Gospel, Blues, Soul and barbeque are what the Derry restaurant Coupe is all about, from the Texas and fried chicken Irish BBQ group, The Dirty Souls.
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00:00Hiya there, so I am Jeanette Bryson and I am the owner of The Dirty Souls and this is our restaurant
00:05Coop by The Dirty Souls. We also have a food truck based at Kinnagirr Brewery in the out of
00:09County Donegal. Tell me a wee bit about Coop, you know from the start and what gave the main thing
00:14the wee bit. So Coop is originally a restaurant created by The Dirty Souls and The Dirty Souls
00:21was a brand that I created and thought about for a few years while living in London. I worked in
00:27the hospitality industry since I was 13 and I had worked a lot for higher end and Michelin
00:32restaurants but I was looking for something that wasn't particularly that style. Went out for a
00:37night in the blues kitchen in Camden, stuck to the floors with my mum and realised there's something
00:41in this and that's what got me into the barbecue and started really looking into what barbecue was
00:47and from there and my love of gospel, blues and soul music which was led us down to deciding on
00:55this food and we love the style of the food, we love the history of the food, we love the community
01:02network and the relevance of this food and we love the fact it's a complete farm to fork
01:07and butcher experience. So that's what The Dirty Souls is and we're a Texas barbecue smokehouse
01:13with fried chicken coming straight out of the soul of the South.
01:16Class, you sound really passionate about this whole experience. I really do love it,
01:22I really do love it, it's something that you have to kind of experience when you go out there.
01:26So when we were researching this I was working in London so I took my husband and myself out to
01:31Texas where we work with Terry Blacks, we visited many barbecue places, we discovered our fried
01:38chicken batter recipe. We also learned the history and we ate with those where this food came from so
01:44we learned that barbecue in Texas comes from German immigrants, Austrian immigrants, Hungarian
01:50immigrants. If you go further south that's where you get your more Tex-Mex again. If you go to
01:54Louisiana you have both Cajun and Creole which is either Spanish or French. And views again in Texas
02:00our favorite restaurant is a Vietnamese French infusion restaurant called Elizabeth Street Cafe
02:06which we often do a note to a Vietnamese po' boy based on them. But what the food really does relate
02:12to and why I'm so passionate about it is it is genuine food of love, like there is nowhere to go
02:18wrong in this. It's like it's very hard to create the kind of level of meat and that's why again we
02:24don't add sauces because it's such a long process and we use strict methods of only using an offset
02:29smoker again. But again that's just going back to our choice. What would that mean to make with someone
02:34like me who's not you know on liquor? So an offset smoker again is just one of the different elements
02:39of and tools and resources you would use to smoke your meat. The reason we chose an offset compared
02:45to what most people would know as the egg or your Traeger grills, they're all electric and they're
02:50excellent excellent tools. But the offset is what's known as a stick burner and it was just usually
02:56an old gas tanker vessel that the cowboys would have used out in the ranches with their cuts of
03:01beef and stuck in some old what they call post oak which is basically their oak which has just
03:06dried and it takes a seat for years and smoked it. And you cannot unfortunately recreate that to the
03:13exact style in any other of the smokers. So it is a real true thing and it's a labor of passion
03:19because you have to man the fire there's no digital there's no electronic there's nothing
03:23it's just one has to stand at that smoker for the anywhere between the 10 and 16 hours every day
03:29that you smoke on that meat. And we've went from one brisket a week to 10 briskets a week now
03:33and that's just the briskets. So yeah so it is really about that again that's why we chose
03:38Central Texas style barbecue because you can get barbecue from all over. We just love that style
03:44and love that that food so that was particular where we went with that and then we bring in
03:48all the other kind of aspects and flavors from your Carolinas, from Kentucky all of them either
03:55their sauces are dry or wet so there's a whole history as you can hear and that's what we really
03:59fell in love with was the history of the food and telling the story of food that came really from
04:06the slave culture and suddenly back to how people ate with very little and how they could turn the smallest
04:13amount of any scrap into some of the most delicious food that you'll ever eat. Class. So we love it just
04:18love it really. This is the kind of place where you're going to need a few napkins like you're
04:22going to get your hands dirty. Yeah you definitely knew me say you need a pair of fat man pants when
04:26you come in. Your trays are big we go big like Americans again we're very waste zero waste
04:32conscious so we ensure that all guests know that they're getting a box to take out
