Tayto Park founder Ray Coyle presented with Lifetime Achievement Award

Tayto Park founder Ray Coyle had one line of advice to offer the attendance at the Meath Business and Tourism Awards in the Newgrange Hotel, Navan, on Friday night.

“If you learn that something is going bad for you, and can’t be rescued, you stop it and move on to something new.”

The recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award had a false start to his own career and had to reboot, when long before Barney Curley ever came up with the idea, Ray Coyle raffled off an 800-acre farm after getting into trouble with bank repayments.

He had started off growing potatoes and vegetables on 15 acres of land given to him by his father in Curraha, and ended up owning the Tayto brand after setting up Largo Foods, acquiring Sam Spudz and Perri Crisps along the way.

“It was really risky to set up, in the middle of Meath, a rollercoaster and all the amusement associated with it – it was never going to be easy,” he continued.

“And we wondered would it actually work. But I knew I had a good brand in Tayto, and a great team around me, and it progressed successfully.”

He says that two more rollercoasters are planned, this time steel ones, with work starting in 2022, as he promised “the ride of your life” to the gathering.

Ray Coyle said he had never seen work as work, but as a hobby, which is what makes it so enjoyable. He dedicated the award, “a pleasure, honour and a surprise”, to all the people he works with and who have made the attraction at Kilbrew such a success.

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