Meet the Team
After studying hotel management, Allen worked on the west coast of Ireland for almost 20 years, holding senior management positions in some of the most popular and well-known hotels in Clare, Limerick and Galway. He returned to Waterford in 2015 and worked in Faithlegg House Hotel & Golf Resort before joining GROW HQ in 2021, initially as Café Manager before being promoted to Head of Hospitality in 2022.
Outside of work he enjoys spending time with his wife Tracy and children, Luke and Zoe. When he returned to Waterford he re-joined his local soccer club, Villa FC, taking up a coaching role for one of the schoolboy teams. He also loves to watch his local hurling club, Ballygunner, play as often as he can.
“I am very passionate about delivering excellent customer service. To be able to serve creative, nutritious dishes using the best seasonal produce grown on-site, combined with a really pleasant dining environment and a great team, gives me the ideal tools I need to deliver a great dining experience to our customers at GROW HQ.”
Our food system is broken and at GIY we believe that nurturing a real connection to where our food comes from is the key to fixing it.
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GIY is a social enterprise consisting of two companies: GIY Ireland CLG (Company No 477525) and GIY Ireland Activities Ltd (Company No 490550), both registered at GROW HQ, Farronshoneen, Dunmore Road, Waterford, Ireland and have the following directors: Eamonn Clarke, Carol Montgomery, Aoibheann O'Brien, Tom Popple (UK), Elias Darwish, Marie Oldham, Nevan Redmond, Laura Smith© GIY Ireland Ltd 2025