04:37before they even bring their food because sometimes they get a bit like whoa that's big
04:40but again and it takes a smokehouse they actually leave the boxes for you there and again it's a way
04:45of eliminating that kind of customer worry you know I don't want to ask for a doggy bag don't
04:50worry we'll give it to you because we want that food gone you know we don't want it in our bins
04:54there's nothing wrong in your money spent it so again we learned that ethos from them out there
04:58and how they eat so casually our biggest thing was you know trying to bring it here and turn
05:03what people see as fast food into a evening dining service but successfully so far we've done it yet
05:09yeah but fat man pants we've got a seafood boil coming on now which comes out of a bag
05:14it's a messy beast but again it's enjoyed and it's food for your hands there's nothing I love
05:19more there's nothing more tangible than eating food with your hands and just connecting all senses
05:25to it yeah I have a lot of myself really good it is dirty and that's part of the name the dirty
05:30souls it comes from when I was putting together the name the deep south is known as the dirty
05:35south I'm also a big follower of dirty rap which is a whole cocktail menu based on southern rap
05:41artists like UGK and Lil Cheeky Black from Louisiana and we looked into them again linked
05:46it into our story once we went out in the blues kitchen and like many people you go out for a night
05:52and it could mean that you're in your dirty uniform and you're sticking to the bars and you're
05:56sticking to the floors and it's literally going to be one of the best nights you're going to have
05:59so you know we often see dirty as a bad thing but for us we're not talking about dirty as in the
06:04dirt of someone we're talking about all the real dirt and gritty grime and and all that fun stuff
06:09that you do that the sucking of the fingers in that dirt getting the dirt afterwards yeah
06:14you know it's a really tangible impact and it was a really fun name the souls in refers to all the
06:20souls of the south and everyone involved in what we're bringing so we say we're we're only
06:25recreating what those guys done and we're just looking to do justice and bring an experience
06:29here that people don't get yet and that something happened on here you know you shot off pretty
06:36massively could you just explain that to me you know what happened on here so our story is we
06:42started the dirty souls back in covid uh our time is selling cocktails at the back of a car
06:48unfortunately we lived up in the high iron our next door neighbors we found out were wild
06:51atlantic distillery which was awesome and i got to work with them a little bit um we got reported
06:58because we were doing too well in the trade and then we needed to get our food out there so we
07:02couldn't afford a food truck rang around people selling and one person offered to rent us one
07:07we took the food truck taking the la scene and that got our name out and then we went and
07:13were in the bar grand central for 14 months and then we got this building in october 2022
07:22so for 18 months up until last summer um others were severely struggling we were just struggling
07:29to catch the local marketing we were getting heavily in debt we were very demotivated um
07:36and we were finding it very very difficult to the point that last summer i was actually having other
07:41businesses come in to look at a sign in the lease over during this time i'd reached out to
07:46influencers and people who had used them to see about did they actually bring business back how
07:50much they cost um and unfortunately at that time we couldn't even afford to pay one of them because
07:56i had staff in that that is still needed to pay and matt from food feature review one friday night
08:01at about 12 o'clock text me and said janette i'm up your way tomorrow any chance could i do a video
08:08and i said not a chance matt we have a barbecue school in leicester county the
08:12meat's only off the smoker we can't be there you're not gonna be and he said janetta won't
08:17charge you so i rang adam adam has worked for us from he is 16 he's a young local fella
08:24from dairy and adam said no problem let me come in and do it the best decision we ever did because
08:31the two guys understood from a younger generational point of view and also from a social media point
08:37of view the way to create these videos they seen a trend they understood our product they came in
08:43with a plan the video went out on the wednesday morning and we have been fully booked ever since
08:50we have extended our hours and are looking to open we went from three days we're currently
08:55open five or four days and we're going up to five days now as well uh the food truck is currently
09:01opening we're pretty rare we have double in our staff at the minute we're also expanding with our
09:08barbecue school on a new venture in a new site in dairy as well as our takeout which will be in
09:12collaboration with a lot of other business across a lot of different industries um and some you'll
09:18be familiar with um the potential then we're working with um smaller businesses which are
09:23doing retreats so they align with all the they're full of actually lots of locals holistic members
