" We
wanted to be part of this quality-driven, dynamic
and forward looking franchise."
Operations
have been booming since Hugh Hoyes-Cock took on the Asian market
with
O’Briens in 1999. A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants, the Englishman has lived and worked in Singapore
for more than
20 years.
" I first heard about O’Briens in the late 1990s
through my son Alex, who was studying Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons
in Dublin at the time," said Hugh. "The Irish sandwich bar was
Alex’s favourite haunt and he had read that the chain was looking
for franchisees. I was interested, really interested. But the challenge
was would
it work in my home base, Singapore?
I carried out my own market survey, which convinced me
that there was a niche opportunity for O’Briens in the Asian food
and beverage industry. Following much persuasion that I could make it work
here,
I was awarded the master franchise for Asia in 1999."
Hugh
has been rapidly proving that his research was spot on. As
O’Briens CEO for Asia, and working from a Singapore base, his team
have been busy expanding their Pan-Asian reach. Hugh’s second son
Robbie, an honours graduate in Law, is now at his side helping to open
outlets across
Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand, with 20 stores
and rising, and new opportunities in Hong Kong and China.
Thanks
to a franchising business model now firmly established in Asia,
O’Briens’ popularity as an international lifestyle café is
simply flourishing. Our international expansion is not just limited to
Asia. We also have successful partners in Australia, Saudi
Arabia and the Gulf
States, Holland, Denmark, Spain and South Africa.
