Supermac’s, Ireland’s largest indigenous fast food chain was the latest company to appear on TV3’s The Apprentice. The Apprentice which is the same format as in the UK and the US, but this time the boss, Irish entrepreneur Bill Cullen, is offering the successful candidate a role working in his organisation for 12 months and a salary of €100,000. The launch of the show has been a great success.
The team’s task was to see who could gain the highest net profit in the stores from 8am that morning until 3 o’clock that day. They were divided into two mixed teams and split between Supermac’s in O’Connell St, Dublin and Eyre Sq, Galway stores. Jackie Lavin was overseeing the team from Eyre Square and Brian Purcell was overseeing the team in O’Connell St.
Pat McDonagh, the managing director of Supermac’s said that it was a great opportunity for Supermac’s to be broadcast to the nation on such a high profile programme”
“It was interesting to see the different sales tactics employed by the teams used to win the task. The Galway team took my advice on board a lot better in that they brought in new customers and were more effective at upselling to customers in the store,” said Pat.
The teams were not allowed to adjust anything within the stores. They had to use their own initiative and business know-how to win the task. The Dublin team targeted the corporate market and did a lot of on the ground work outside the store to try and attract customers, while the Galway team used local Galway celebrities such as Joe Canning and the city mayor Padraig Conneely to make in-store appearances. This was promoted by flyers they had printed for the occasion. The local angle worked very well for the Galway team. The Dublin team never got going and the fact that they didn’t spend their marketing seed money cost them in the end.
With Joe Canning’s input, the Galway team won handsomely in the end.
