Simon Pratt does an awful lot of things extremely well. He oversees Ireland's leading luxury brand, for that is exactly what the Avoca brand is. 600 people are in his employ. He has cafés and shops all over Leinster and further field, as far afield as Belfast and Boston.
But, let's be honest. Simon Pratt should have been a painter. He understands colour, you see, and he isn't afraid of it. Close your eyes and think of Avoca, of the shops and cafés and the food, and it is images of colour that will explode in your mind's eye: bright pinks, turquoises, vivid greens, post box reds, visceral blacks. A kaleidoscope.
Mr Pratt seems to understand, first and foremost, with his vision. There is a business vision there too, of course, and a culinary vision which is wildly disciplined. But everything in Avoca has to be understood through colour, and through how Pratt uses colour to free his customers. You step into these stores and cafés to get away from the mundane.
Elsewhere we have suggested that Mr Pratt is the Kandinsky of Irish food. But maybe we would be closer to the truth if we said that he is, actually, the Tim Burton of Irish food – Pratt could have done the sets for Edward Scissorhands, no problem.
He studied business in Trinity, but is untrained as a chef. This helps: nothing gets in the way of him demanding what he wants, and what he wants is spelt out in the first Avoca Cookbook: “It is not just what is done, but how it is done that is important. It is the longhand, honest approach and the difference is utterly discernible every time”.