Sprout puts down roots for growth in delivery business
HEALTHY fast-food chain Sprout & Co has returned to its roots, with a new outlet opening on Dawson Street in Dublin later this month, across the road from its first ever location.
Founded by brothers Jack and Theo Kirwan, this is the company’s seventh outlet and will aim to meet growing demand for its products from users of delivery sites and apps, such as Deliveroo.
The company opened in 2015 with a farm-tofork concept for casual, fast dining in a small premises on Dawson Street. When the unit closed last year, it accounted for a fifth of its revenue.
The new outlet is three and a half times the size of that first shop, and required a significant investment, according to Jack Kirwan.
“Dawson Street was a phenomenal store for us so we were really keen to try and find something on the street and find something that was a lot bigger,” he said.
The new store will seat 70 people but will also trial another model.
“One of our biggest problems has been almost unlimited demand at peak times, with limited supply. With this store, we would have built it with technology in mind, so a big part of the store will be assigned for click-and-collect, and we will also be putting in an extra production line to service that,” Kirwan added.
“Some 25pc of our sales are coming in via mobile now and it was less than 5pc two years ago, so there has been a huge shift in the restaurant industry generally.
“We have designed this store to take as much business as we can for people who are willing to queue, and also from those who are in a rush.”
If this model works, Kirwan said all the chain’s other stores would be redesigned to accommodate the demand from online. Over the past four years, €3m has been invested in the business.
The company opened an organic farm last year and has locations around Dublin city centre, Ballsbridge and Avoca in Dunboyne, Co Meath.