The Happy Pear are twins David and Stephen Flynn, whose vegetarian food business – including a cafe and shop in Greystones Co Wicklow – employs 100 people.
Their first cookbook The Happy Pear was a No 1 best-seller.
Their second book, The World Of The Happy Pear is out now.
The Happy Pear are junk food eaters turned vegan and vegetarian evangelists.
As kids, they said in a recent interview, they were called “cereal killers”, demolishing a bag of Alpen in quick-time.
They ate a lot of fruit, namely bananas and apples, but generally grew up on the standard Irish diet; ham and cheese sandwiches, white bread, buying a bag of crisps to put in a sandwich if they had the money.
Their mother made flapjacks, which they occasionally bartered for Stinger bars.
After college, the brothers travelled around Europe – “getting drunk and chasing women”, says Stephen – and signed up to do a marathon.
“You were hungover running 15 miles in the sun around Rome.” David pointed out to his brother in that interview. “It wasn’t that pleasant.”
With a month to the race, they decided to detox, give up alcohol, and eat “as clean” as they could.
At some point, David recalls his brother phoning him up and saying “do you want to start a health food revolution?”
The Happy Pear has grown into something of a multifaceted mini-empire with almost 100 staff.
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