O’Briens Irish sandwich bars, a brand that will forever be synonymous with the days of the Celtic Tiger, has gone into liquidation.
The franchise group, set up by entrepreneur and one time Fine Gael candidate, Brody Sweeney, employs 800 people across the country and has outlets in Britain, Asia, Australia and the Middle East . The liquidator has said he wants to sell the group as a going concern.
Last year, Mr Sweeney led a growing group of retailers who warned they would collapse due to landlords’ refusal to lower rents as the economy began to quickly slow.
By this year, some of their outlets had become vacant and in July, some of the franchise businesses went into examinership.