O Briens Sandwich bars in examinership

Degag · 10-07-2009 02:55PM

stevedublin wrote: »

I'd choose a meal in O'Briens over McDonalds.

I went into O'Briens one day and ordered a Tuna and Swiss Cheese sambo.... The cheese was processed. Go figure.

IvyTheTerrible · 10-07-2009 03:02PM

Degag wrote: »

I went into O'Briens one day and ordered a Tuna and Swiss Cheese sambo.... The cheese was processed. Go figure.

The HORROR! :eek:

Degag · 10-07-2009 03:09PM

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

The HORROR! :eek:

If i'm paying 6 quid for a sandwich i don't want a slice of calvita in it.

Up de Barrs · 10-07-2009 03:09PM

Very stingy portions.

IvyTheTerrible · 10-07-2009 03:10PM

Degag wrote: »

If i'm paying 6 quid for a sandwich i don't want a slice of calvita in it.

In fairness it would be cheaper then to make your own and you could have whatever cheese you like in it.

(TBH the Horror post was more in reaction to someone expecting gourmet ingredients in any of those sandwich places).

Degag · 10-07-2009 03:20PM

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

In fairness it would be cheaper then to make your own and you could have whatever cheese you like in it.

(TBH the Horror post was more in reaction to someone expecting gourmet ingredients in any of those sandwich places).

I think everyone is aware that it's cheaper to cook at home mate.

IvyTheTerrible · 10-07-2009 03:24PM

Degag wrote: »

I think everyone is aware that it's cheaper to cook at home mate.

I'm not your mate.

stevedublin · 10-07-2009 03:30PM

Handbags ladies, Please!

bokspring71 · 10-07-2009 03:34PM

claiva wrote: »

Do Centra provide tables and chairs...ie..somewhere to sit down and eat ?
The reason this company are in trouble is because the rentals being charged for the floor space is far too high in the "current economic environment" (love saying that phrase btw) !

Good luck to all of you who eat in Subway.......how quickly you forget.....

Anyone with half a brain can see that if more and more people lose their jobs the country will be in a Depression as well as a Recession.
To see so many comments slagging off an Irish owned company that is in dire trouble is sad to see.
And frankly, its unpatriotic.
Good day sir.

Perhaps it is this attitude, which appears in the above post and which seems to have much in common with O'Briens management, which is the reason for their demise.

The company chose to lease the various premises and agreed the rents. If you are saying that is the decision for their demise, then it was a decision entered into by themselves, voluntarily.

To suggest it's "unpatriotic" to think a sandwich bar is overpriced and of poor quality when compared to its competitors, seems to be an unusual view of patriotism.

Perhaps the reason the company is in dire trouble is because they didn't listen to their customers and didn't adapt to what their customers wanted. Perhaps you have an interesting view as to whether this was patriotic of the company, or unpatriotic?

Either way, it seems to be the reason for their demise and O'Briens will go the same way that Prontaprint did when Brody Sweeny was at the helm of that organisation in Ireland in a life before O'Briens.

Degsy · 10-07-2009 03:41PM

How much does a large sliced pan cost?
Now how much does it cost wholesale?
6 quid a sandwich?
Sod that.

ronaneire · 10-07-2009 03:52PM

Degsy wrote: »

How much does a large sliced pan cost?
Now how much does it cost wholesale?
6 quid a sandwich?
Sod that.

Thought you didn't do sandwiches? :rolleyes:

netwhizkid · 10-07-2009 04:10PM

There was once an attempt to overcharge me by about €7 for a sandwich (for my sister before I'd eat their junk) and a coffee. Who cares about the jobs it is only all eastern europeans who worked there anyway so no Irish effected too much.

GeorgeCostanza · 10-07-2009 04:13PM

latenia wrote: »

The very last time I darkened their doors several years ago:

"Would you like that toasted?"

"Sure, why not?"

"€6.50 please."

"But the price says €5.50."

"It's a euro extra to have it toasted."

Have you any concept of how business is supposed to work? Electricity cost? Labout cost? Why do you think they should offer toasting for free??

The mind boggles.....

Degsy · 10-07-2009 04:18PM

ronaneire wrote: »

Thought you didn't do sandwiches? :rolleyes:

I dont.

I was pointing out the hugely infalted profit margins in these sandwich places...and the stupidity of people who pay 6 quid for two slices of bread and an easy single.

GeorgeCostanza · 10-07-2009 04:21PM

Red Alert wrote: »

Harsh comments? They're charging too much and others have caught up with them in quality. The centra in UCD beats them on both freshness and price. Plus the staff aren't gratuitously rude.

So all the staff in O'Briens are "gratuitously rude"? Or maybe just the ones you've encountered?

Nice one.

Tchaikovsky · 10-07-2009 04:21PM

I think they were only Irish in name anyway because EVERYONE who worked there was a foreigner.

Degsy · 10-07-2009 04:22PM

GeorgeCostanza wrote: »

Why do you think they should offer toasting for free??

Because they're already charging 6 euro for the poxy sandwich and and extra 50 cent for no extra bloody work is pure profiteering.

Any outlet worth thier salt will offer toasting for free,a little thing in business called "customer service" or perhaps "goodwill"..you know,its what keeps the punters coming back.
Why dont pubs charge for ice-cubes by the same reasoning?

netwhizkid · 10-07-2009 04:23PM

GeorgeCostanza wrote: »

Have you any concept of how business is supposed to work? Electricity cost? Labout cost? Why do you think they should offer toasting for free??

The mind boggles.....

Because there is a thing called good business and you have to keep your customers,

Toasting that will be an extra €1
Dollop of Ketchup €0.50
Eating in Charge
Pay for the Toilets
Mineral filled with 80% ice and 20% coke etc.