09:29and all of that so it shows the severe um expanse one video can do off the back of that video
09:36we have seen a huge increase in guests or restaurants that are not from dairy
09:40one example is one night down there i heard a twang of a table i asked them where they were from and
09:45they were like nashville and i was like guys what are you eating around your nashville chicken
09:49and i was like and they were like it's great so i asked them were they up visiting they were
09:54actually over visiting carrie up to gallway they had seen the video so they come up and stayed in
09:58raffo and i to eat with us we last weekend alone had five different couples all just up staying
10:04one night just to get here just to come in here and that's the power of a video and social media
10:09inclusivity of it and we love the fact not only now is it the video it has gone on a natural course
10:15where it's word of mouth so it has gone out to spread connor um and people that we've met
10:20they're friends we've had heard feedback from friends in germany my brother works in london
10:26one of his clients seen he'd been home visiting and daring they're like oh my god did you see
10:30that new restaurant and he was like that's my sisters um people in australia so my sister's
10:36partners um siblings went out and they met a group of ones and they were all like oh my god have you
10:42seen this place so we can see how far and why you want to talk about it so it's actually bringing
10:47and it has been to the local food scene as well because you know guys are coming to us like the
10:52other night they came from london so they were visiting ox up in belfast then they come down
10:57to stay with us and then we were sending them up the harry shack and places like that and tell them
11:02about umi and all so again our thing is here like if we don't have space in that we'll showcase like
11:09notorious who we absolutely love we love everyone but like again people will sometimes ask for a
11:13similar product so they're the kind of guys we would kind of know who we would go to and eat as
11:18well like and happily like got some great guys in there so maybe we've got some great food to go on
11:23and there at the moment um after well could you describe how this feels you know after you know
11:30that value came out and people started talking about you all over the world pretty much it's
11:35actually um it's crazy it is crazy thing to actually deal with and we still don't see it
11:42from the outsider's point of view we don't hear about ourselves really being talked about aside
11:46from our own personal capacity um it's elevated all everything for us in a in a such a positive
11:53manner like we're able to obviously give more business we have like multiplied or
12:00our levels of stock and all which then goes directly to our suppliers so that's all increased
12:05so they're all seeing the benefit we're creating local jobs we feel like we don't know if we even
12:12feel pride in it yet at the minute obviously because you don't know what that is but we know
12:16we feel positive and happy seeing our customers leave and return customers coming back and we know
12:23we were scared to at the start that this could have been maybe a short-term thing and hearing
12:27that back from our influencer he said we're the longest people to have sustained this level of
12:32um achievement and attraction and we do believe again that's with our work and
12:37the years we put in to get us to this point people talk about luck but took a lot of years
12:42for this hard luck to come about and i think we all the bad stuff that we've learned last year and
12:47all the mistakes nobody teaches you how to open a business no matter how many businesses you've
12:52you've ran or managed for others they don't teach you so this video came at a time that you couldn't
12:59have read it if you think we were about to shut our doors and all of a sudden the video goes viral
13:04it just changes your life it shows you how how it can happen it can happen and it can bring a lot
13:09of support as i said to the local area too when it's utilised it's not one thing it's not just you
13:15anyone can benefit from it and highlight from it from it as well because it'll bring people into
13:20the dairy and what we need is more tourism staying in dairy on a daily basis spending locally with
13:25all our evs and and that's what we're doing we just say it isn't a bad thing for everyone
13:30like we buy all our cakes off yum for all our birthdays so again it just spreads out it's like a
13:34wee it's like this wee thing that just grows out into the place 100% like as well and that's what
13:39we keep saying one video but one video has created such a huge amount of videos again based on that
13:47the next viral video is from a company called smoke barbecue run by daryl up in fire of uneasy
13:53well that's theirs and there's his barbecue as well so matt did that one as well and they've
13:57had over a million and they're they're fantastic too at what we do and so it's a big supportive
14:02thing you know we were up at an event with all those guys last week as well so you can see how
14:06it shares if it's done right everyone can share a bit of this big pie there's a big big pie for
14:12us all they have you know what i mean so it's just fine and all those things but yeah it's been it's
