The vegetarian delicatessen and bakery is based on Drury Street in Dublin, and has developed a reputation for producing the highest-quality, organic food.

The bubbly Fitzmaurice sisters grew up in Bayside, Sutton, and their parents, Pauline and Joe, were the owners of the Golden Dawn, Dublin's first macrobiotic restaurant and holistic centre.

Lorraine (41) went to work in the family business after school, and she takes responsibility for the food side of the business. She has written the Blazing Salads Cookbook, and regularly appears as a guest chef on The Afternoon Show. Lorraine is married to photographer Mark Nixon, and has two children, Pearl (7) and Calum (3).

Pamela (39) did a business course after school, and she worked at various jobs in the catering and restaurant trade, before coming together with her siblings to open Blazing Salads. Her partner is John Kilfeather, a landscape gardener, and she looks after the business side of the family company.

Lorraine on Pamela Mum always says that Pamela started talking from a year and half old, and she never stopped chatting. She was, and still is, the life and soul of the party. When we were young, I was shy and took life a bit too seriously. I think that's why Pam and I get on so well . . . she brings out the fun side of me and helps me to unwind.

Pamela was very holy as a child, and I had no time for the Church. She collected holy pictures, and went to Mass, and if it was 8am mass, she'd be over at 7.45 to bring up the Offertory. She was always really gullible as a child, and we could do anything to her! If we needed someone to stuff in the bin outside the shop, it would be Pam; or if we robbed an orchard, she would be the one still stuck up the tree with the owner screaming up at her, and we'd all be long gone.

We had a few clashes when we were teenagers, especially over clothes, and we didn't speak to one another for eight or nine months when we were 19 and 17. Our parents were begging us to speak but we wouldn't, and it was really me who wouldn't let go, because Pamela lets things go much more easily. Even now, if she gets stressed, she goes out and unwinds with a couple of glasses of wine and her stress evaporates.

We had to talk in the end because Mum and Dad went away on holidays for a week, and we had to work together in their restaurant.

We made up and made a vow that we were never going to fall out like that again.

When we started working together, I originally owned a restaurant in town and Pamela came to work for me. It was a different dynamic because I was in charge.

Now the four of us own the Drury Street deli and bakery, and I think it took Pam a while to relax and know that she can make the decisions, and I'm not going to come along and give out.

She's very honest and loyal, and is great fun and really light-hearted. She's the first person I'd call to tell something. She was always very fashionable, whereas I'd be more into my Docs and jeans. She had to dress me for my wedding, because I would have ended up in a plain black suit, but she helped me pick a gorgeous, really colourful outfit. When I look at the photographs, I still can't believe it's me.

Pamela on Lorraine I remember Lorraine being really intelligent when we were growing up. She was very studious but I couldn't study at all. My bedroom was at the back of the house and I'd be listening to the birds and wanting to escape out the window.

Lorraine was a prefect in school, and she was much more responsible than me. I was the one running riot in school, and being called over the intercom to the office.

People would be saying to poor Lorraine, "Is that your sister again?"

When we were dating, I was the one with the boyfriend on the motorbike, churning up my parents' garden; and while Lorraine went for really cool guys, I went for reckless ones. I was a complete tearaway.

We were quite outgoing as children, and we were always allowed to develop in our own direction because our parents were very forward-thinking and open to different things.

Lorraine and I bounce our ideas off each other all the time. I know she says she's too serious at times, but that's something I admire in her because it's lacking in me.

She's great at organising things, and she isn't afraid to make a decision and stick to it. I was always far too conscious of what other people would think of me, and wanted to be accepted. So over the years, she has taught me to be more honourable, and not to do something if I didn't personally believe it was a good decision. Lorraine was never afraid to be different . . . even when she was younger, she didn't just follow the paths her friends took for the sake of it.

Lorraine and I are best friends, and even when we go to parties, we have to consciously separate and talk to other people. We could talk to each other all night, and we always have great fun when we're out. She's a great sister and we're really close. We work brilliantly together, and it's the same with our brothers. In the early days, if Lorraine and I had a falling out in work, we'd go home and would be crying to our partners about it, because we're both fairly emotional. We don't let it happen any more though, and we nip it in the bud and sort it out straight away.

We don't have work discussions on the phone, because it's not fair. Lorraine has her children and family life to look after as well, and we all have our own lives outside work. The four of us have meetings and agree on the bigger things around the business, but we individually make the decisions that crop up on the daily running of the business.