RTE star Donal Skehan has addressed his business “catastrophe” that has affected many of his customers.
The popular TV chef launched his own line of scented candles, called Wind Shore, just in time for Mother’s Day.
Donal’s newly launched venture’s rollout didn’t quite go to plan, as many fans were left with a major complaint.
The company was set up to sell a wide range of candles that would have been the ideal gift for any doting mum this Mother’s Day.
Sitting in his home office, Donal took some time to explain what had happened on social media.
He said: “I’m sitting here in my home office, aka the emotional blast radius of a candle catastrophe.
“We launched our very first candle just in time for Mother’s Day so you could get your gifts ready – jasmine, amber, musk – the dream scent, basically a spring day on the Cliffs of Howth, hand-poured lovingly by Sinead who basically bottles serenity for a living.
“The orders rolled in, the candles went out, and then, cut to Thursday when they started arriving at people’s homes… in pieces.
“They broke in the post — a lot of them — and it was basically like I had boxed up a lovely intention and handed it to a courier named Chaos, who drop kicked them into oblivion.”
However, being a kid raised by self-made business people, Donal quickly resolved to offer customers replacements or refunds on their products… but even that didn’t go right.
He added: “They were sent out with love, prayers, and a little mild bit of PTSD, but then the replacement broke too. At this stage, I was considering moving to a remote island with no postal service and starting a quiet life of lighthouse keeping.
“I grew up in a family business and my parents worked harder than anyone I know.
“One of the key things I learned from my mum and dad was that when everything goes sideways, you know it’s go time and that is when you step up, figure it out and learn the hard way.
“Now we haven’t cracked it yet, which is funny because the ceramics have, but we are redesigning, we’re rethinking, we’re relearning how to send fragile things into the world without them arriving like emotional metaphors.”
Sharing his dilemma on social media, Donal wrote: “It’s been a slightly busy weekend! Lessons have been learned, we shall improve @windshoregoods! Limited run of candles still available on the website!”
Friends and fans raced to his comment section to reassure him over his business faux pas.
Angela Scanlon commented: “This is how to do it.”
Pippa O’Connor remarked: “Handling it like a pro! Been there with plenty of disasters Donal! Nothing’s easy… keep going.”
Arthur Gourounlian joked: “OMG! Now, when you apologise like this, I mean, I’ll take a broken candle any time of the day.
“Maybe next time you should send superglue in the box just in case they can do arts and crafts.”
