SUPERMAC's, Ireland's answer to McDonald's, may not yet enjoy the generic status of its American, multinational, counterpart, but if Pat McDonagh's five-year plan bears fruit the Irish burger restaurant company is going to become a major fast-food player.

Mr McDonagh, managing director of the chain, plans to expand the group of family restaurants to 50, more than doubling its size within the next few years. Just last week, the company unveiled plans to launch 10 new restaurants this year, creating 500 jobs.

The new restaurants, which will be a combination of company-owned operations and franchises, will be launched in areas such as Westmeath, Dundalk and Galway. Supermac's currently has 24 restaurants, employing around 1,600 people, nationwide. Last year the group's gross turnover was around £24 million and operating profit was 10-15 per cent according to the company.

The current expansion will be funded partly from internal resources and partly from borrowings, which currently amount to around £4.5 million.

Over the past few years the company's turnover has been growing at around 15-20 per cent. Turnover for 1996 is forecast to be around £30 million.

It is all far removed from the position its managing director was in less than 20 years ago. Mr McDonagh, who was born in Galway and has expanded his business from there, was teaching at Kilrickle national school, on the Galway Road. Although he spent five years teaching at the school, he knew that teaching was not for him.

He felt that he would be doing the same thing at 65 as he had at 21, and decided on a career change. It was 1978 and at the time he was supplying pool tables to local pubs, a part-time job which paid well as pool very much in vogue.

He made an abortive planning application for a pool hall in nearby Ballinasloe. He looked around the town and decided it needed a takeaway. He split the premises, a former supermarket in two, a clothes shop took one half, he took the other.

McDonagh knew nothing about food, so he hired a chef from Hayden's Hotel in the town. Their speciality was to provide fresh burgers cooked to order.

Eighteen months later he opened a take-away in Gort, Co Galway and then opened one in Galway city. In 1983 he moved into the fast-food restaurant business. He opened Supermac's in Race Week of that year - hungry racegoers packed the restaurant and dispelled Mr McDonagh's initial trepidation about the wisdom of a west of Ireland fast-food outlet. With the confidence, experience and cash flow gained from this venture, he opened another restaurant beside University College Galway. The group's business grew steadily as more and more outlets opened.

For Mr McDonagh, success has been achieved through anticipating and providing what the customer wants. Although often compared to McDonalds and Burger King, Supermac's restaurants have a wider menu and include items such as kebabs, pizzas and ice cream.

In small towns, he points out, you have a smaller customer base and you must supply a greater variety of food. Supermac's claims to have been the first fast-food operation to introduce curried chips and Mr McDonagh prides himself on the fact that Supermac's chips are made from real as opposed to reconstituted potatoes.

Hard work has played its part too. During his first two years in the fast-food restaurant business he took no holidays and worked weekends. It was not purely a case of a puritanical approach to work - he could not afford to employ people to do certain tasks for him.

"He is often seen in the Supermac's branch at 3 a.m. at weekends, just watching what is going on," says one associate. "Or sometimes he sits in his car outside the branch, observing the operation and how it is working".

McDonagh is liable to call in at any branch, without warning, at any time, according to associates. "He spends a lot of time travelling to branches," says one source.

He works a 12-hour day and his wife, Una, is also involved in the business. They met while she was working at a Supermac's branch. They now have four children.

Mr McDonagh is not an active socialiser, but he does attend various functions. A friend says he is not ostentatious and does not flaunt his wealth.

As a businessman he commands the respect of his peers: "He runs a tight operation," says a colleague. "If there is a problem he is the one you deal with. He makes the decisions, he never has to refer back to anybody."

Mr McDonagh's management team is a similarly tight operation, it comprises himself, his wife, two area managers, two marketing managers, a personnel manager and an accountant.

Like others in the fast food business, Supermac's employs a lot of part-time staff. In a sector not noted for high staff earnings, Mr McDonagh says the company pays £3.50-£5 per hour to full-time staff, depending on experience and length of service. Union sources say these are low rates and have written to Supermac's seeking to organise its workforce but the company has not been forthcoming. Mr McDonagh says the company does not need the services of a trade union because staff feel they can work out any problems themselves.

Mr McDonagh is said to be acutely aware of the importance of marketing. He identifies his competition as the multinational chains operating in the sector.

Marketing for Supermac's means expenditure of £100,000 a year on sponsorship and £200,000 a year on advertising. Although the 42-year-old Mr McDonagh is no longer active in sport, he is keenly interested in hurling, football, soccer and rugby.

Supermac's logo is familiar to followers of the Galway hurling team and is also worn by underage teams in Clare, Limerick, Carlow, Laois, Kilkenny and Waterford. The chain also supports arts festivals in Galway, Carlow and Waterford as well as the Ballinasloe Horse Fair.

Supporting community and sporting projects and providing local employment are part of the reward for successful enterprise, according to Mr McDonagh. And, more pragmatically, he believes that if he supports the local community and economy, whether it be in Limerick, Galway or Carlow, then it will support him when he is trading.

His strategy has paid off. Supermac's currently serves around 25,000 customers per day and there are offers from abroad to open branches in localities including Boston and Moscow. Mr McDonagh is looking at one particular overseas proposition, but says it is still at a very early stage.

For now Mr McDonagh is content to concentrate on making Supermac's a household name in every town in Ireland.