Sales and profits grew strongly last year at the seven Camile Thai takeaways that are owned and operated by businessman Brody Sweeney’s group, which separately also has franchised its brand to about 35 other outlets in Ireland.
Camile Thai Kitchen, the operating company for the group’s seven non-franchised outlets, increased revenues last year by 15 per cent to more than €6.5 million, while profits surged by a third to almost €574,000.
The overall Camile Thai group’s revenues are thought to be about €30 million, including the sales of franchisees.
Camile Thai Kitchen’s net assets rose by almost a quarter to about €3.1 million, its accounts recently filed suggest. The operating company has retained profits of €3.1 million on its balance sheet.
Limited 2021 financial statements filed for a separate group company, Camile Franchising, show it made a small profit last year of €70,000.
It costs Camile Thai franchisees a total of about €350,000 to set up a new outlet. Franchisees pay a royalty to Mr Sweeney’s group equivalent to about 5 per cent of sales, while they also agree to buy about half of their ingredients from the group.
Mr Sweeney, who previously founded O’Brien’s Irish Sandwich Bars, owns more than 90 per cent of the group, with the rest shared by a number of private investors including tech investor Brian Caulfield and Manders Terrace, the company that owns Web Summit.
