JP McMahon is a Galway-based Michelin-starred chef, restaurateur, author and playwright.
The father-of-two runs Aniar and owns the Cava Bodega tapas restaurant with his ex-wife Drigín Gaffey.
McMahon is the founder of Food on the Edge, an annual international gathering of chefs and foodies in Galway, and has written a slew of books, including An Irish Food Story: 100 Foods That Made Us, which was published in October.
His play The Last Room won the third prize in November at the PJ O’Connor Radio Awards and he released a collection called Plays 2012–2024 in December.
How did your upbringing shape your relationship with money?
My grandparents were quite prudent on what they spent money on and my father was unemployed for a while in the 80s, so I know the value of money. I’ve always been cautious about it, to a certain degree.
Have you ever felt broke?
Yes, on our honeymoon in 2007.
I remember looking at my bank account and seeing it was empty. I was in between jobs and we were just coming to the end of our month-long honeymoon in New Zealand.
I remember thinking, ‘I’ll have to get a job when I come home’ and we subsequently opened Cava.
What’s the most important lesson about money that your career in the hospitality industry has taught you?
That I value experiences. I recently spent €1,000 on a meal in a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago.
I wouldn’t spend €1,000 on a coat and some might say I’m daft to spend €1,000 on a meal. But when you’re in the industry, that experience means you’re learning at the same time.
Have you ever seen anyone spend money in a way that shocked you?
When one of my brothers had his first child, they bought a buggy that cost something like €1,000. It was the same price as my first car 20 years ago. I said, ‘would you not just get a second-hand buggy?’ I inherited that quality from my father and mother — they were always in and out of second-hand shop for clothes and suits and I’m the same.
Apart from property, what is the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?
Apart from a signed first edition of a Samuel Beckett book (I’m a big fan), I’d say it was the digital camera I bought for €2,500 so I could take black-and-white photos.
You can buy one for €25,000 so, to my mind, I wasn’t going too crazy. Then there’s the electric car as well; we got it just after Covid after trading in two diesel vehicles.
It’s an ID.4. I’m not sure if I love it or hate it because you never get over the range anxiety and worrying about getting to a charging point. I’m fine if I’m going from Galway to Dublin but not if I’m going to Donegal or west Cork.
The last time I went to west Cork, I borrowed someone else’s car because I could only find one working charger in Skibbereen.
Do you still carry cash?
Very rarely. If I do, it’s just for the children, even though they have Revolut. Even at Aniar, we receive almost no cash now and just a little bit of cash in Cava.
Nearly all tips received by staff at Aniar are digital and, under a recent law, all tips have to be recorded — I’d say the Government is secretly delighted!
I like the security of not having cash on me and when I travel, you can just pay on your phone and don’t have to worry about exchange rates.
What would you not be able to do without if you had to tighten your belt?
Nice wine and books. I’d spend €40 or €50 on a bottle of wine in an off-licence or up to €120 in a nice restaurant. I have a wall-to-wall bookcase in my living room and am running out of space — the carpenter thought I was mad.
I’m just happy reading a book with a glass of wine and wearing a jumper with a hole in it.