Firms ‘should learn to let go’

FAMILY business entrepreneurs should learn to let go of elements of their operations as they grow, the executive chairman of the Campbell Bewley Group, Patrick Campbell, advised yesterday.

Speaking at the inaugural family business conference organised by the John C Kelleher Family Business Centre at UCC, Mr Campbell told the 300-plus attendees that he would like to share some of the lessons he has learned in business over the last three decades.

“The most important among these is learning to let go. The business I am in today is completely different to the one we started in 1967 and radically different to what we had even ten years ago.

“The business has actually evolved through the management being willing to let go of previous norms of activity as it identified and seized new opportunities,” he said.

Mr Campbell said his parents were self-employed running their own B&B, so running his own business seemed a natural and normal thing to do.

“We started out over 35 years ago as an event catering business and we are now a dedicated coffee business having built Ireland’s largest contract catering firm and also running a highly successful chain of cafes in between. It’s all about learning to let go - letting go of one branch and grasping the next one,” he added.

He also disclosed that his company has signed the heads of an agreement to reopen Bewley’s Cafes.