Women In Business : Successful Clonmel businesswoman was destined to take on her own venture

From a very young age Shannon Forrest can remember being mentored on the benefits of running your own business and felt that it was a pathway she was destined to take.
The co-founder of the successful Clonmel food company, Rivesci, Shannon points to the guiding influence her mother Sheila has had on her career choice and inculcating in her a sense of belief, motivation and risk taking instincts that have enabled her to forge her way in business.
“From a very young age I can remember being told in the home how important it was to be your own boss, being in charge of your own fate and running your own business. Because of that the idea of setting up a business never seemed like a daunting task to me, I was always very comfortable with the idea and it was what I wanted to do,” said Shannon Forrest.
Shannon was born in America where her parents Sheila, who was from the Fethard area, and James operated a successful family-owned car dealership business. “Business was always discussed at home. I grew up with it,” said Shannon.
Because of Sheila’s desire to raise her family in Ireland the family moved to Ireland when Shannon was three-years-old and they settled in King Street and then Irishtown in Clonmel.
Tragedy struck the family in 1988 when her father James died in a car accident near Kilcoran Lodge.
After attending the Presentation Secondary School, Shannon studied multimedia and art which she really enjoyed.
Her mother also had a central role to play in ensuring Shannon also developed her creative side and her interest in art.
“Music was huge in our house. I really looked up to my mother on that front as well as I can remember she managed to get us both into the mosh pit for a U2 concert when I was twelve. It was my first gig and it was amazing,” said Shannon.
Her first business venture saw her setting up a gift shop venture in Kilkenny.
“It went brilliantly but I did not have the funds to set up properly to compete with online shopping and I bowed out,” said Shannon.

It was after that experience that she met her now business partner and husband Declan Malone in 2014.
While Declan trained as a chef she worked in a number of roles in marketing and advertising including a position of manager in the Fethard Horse Country Experience centre.
“I enjoyed that position. It was nice being part of a community project and building something from the ground up,” said Shannon.
Shannon and Declan then started up their own business Rivesci in September 2019.
Shannon and Michelin Star trained chef Declan felt that opening a food truck in September 2019 might be a little mad but it didn’t stop them.
After spending many months researching and working on their menu offering they found there was a huge appetite for what they wanted to do.
Successfully trading at Savour Kilkenny, Applefest Abbeyleix, Ballymaloe and Dunbrody House, Rívesci wished to set up a more permanent basis in Clonmel, and up until mid-March 2020 traded at the Quay Car Park and Clonmel Farmers’ Market every week.
During the first Covid-19 lockdown Rívesci pivoted their business to become full-time condiment makers.
They operate now from what was the former Griddle Bakery in Irishtown and their venture has received one accolade after another.

It has been shortlisted as a finalist in the inaugural Guaranteed Irish Business Awards for 2022 and in the last few months Facebook handed them an “invaluable gift” of a major promotion campaign for free because they were impressed with how they built their business.
“Facebook sent over a team of five from London to set up the campaign. Full page advertisements in the daily newspapers for their business followed and major exposure on a national level.
“It was wonderful to get that, any campaign like that would have been unthinkable for us because of the costs involved if we had to meet those costs ourselves,” said Shannon.

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