Ireland was gone to the dogs and I hope every greedy business like this fecks of and goes burst. I would term it the "Ryanairization" where every single thing is charged for, what sort of a business plan is this. Good to see O'Briens crap hit the fan.

TwoShedsJackson · 10-07-2009 04:26PM

GeorgeCostanza wrote: »

Have you any concept of how business is supposed to work? Electricity cost? Labout cost? Why do you think they should offer toasting for free??

The mind boggles.....

It does alright. First up, name another place that charges for toasting two slices of bread.

Second, let's assume the person toasting your bread is on the minimum wage (very likely), call it €8.50 an hour for simplicity. Further we assume it takes one minute to toast two slices of bread.

So, that's €8.50/60 = 14c for one minute, and they don't exactly have to stand over it or continually monitor or adjust any machinery, so cut it to 3c for pushing down a lever, and a cent per slice for fishing it out of the toaster.

Electricity cost for one minute, no idea but you're taking a few hundreths of a cent.

So if we call it 5.003 cent to toast two slices of bread, you honestly think a 1950% markup is ok? You're not in O'Briens middle/upper management are you?

ronaneire · 10-07-2009 04:40PM

Degsy wrote: »

I dont.

I was pointing out the hugely infalted profit margins in these sandwich places...and the stupidity of people who pay 6 quid for two slices of bread and an easy single.

I agree, serves them right if they are willing to pay that price for bread. But I'm sure someone is going to say, "what about overheads, wages blah blah blah"

DublinWriter · 10-07-2009 04:41PM

netwhizkid wrote: »

Who cares about the jobs it is only all eastern europeans who worked there anyway so no Irish effected too much.

...do you think they commuted from Poland to work every day!?!

Nope, they paid Irish landlords and paid Irish VAT on the goods they bought.

It's small-mindedness such as that that has this country in the sh*te.

The gombeen thinking of the drunken Irish slob in a bar in Boston who proclaims that his people 'built this country' (when in reality it was the Chinese and Germans) then moans about the eastern European immigration back home.

Here we all are, dancing about with glee because another indigenous Irish company has hit the wall.

Great stuff lads, I can see us becoming the next global superpower when schadenfreude can be harnessed as atomic energy.

Tchaikovsky · 10-07-2009 04:46PM

DublinWriter wrote: »

The gombeen thinking of the drunken Irish slob in a bar in Boston who proclaims that his people 'built this country' (when in reality it was the Chinese and Germans)

Have you got any facts to back that statement up with?

Dyr · 10-07-2009 04:49PM

DublinWriter wrote: »

It's small-mindedness such as that that has this country in the sh*te.

Ehh, no it was the collapse of our economy, and immigration certainly helped with that.

Degsy · 10-07-2009 04:49PM

DublinWriter wrote: »

...do you think they commuted from Poland to work every day!?!

Nope, they paid Irish landlords and paid Irish VAT on the goods they bought.

It's small-mindedness such as that that has this country in the sh*te.

The gombeen thinking of the drunken Irish slob in a bar in Boston who proclaims that his people 'built this country' (when in reality it was the Chinese and Germans) then moans about the eastern European immigration back home.

Here we all are, dancing about with glee because another indigenous Irish company has hit the wall.

Great stuff lads, I can see us becoming the next global superpower when schadenfreude can be harnessed as atomic energy.

Did people dance with glee when Walshe's spiceburgers went to the wall?

No they didnt because like em or not,spiceburgers are an inexpensive,unique-tasting food that people have come to love.
Also an "indigenous irish company",just like o'briens.
The difference is quality and price.
If spiceburgers were being manufactuered by some perma-tanned gimp with a string of expensive failures behind him at 10 quid a pop then yes,people would be happy when they went bust.

Tchaikovsky · 10-07-2009 04:50PM

DublinWriter wrote: »

Nope, they paid Irish landlords and paid Irish VAT on the goods they bought.

It's small-mindedness such as that that has this country in the sh*te.

Billions of euro have been sent 'home' because of these workers, as opposed to them spending their wages here.

spurious · 10-07-2009 04:54PM

They ate our swans.
I knew 'they' would be to blame somewhere along the line.

Degsy · 10-07-2009 04:58PM

spurious wrote: »

They ate our swans.
I knew 'they' would be to blame somewhere along the line.

Wheras i think "they" could be held largely responsible for the poor customer relations(some eastern europeans NEVER say Please,thank you or kisss my arse when you're dealing with them) the blame for the company going down the tubes must be laid on t he irish owners and thier greed.
I sincerely hope that Cafe en Seine is next.

Sir Humphrey · 10-07-2009 04:59PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

With all the above comments how the fcuk did they survive this long.

Because with the amount of disposable income around most people didn't care about the price or the value for money.

It is still remarkable the amount of people who are willing to pay through the nose for coffee to be taken away in a plastic container and drank at their desk.

But it's not just O'Brien's. It's them all. If you go into Starbucks you pay the more for a sandwich and tea as you would for an entire sliced pan and 80 tea bags in the supermarket. Something has to give.

super_furry · 10-07-2009 04:59PM

GeorgeCostanza wrote: »

Why do you think they should offer toasting for free??

Well how about to keep customers happy, so they continue to be customers, because without customers, you end up is the same ****soup that O'Briens is currently in.

These cowboys had it too good for too long and are now reaping their benefits of taking the customer for granted.

€1 for toasting a €6 sandwich? €1 for a scabby scattering of grated cheese. Sure, they'll pay whatever we tell them. Except, they won't, and you'll go bust.

niceirishfella · 10-07-2009 05:00PM

LOL - it's all DEM FOREIGNHERS fault! Good Lord.

O Briens Sandwich bars in examinership

Comments