’s a reminder of how far steady work can take you.”
After eleven years, the real achievement isn’t a product launch, a partnership, or a revenue milestone.
It’s continuity.
It’s showing up.
Season after season.
Storm after storm.
Year after year.
There’s a customer in Connemara whose late husband, many years ago, used to collect EcoBriquettes. After he passed away, we continued to deliver to her door not because it was “good business,” but because she had been part of our story since the beginning.
Stories like hers remind us why we’re still here.
Because of the customers who stay.
Because of the team who carry the work.
Because we believe what we do matters.
Closing Reflection
If there’s one thing these eleven years have taught me, it’s that building something meaningful takes time. It takes mistakes. It takes seasons of growth and seasons of pruning. It takes people who believe in you. And it takes belief in something bigger than profit.
Thank you for being part of our story, whether you’ve been with us since the first cold winter in Ballybane or just joined us recently. We’re grateful for every order, every conversation, and every fire lit with ECOFUEL™ products.
Here’s to the next chapter.
Whatever the weather brings, we’ll keep showing up.
