2019 Irish Enterprise Awards

EU BUSINESS NEWS / 2019 Irish Enterprise Awards 41 , JJ Kavanagh & Sons Best Private Coach Operator 2019: JJ Kavanagh & Sons Feb19139 Proud Irish bastion of excellence JJ Kavanagh & Sons is a private coach operator transporting passengers in style to destinations across the country. With the firm recently celebrating its 100 th anniversary and its success in this year’s Irish Enterprise Awards we decided to profile it to find out about the secrets behind its phenomenal success. Since its inception in 1919 JJ Kavanagh & Sons has become developed from being one of the first private providers of public trans- port into the largest privately owned coach company in Ireland currently. When the company first began Founders James and Mollie Kavanagh put an open–top bus into service, operating the route between Urlingford and Kilkenny twice daily and providing a special excursion service on Sundays. Later James and Mollie’s two sons Matthew and James assisted in the development and expansion of the business in the 1940’s and ran it very success- fully for over 40 years. During this time the company gradually expanded, increasing fleet size and routes served, including the introduction of several daily rural bus services serving villages and towns across the South East. Throughout this period, the company also operated a very successful wholesale newspaper distribution business serving over 1,500 customers throughout the South of Ireland. Matthew passed away in 1986 and his two sons, JJ and Paul, who were already working in the business, took on the roles of Joint Directors and General Managers. Under their leadership and direction, the company has expanded rapidly to become Ireland’s largest private coach operator. Over the past three decades the firm has achieved successful development and growth over through the process of listening closely to consumers and responding proactively to their needs. To this very day JJ Kavanagh & Sons continues to operate successfully with the support of a committed work force who will perform their jobs competently, professionally and always efficiently. Currently this thriving company operates 230 services daily, car- rying over 2.5 million passengers in 2018 and this figure is growing steadily. In doing that the company covered 7 million road kilometres throughout the year. As a proudly patriotic Irish company, JJ Kavanagh & Sons works tirelessly to drive visitors to the Emerald Isle and provide them with the service they expect. After all, tourism is a very important source of revenue for Ireland and JJ Kavanagh & Sons play an important role in ensuring that the country is portrayed in a positive manner to all tourists. The company works in close association with many incoming and outgoing travel agents across Ireland and Europe by providing luxury transport for thousands of tour- ists visiting our shores annually. To enhance its service offering and ensure it continues to pro- vide its clients with the services they need, JJ Kavanagh & Sons has acquired several coach hire businesses over the years thus expanding the geographical spread of its operation substan- tially in Dublin, Naas, Carlow, Portlaoise, Nenagh, Waterford and Clonmel. The company also has an operation in England, where it acquired Mullanys Coaches in London. This busi- ness operates an extensive fleet of coaches and buses within the London area. Seeking to further build upon this phenomenal success, JJ Kavan- agh & Sons will continue to listen to its customers’ needs and adapt its services accordingly. To maintain its brand leader status well into the future, the company has developed a top-class ecommerce system, providing customers with flexible online booking and payment options including Online Ticket Booking and Smartcard Usage. This will help the firm to optimise the benefits of modern tech- nology, ensuring real customer convenience and greater real time consumer insight on travel- ling preferences and frequency. Additionally, the introduction of a contactless card option later this year will enable customers to board their coaches and record their travel with a simple tap of their card. Overall, JJ Kavanagh & Sons’ tried and tested approach to ex- cellence in private coach trans- port should help the company to flourish over the next 100 years and beyond. Contact Details Company: JJ Kavanagh & Sons Contact: Laura Kavanagh Website: https://jjkavanagh.ie/