Publican Chawke says it’s ‘essential’ that frontline bar staff are Irish

One of the country’s best known publicans Charlie Chawke said yesterday that frontline staff serving the public at his pub group "have to be Irish".

The owner of the nine-strong pub group said that bar and floor employees at his business “have to be Irish and they show that the céad míle fáilte is still alive and well, thank God”.

“I believe it is essential to have Irish staff behind the bar or on the floor because they have the blas and the personality to get on with customer.

“Irish staff know what is going on in Croke Park or in the rugby or what is happening around the country.”

When it was put to him that his strong preference for frontline Irish staff may attract criticism, Mr Chawke said: “You have to run your business the way you see it. The Irish pub is the number one attraction for overseas tourists and tourists want to meet Irish people with great personalities and share a laugh with them and that is what they get when they come to our pubs.

“We train our staff to a very high standard and our staff, along with the value for money and quality of food and drink we sell, are the main reasons we have been able to survive in this recession.”

The group employs 400 and Mr Chawke said that his pub group is still feeling the effects of the recession.

“I don’t see anyone buying champagne at our pubs just yet. They might be buying Prosecco, but that is a lot cheaper than champagne.

“I don’t believe that the recession is over for the pub trade. It may be for certain sectors, but it is still tough work to survive as a publican,” he said.

In 2005, Mr Chawke bought the Orchard Inn in Rathfarmham for a record €22m. New accounts for the pub show that it recorded an operating profit last year of €280,270.

The site purchase was funded from a bank loan and, while the annual repayments are not disclosed in the accounts, they totalled over €500,000 in the last year that they were revealed in 2011.

Mr Chawke said he wants to pay his debts. He also expects his entire pub group to record revenues of €25m and is aiming for net profit of between 8% to 10% of that amount.