Brody Sweeney was crushed financially when his O'Brien's ...

Sambo Brody Gets
Back In The Game
Brody Sweeney was crushed financially when his O’Brien’s sandwich chain
went bust. Now he has bounced back with a Thai fast food venture
that could go international, writes NICK MULCAHY
When adversity strikes, great
entrepreneurs don’t roll over
and die. They dust themselves
down and start all over again.
Second time round though, it can be
harder. You’re not as young and you
have a track record that raises flags
with lenders and creditors. And these
days it doesn’t help to be trying to get
back on your feet in a flat-lining
economy.
Brody Sweeney (52) took a big knock
when his O’Brien’s sandwich chain
went bust in 2009. Using the franchise
model, he had built the business into
an international concern of 300
outlets. He admits that he was
blindsided by the sudden downturn in
the economy and that the menu
offering wasn’t adjusted quickly
enough. In a slimmed-down form, the
O’Brien’s brand survives, but these days
Sweeney has nothing to do with it.
Largely because he had to – all his
money was gone – Sweeney got back
into business with Camile, a new food
brand. This time the concept is homedelivered
Thai food, currently from
four locations around Dublin. He is
convinced that the concept can be a hit
in London and New York and Sweeney
is frustrated that he is finding it
difficult to source venture capital. In
his experience, if your new venture
isn’t tech, pharma or life sciencesrelated,
then the VCs in Ireland just
don’t want to know.
The irony is that Sweeney is creating
a lot more employment than many of
the harebrained tech startups that
Enterprise Ireland throws millions at.
At the Camile premises on the main
street in Rathmines, on a busy night
there can be 18 people involved, from
the prep staff to cooks, packers, order
takers and delivery guys. The same
goes on at Camile locations on the
South Circular Road, Phibsboro and
Dun Laoghaire. A new Camile outlet is
being planned for Sutton, and Sweeney
would roll out the concept a lot quicker
– if only he had the cash.
The former O’Brien’s sandwich
mogul really did have to start at
the bottom to get back in the
game. The first step of Sweeney’s
renaissance took him to Dolphin’s
Barn and a Chinese takeaway called
Yum Chow. He thought he could gain
an edge and bigger margins by upping
the quality of your typical sweet and
sour and charging more. Wrong move.
Punters have a price expectation of
what a Chinese should cost and
Sweeney soon realised he was wasting
his time.
Next he worked in tandem with the
Diep restaurant chain to reposition
BUSINESS PLUS JULY 2013 12

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COVER STORIES
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JobBridge
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Buy & Sell 38
Startups 60
Photo: CHRIS BELLEW
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Win a Deluxe
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at Hilton Dublin
Kilmainham See page 32
12 Brody Sweeney
Brody Sweeney was crushed financially when
his O’Brien’s sandwich chain went bust. Now
he’s back with Camile, a Thai fast food
venture that could go international
46 Integrated Direct Marketing
Senior executives in the Direct Marketing
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42 Ecocem
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