US attacks taking toll on Phelan outlets

A theme restaurant business in the US set up by Mr Pascal Phelan has raised more than $19 million (€21.78 million) from investors but has seen business drop off significantly following the September 11th attacks.

Mr Phelan is the former chairman and chief executive of the Master Meat Packers Group. He began working for Mr Larry Goodman in the late 1970s at Mr Goodman's suggestion.

The High Court actions, which have just ended, heard from Mr Phelan that in 1983 he told Mr Goodman of irregular practices which he believed were being carried out in one of Mr Goodman's plants. He said Mr Goodman's response was: "Pascal, are you telling me that you want to leave?"

Mr Phelan did leave later that year. He then set up in business himself and later became involved with Middle Eastern businessman Mr Zakaria el Taher. The collapse of this business (Master Meats) was at the core of the High Court actions which have just ended.

In the mid-1990s, while on a simulated rocket ship ride with his son, Mr Phelan got the idea of opening an "interactive theme restaurant based on a virtual reality journey" to Mars.

Mars 2112, a 400-seat, 35,000 sq ft restaurant near Times Square, New York, opened in September 1998. At the time Mr Phelan was described in the US press as someone who had amassed a fortune through the beef business and property in Ireland, Britain and eastern Europe.

The business is owned by way of Irish registered companies Mars 2112 Group Ltd and Mars 2112 Global Ltd. Start-up costs for the New York restaurant were $646,000 in 1997 and $958,000 in 1998, according to Mars 2112 Global Ltd accounts.

The Mars 2112 Group Ltd return to June 2000 shows a share subscription made in 1999 raised more than $19 million. The new shareholders are listed and are individuals based in the Republic, the UK and the US, as well as investors represented by nominee companies.

A second Mars 2112 restaurant was opened in Chicago in October 2000 and cost $8 million. It has since closed. According to a spokeswoman for the group, the September 11th attacks in the US hit business badly, leading to the closure of the Chicago restaurant. She said business in New York was also hit but has since improved.

Mr Goodman is one of the most controversial and remarkable businessmen of his generation. From a small business base, he built a beef and food organisation which at one stage had a turnover equal to about 4 per cent of the Republic's GNP.

In the late 1980s, the Dáil was brought back early from its summer recess because of the collapse of his empire with debts to the banks of more than €635 million. Ten years later, in October 1999, Mr Goodman regained control of his meat business.

The beef tribunal spent much time examining the export credit insurance cover the Goodman group was given by the State in the late 1980s. The withdrawal of that insurance cover 12 years ago led to a claim for damages from the Goodman group which has yet to reach the courts.