14:16been pretty wild experience um when someone comes into this restaurant what can they expect
14:22what of the experience you know what what are you going to smell when they walk in the door
14:26you're just going to smell fried chicken and smoked meat when you get in that door
14:29you'll not miss the smell of it coming in the door you'll get a lively bustling environment
14:33it also depends on what and how our restaurant very runs on ambience so we choose we create
14:39all our own playlists and a lot of our playlists have to be from different styles of music from
14:45the south they also must contribute majority to southern artists of any style of genre and we then
14:51play the playlist depending how our crowd feels in the night so some nights you'll have slightly
14:58calmer environment you'll hear the hustle bustle and it's a bit more romantic so we're not going
15:02to play heavy rap or dirty rap then some nights you'll get groups of guys and we might have a
15:07group of ladies where i had 90s you know mario blair now you know it really does depend like
15:12music and food is that it depends a lot on how your emotions are what you're feeling and we let
15:17that guide us in in in the restaurant as well and we often get compliments on our music often but
15:23again i'm a music teacher and that's why i think that's what i was doing it's not like that's where
15:26it comes from and that's why intertwined this business is it shows you music and food and humans
15:31and you know so they're going to get good crack they're going to get a bit of chaos they're going
15:37to get real like finger farmed before you know it's a bit of fun it's a bit of laugh it's going
15:44out for a meal that you're not having to take so seriously but still enjoying yourself you know we
15:49do things at the end of the night we give out free shots you know so the last customers in here they
15:53could be from our copeland distilleries whatever we have we often do the shinsumbuka shots and
15:58that's a no to working in the grand central they were notoriously known to go through sumbuka
16:03but that's just our read but i'd love to share that bit of our story again
16:06it doesn't cost us nothing and it creates some fun nights in here
16:13hospitality isn't a service it service is just part of hospitality hospitality in this world
16:19is creating an environment where people from any kind of background can come in and enjoy an
16:26experience and remember a memory in a moment in that particular time whether it's coming out just
16:32for lunch on your own coming out to meet your friends because you've broken up with your partner
16:36your husband coming out to meet friends for lunch having your 40th with your family there's many
16:42reasons celebrating death you know there's so many reasons people eat out there's so many different
16:47types of venues and styles of venues that you see through the time from artiste to umi to mekong to
16:53cedar you know to the edmonton hotel like there's too many to even name and everyone will give a
17:00different aspect of something like you've got clipper kiwi you could choose from a select few
17:04you know that's what towns need and that hospitality is built in a network of all of these
17:09people working to collaborate together to produce this so that the local scene can then thrive off
17:14it hospitality itself is going above and beyond for your guest and it's you know if you have good
17:21food and bad service it doesn't work vice versa so you have to look at the thing as a whole that's
17:26where your music your lighting your staff your team and your presentation and your side of food
17:32it's all so important to that guest in that moment because you're respecting both their
17:35time their money and their choice and for me hospitality and why i've been in it for almost 30
17:40years this year um is why i chose to go into it and most staff are drawn into it we're kind of
17:47creative for it we don't really choose it and i think that's again why hospitality is so important
17:52we learn to read people and when we read people it allows us to take on a lot of situations that
18:00we've seen happen and to empathize and sympathize and create an experience for them no matter what
18:05mood or thing they're in it's our job to give them good food good service and a memorable experience
18:10and make them want to come back we've learned a lot and that's what you see hospitality is
18:15that's why people keep coming out and why food places across the cities no matter if they're
18:20for your breakfast brunch fast food dining quick service places like ours they're so important they're
18:26so relevant like they're not just a business they are part of people's worlds they're giving people
18:31comfort they're bringing people new experiences you know when did you ever in years have a city
18:38now that has asian infusion restaurants along with lebanese barbecue infusion restaurants spanish
18:44style tapas massive burgers tacos it can be done and that's what and that's what hospitality brings
18:50to the table you know we think it's money but it's way more it's a way more it's an entire
18:55industry of people that make other people's lives a wee bit happier sometimes if you ask me
19:01you know what i mean so yeah that's that's what our goal is to keep growing and keep pushing that agenda