Bobby Kerr

Bobby was born in 1960 in Ireland.  He was brought up in Kilkenny where he had his family business.  Currently, he lives in Sandycove with his wife and four daughters.

He is the chairman of Insomnia and is a famous entrepreneur in his country.  He has many business interests including restaurants, hotels and food sectors.  Bobby got into business from a young age.   When he was young, he used to help his father with his 4 star hotel in Kilkenny.  When he was 16, he started learning to cook at the hotel kitchen. For two summers, he sweated in the kitchen and learnt some of the favourite dishes that he cooks even today.

After he graduated from catering management, he started his first job at AIB catering which was in Ballsbridge.  It was not long before he started travelling the world, working on oil rigs as a chef.  He then went to Canada and gained experience in stadium catering.  In 1985, he organised for the catering of about one million people when the Pope visited Canada.

During the mid-1980s, he went back to Ireland and worked at Campbell Catering and then at Bewley’s Oriental Cafes.  He became the Managing Director of Bewley’s Bakery, Bewley’s Franchising and Bewley’s Oriental Café and his responsibility included overseeing the development of the brand in overseas market such as in Japan, USA and UK.   It was in 1999 when he opened PERK coffee shops in Dublin which was later sold to Insomnia.  All the proceeds of the coffee shop sale were reinvested into Insomnia and Bobby became the CEO and shareholder of the company.  From 2004, the business has expanded from 17 shops to 70 shops.  The turnover has increased from 5 million euros to 21 million euros.  In 2010, he stepped down from the position of CEO and became the chairman of Insomnia so he could concentrate of his portfolio of business.

Bobby Kerr EntrepreneurIn 2008, he became a dragon on the popular television show Dragon’s Den and over the first few series he already made about ten investments.   Two years later, he along with his two partners purchased Bang Restaurant.

Aside from being a successful entrepreneur, he is also a public speaker.  He is widely known for his upfront and witty speaking style.  In 2011, Bobby was involved in charity work in Zambia where he built a house for AIDS orphans.

He is also involved in fund raising for a number of charity organisations such as Fairtrade and The Special Olympics.  He also does fund raisings for Blackrock Hospice.  Within the last three years, he has raised more than 75,000 pounds for hospice.  In addition, he has raised more than 40,000 euros for the Habitat of Humanity.

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