Interview with Brody Sweeney | Camile Thai | Failures | Opening 100 restaurants in London #19
The Business of RestaurantsShow Notes
In Episode 19 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with the well known Irish business owner Brody Sweeney.
Brody Sweeney is probably most well known for founding O'Briens Irish Sandwich Bars which went from start up in 1998 to over 200 stores in over 13 countries globally. Prior to that he was involved with the franchise Prontoprint before selling the business back to the U.K. parent in 1988. He has written two business guides, Making Bread and "Small to Tall" - How to grow your business from its entrepreneurial roots".
He founded a Thai takeaway business, Camile Thai Kitchen, in 2010 which has over 30 branches currently now franchised or operating across Ireland and also currently 7 in the London area with plans to expand this to over 100 in the coming years!
I chat with Brody about founding O'Briens sandwich shop, the hardship of the early days, losing money for years at the beginning, the key of failure, growing the business into a global franchise, starting over from nothing with Camile Thai, building the brand to over 30 restaurants currently, big expansion plans for London and much much more!
Click the Subscribe button above or follow us on Spotify or most other podcast platforms to be the first to see new episodes out every Wednesday!
More from The Business of Restaurants
In Episode 21 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with legendary chef Michael Bonacini.
In Episode 20 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with the co-owner of the well known Vancouver hotspot Jam Cafe. Mike has a long and successful career in the restaurant industry and before Jam cafe, was the director of operations of the Aburi restaurant group in Canada where he oversaw 4 restaurants, 400 staff and a yearly revenue of 20 million.
In Episode 18 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with legendary UK chef Phil Howard. Phil is a co-proprietor for the Michelin-starred Kitchen W8, The Ledbury (now closed), Church Road in Barnes and Union in La Plagne Montalbert, a ski resort and village in France. He also has interests in the London restaurants Lorne and Perilla, and is an investor in The Wild Room, which supplies foraged ingredients, mushrooms and truffles to the restaurant trade. In 2011, he picked up a Catey Award for Restaurateur of the Year (and rightly so!).
In Episode 17 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with Will Beckett who is the founder and owner of The Hawksmoor Restaurant Group. There are 6 Hawksmoor restaurants in London, a location each in Edinburgh and Manchester and most recently the group opened a Hawksmoor in the heart of Gramercy in New York City. I chat with Will about his many 'failures' in the restaurant industry before the success of opening Hawksmoor, the challenges in the early days of Hawksmoor, the London restaurant scene, the dream of opening a Hawksmoor in New York, the main key to running a successful restaurant group, opening Hawksmoor Dublin and much much more!
In Episode 16 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with Domini Kemp who is the founder and owner of The Itsa Restaurant Group. Domini is a chef, cookbook author, tv personality and the founder of one of the leading restaurant groups in Ireland, The Itsa Group. We hear from Domini about her early career working in Peacock Alley with Conrad Gallagher, opening her first restaurant, a small bagel shop called Itsa in Dublin, scaling the restaurant, opening multiple restaurant concepts, creating a CPU for her businesses, the importance of strong systems fir your business, working in a family business plus much much more! Click the Subscribe button above or follow us on Spotify or most other podcast platforms to be the first to see new episodes out every Wednesday!