Hard Rock Cafe scores a hit with €628,000 profits
Friday January 04 2008
The Hard Rock Cafe in Dublin posted an operating profit of €628,000 in 2006, making the outlet a hit for its owners, the Butler family and the Fitzers catering group.
The performance by the outlet, although down 10pc on the previous year's figure, also enabled the Fitzers business, which includes three high-profile restaurants in Dublin, to reverse what would have been an otherwise disappointing financial year.
Opened in 2004, the franchised Hard Rock Cafe is located in the capital's busy Temple Bar quarter.
The company behind the operation is equally owned by Colum and Ciaran Butler, who also own the Leisureplex entertainment centres in Dublin and Cork, and Fitzers, controlled by the Fitzpatrick family.
It operates a catering business that includes a cafe at the National Gallery of Ireland, the Chatham Brasserie in Dublin, and the flagship Fitzers restaurant on Dawson Street.
Accounts filed for Fitzers show that the company's businesses generated an operating loss of €209,000 in 2006, excluding its share of profits from the Hard Rock Cafe.
It received just over €342,000 in profits from the latter, helping Fitzers Holdings to record an overall operating profit of €133,400. The company posted revenues of €7.6m in 2006, up slightly from €7.44m in 2005. It made a loss of €642,600 in 2005 and had a shareholders' deficit of over €3.2m at the end of 2006.
The Butlers have built their empire on the back of the Leisureplex business that includes video gaming and ten-pin bowling.
In 2006, they acquired UCI cinemas in Coolock, Blanchardstown and Tallaght from the Odeon chain for €90m. Last year they sold the Tallaght cinema complex to developer Noel Smyth for an estimated €50m. They also own the TGI Friday franchise in Ireland.
- John Mulligan
