Asia Briefing: Eoin & Julie Flanagan, Siam Thai restaurant

Next year, the Siam Thai restaurant chain in Dublin celebrates its 21st birthday. The business was started by Peter Flanagan, a painter-decorator who always wanted to get into the food sector. A holiday in Thailand inspired him to introduce Thai cuisine to Ireland; he opened his first restaurant in Malahide in 1993 and a second in Monkstown in 1998.

Two of Flanagan’s children, Eoin and Julie, started helping out in the restaurants as youngsters and later gravitated towards the family business after graduating from college.

"We approached our Dad about getting fully involved in the business and he was delighted," Eoin Flanagan says. "He has since retired and Julie and myself run the company.

“Our brother, Robert, is the manager in Malahide. Myself and Julie frequently muck in in the restaurants, as keeping standards high is our main priority, a lesson our father unknowingly taught us through his ‘hands-on’ approach when we worked for him at the start.

“A lot of hard work has gone into establishing Siam’s reputation as a provider of quality, authentic Thai food (all of our chefs are Thai) but we have also had good luck. On three occasions we have been approached to sell or move on for significant sums of money.”

'Boom-time frantic'
Having taken over the reins from their father in 2002, the young Flanagans opened a high-profile outlet opposite the RDS in Ballsbridge. In 2003 they opened another in the city centre.

“We hit the ground running in Ballsbridge as it was boom-time frantic,” Flanagan says. “The city centre outlet also went well, but the layout of the premises wasn’t ideal. When we were approached with a buy-out offer, we took it. My Dad had previously been bought out in Monkstown. In 2006, at the height of the boom, our Ballsbridge landlord offered to buy us out. We effectively relocated the Ballsbridge restaurant to a new outlet in the Dundrum Town Centre.”

In 2006 the Flanagans gave the Siam Thai its first major makeover to reflect a more contemporary style.

“My Dad is a traditionalist, which is good in some ways, but we wanted a more contemporary image for the restaurants,” Flanagan says. “Indeed, we are planning another refresh now to keep everything feeling modern and up to date. We would also like to get back into the city centre in a new location.”

Two years ago they decided to promote the company with a food trailer at festivals, which in turn provided the inspiration for a new takeaway outlet in Ranelagh.

“People were always asking for takeaways, but I think you’re either a restaurant or a takeaway, not both,” Flanagan says. “One of our senior chefs has moved over, and the takeaway offers the same quality food as the restaurants.”

Turnover
Between its outlets in Malahide, Dundrum and Ranelagh, Siam Thai employs 110 people and has a turnover in the order of €5 million. Footfalls at the restaurants have remained the same despite the downturn but customers are spending less.

“We didn’t see any drop for the first few years of the recession,” Flanagan says. “The impact has been in the last two and sales have fallen by about 10 per cent. The good weather also affected sales this summer with people preferring barbecues at home to eating out.

“We haven’t had to lay off people but we have streamlined our service to make it more efficient and to minimise the number of new hires. The current environment is challenging, as food and other costs are always going up. I guess some restaurateurs would react by trying to source cheaper ingredients. For us, the quality of our food is paramount and we are not prepared to compromise.”

Flanagan says the recession has made customers very value-conscious. Special offers, such as the early-bird menu, have played an important role in sustaining trade. In an effort to extend footfall into the evenings, Siam Thai has introduced a “Night Owl Menu” that takes over when the early bird ends and offers similar meal deals. Both restaurants have full licences and live music which attracts customers.

Loyalty card
In 2012 they introduced a loyalty card scheme which now has about 10,000 members.

“The card means we can contact customers directly without being intrusive,” Flanagan says. “Getting information out there about offers was always a challenge. We try to run weekly promotions and to change our menus regularly to keep people coming back.”

Siblings running a business might strike some people as a recipe for disaster but Flanagan says it is strength.

“We have different roles and Julie is good cop to my bad cop. We talk every day and you can really say what’s on your mind in a way you couldn’t with someone who wasn’t a member of your family. We come at things in different ways but when we pool the ideas we usually get a better outcome. Our Dad was happy to step back but he is still in the background and is an excellent mentor.”