Founding CEO of Camile Thai, Brody Sweeney has said that he hopes to open a further 20 to 30 Camile Thai outlets here and in the UK over the next two years.
Mr Sweeney was commenting on new accounts which show that one company in the Thai food operation, Camile Thai Kitchen Ltd last year served up profits of €651,490.
The firm recorded a 32% increase in pre-tax profits as revenues increased by €890,000 or 16% from €5.65m to €6.54m during the business's second Covid-19 pandemic impacted year.
The accounts show that the company’s delivery costs last year totalled €547,211 accounting for 13% of the firm’s administrative expenses at €4.21m.
Mr Sweeney said that in total there are currently 51 restaurants in the group "including four for our new Indian brand Thindi".
The growth of the business has been franchise led with the accounts confirming that there are currently seven company owned stores in Ireland.
Majority shareholder in the business Mr Sweeney said that the business impact of Covid-19 pandemic "has been generally positive".
"We were one of the few hospitality businesses that benefited from Covid. Our home delivery model performed well as people stayed home," Mr Sweeney said.
On the performance of the business in 2022, Mr Sweeney said: "Much more difficult than the previous two years. Huge increases in food, labour, packaging and energy costs, have not been helped by a slow-down in consumer spending as many of our hard-pressed customers struggle to make ends meet."
Asked how the firm's UK business is performing, Mr Sweeney said that in 2021, it recorded its "best performance so far, but still a distance to go before it fully contributes to profitability".
Mr Sweeney said that "in Ireland and the UK, we plan to open 20-30 restaurants over the next two years".
He said Camile Thai had opened a small number of test sites through virtual kitchens in the US, with partners there, Kitchen United.
He said because of the impact of the war in Ukraine "and the material investment we would need to have continued to make, we have suspended the tests until the trading environment improves".
Camile Thai Kitchen Ltd employs 80 and staff costs last year totalled €1.4m. The firm’s 'online order charges’ totalled €112,908.
At the end of December last, the firm had accumulated profits of €3.1m. The company’s cash reduced from €318,170 to €160,782.
