The Doran family have been at the heart of the fishing community in Howth since the mid '50s, when fisherman Michael Doran first settled in the picturesque north Dublin port.
At one point the family owned ten boats but the decline in fishing saw their fleet reduce until, in the mid 1990s, their last boat was sold and the focus of the business moved to land based activity, including fish processing (on Howth pier) and chandlery.
But having added a successful retail dimension to the family's long-established seafood wholesaling and processing business, Michael's son Sean Doran and his two brothers were soon looking at other possible areas of development - and it wasn't long before Sean opened 'The Oar House' and 'Octopussys' restaurants next door to the shop. Atmospheric and very popular, they are run by business partner and highly regarded local chef, John Aungier - and the same team has since opened another restaurant, Dorans at the Beachcomber, in the north Dublin suburb of Raheny.
Today Dorans once again has its own boat (the Celtic Fisher, skippered by Padraig Doran), which supplies Dublin Bay prawns (langoustines) and white fish to wholesale customers, the shop and restaurants - and, in 2012, this resourceful business also came up with the idea of an online shop (www.seafood2go.ie) which offers deliveries in the Dublin area (Tue-Sat).
Over 500 lines are available to buy online - not all named on the website, but customes can order anything from the shop which is especially known for its wide selection of fresh whitefish and shellfish, also live lobster and oysters available from a tank in-store. Innovative as ever, the Dorans include Little Pirates (children's fish, no bones) and ready meals in the range, and - while the emphasis is very much on fresh fish landed in ports around the Irish coast - they also import exotics, to service the demand for 'something different'.
As well as all this, the Dorans are great educators and supporters of the local community - an especially successful event that they helped to establish is the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival, which brings huge crowds to Howth in search of tasty seafood over St Patrick's weekend every March.
A very successful business - run by a remarkable family.
