Supermac's

Supermac's

Type	Franchise
Industry	Restaurants
Founded	1978 in Ballinasloe, County Galway, Republic of Ireland
Founder	Pat McDonagh
Number of locations	103 (April 2011)
Area served	Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland
Key people	Pat McDonagh (CEO)
Products	Fast food
Website	Company Website

Supermac's is an Irish-owned fast-food restaurant chain with restaurants located across the island of Ireland.

History

The first Supermac's opened its doors in 1978 in Main Street, Ballinasloe, County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It was founded by former school teacher Pat McDonagh after he failed to get planning permission for a pool hall in the same town.^[1]

Supermac's 2010 turnover was €58.8m^[2] The company has over 2,500 employees in 103 branches (as of April 2011).^[3] Today it serves an average of over 320,000 customers a week.

Restaurants

A Supermac's restaurant in County Mayo.

Supermac's is Ireland's largest indigenous fast-food chain with a large percentage of the outlets franchised. Many hold the same format of a two-storey store, with plastic seating and the serving counter downstairs and more seating upstairs, sometimes with a children's play area. The outlet's opening hours generally range from mid morning to the post-pub closing rush.

As well as the standard 'Family Restaurant' format, there is also another format called 'Supermac's Fresh Express'. The 'Fresh Express' format is often found in shops or petrol stations.

Plans to open international stores in Australia are at an advanced stage.^[4]

Food

Supermac's offers a range of foods including fries, hamburgers, chicken, pizza, fish and ice cream. All beef in Supermac's burgers is Irish.

In attempting to cultivate a healthier image like other fast food franchisers have recently, Supermac's has added several new products such as a chicken ciabatta and a chicken tortilla wrap. They have also integrated with "Supersubs" and "Papa Johns" in some of their larger outlets.

In April 2011, Supermac's published nutritional information for their products after being asked by RTÉ television show Operation Transformation.^[5]

Media/press relations

Supermac's invests heavily in sponsorship, currently sponsoring over 400 different events, teams and projects – including the Galway hurling team, and the Connacht Schools Senior and Junior Rugby Cups more recently have invested in sponsoring Galway Gaelic football team.

Controversy

In 2010, a number of protests were held outside Supermac's outlets over efforts of the Quick Service Food Alliance (QSFA) to lobby for a €1 reduction in the pay of minimum-wage workers at the restaurant. Director of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) Siobhán O'Donoghue stated that "The restaurant industry is driving an agenda that is bad for low wage workers and bad for Ireland. This challenge is not about saving jobs. It is about cutting workers' wages and increasing profits."^[6][7] As of the end of April 2011, this issue is still awaiting a decision in the High Court^[8]

Reinvention

Recently, Pat McDonagh has decided to reinvent and revitalise the image of Supermacs to portray a more contemporary image. At the same time, he desires to maintain its sense of "Irishness". He believes that it is important to change the image to reflect Ireland, as the country becomes more urban and in many people's eyes more sophisticated. This new overhaul is an attempt to bring a certain homogeneity to stores as an attempt to repeat the dining experience and bring a more homely feel.^[9] This is currently being challenged by McDonalds who are objecting to trademarking the Supermacs Name in Europe ^[10]

See also

• List of Irish companies

^[11]==References==

External links

• Supermac's website