Wynn Beere who set up Abrakebabra, with his brother Graham 19 years ago, is to move into property development following the sale of his 50 per cent stake in the fast-food franchise group to rock promoter, Mr Denis Desmond.
The consideration was in the region of £3 million (€3.8 million) and Mr Beere has retained the Bray Abrakebabra outlet which is managed by his partner, Shirley. The other 50 per cent stake is still held by Graham.
Mr Beere has had previous business dealings with Mr Desmond. Both were shareholders in the River Club Restaurant in Temple Bar but "sold out four years ago", said Mr Beere.
A chartered surveyor and auctioneer, he sold his 50 per cent interest because he wanted to get back into property. "I am looking at new (property) developments in Dublin, London and France" he said.
The Dublin one could be "significant", he added. He is looking at the properties to "buy as an investment". With the question marks hanging over the property market, Mr Beere considers it an opportune time for property investment.
The Abrakebabra chain consists of 55 outlets owned by individual proprietors who pay the franchise group 7 per cent of their turnover for use of the name, back-up, training and advice. At one stage it had 75 restaurants with some outside the State. One of the biggest headaches is standards, Mr Beere said. At one stage the Abrakebabra franchise group owned 12 restaurants; it now operates purely on a franchise basis.
No turnover figures for the outlets, or the group, are available. However, Mr Beere said the best franchise was Limerick with a turnover of some £25,000 (€31,700) per week which implies an annual turnover of £1.3 million (€1.65 million). The highest weekly turnover ever achieved was from the Tralee outlet with sales of £37,000 (€47,000 euros) during one Rose of Tralee week.
Mr Beere's background is in property. He started off with estate agents Lisney, then went to MEPC where he spent nine years. The next stop was at Jones Lang Wootton where he hit on the idea of setting up a franchise operation. That became a reality when the first restaurant was opened in Rathmines at the end of 1982. This was followed rapidly with outlets in Baggot Street, O'Connell Bridge and Donnybrook. But all was not plain sailing; "We found we couldn't manage" the operation. So he went to the US to see how McDonald's was run. "That taught us to sell franchises rather than manage them", he said. After that the number of franchises increased substantially.
All the food in the restaurants is frozen, according to Mr Beere. When he was involved with the franchise group, the chickens came from Thailand "because they are the best quality". The food is distributed by Allied Foods, the frozen food distributor.
Mr Beere is involved in many outside activities. He is in the Dublin Rotary, is past chairman of the IWC (Irish Wildbird Conservany) and recently set up the Irish Orchid Society.
