Good news for snack box ex-pats - Supermac’s are heading Down Under!
You might call it the curse of emigration tempered with the comfort of the snack box – but the huge migration of Irish Down Under has prompted the country’s largest fast-food chain, Supermac’s, to expand outside Ireland for the first time by opening three new outlets in Australia by this time next year.
Talks are at an advanced stage for the opening of the first branch in Sydney by the end of the year, with further outlets to follow in Perth and Melbourne early in 2014 in response to the massive influx of young Irish people the three cities have experienced over half a decade.
It is the most ambitious expansion plan to date for Supermac’s, founded by husband and wife team Pat and Una McDonagh when they opened their first premises in Main Street, Ballinasloe, in 1978.
The company, head quartered in Ballybrit, has grown since then to open over 100 stores throughout the island of Ireland, with a turnover in excess of €82 million and over 2,500 employees between the Republic and Northern Ireland.
“We are actively working on opening in Australia at the moment,” confirmed Supermac’s Managing Director Pat McDonagh yesterday.
He felt it was a logical move, considering how many young Irish people in their 20s have set up new lives ‘Down Under’.
“Most of our Irish customer base has moved to Sydney, Perth, or Melbourne over the past few years. We are working on one outlet in particular in Sydney at the moment, while we are hoping to have the other two up and running early next year.”
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.