Fit For A President

Supermac’s owners Pat and Una McDonagh have taken on a fresh challenge with the opening of a €7 million MSA at Moneygall in Co Offaly, a region now famous as the ancestral home of US President, Barack Obama.

At present, Barack Obama Plaza is the only services outlet on the M7, which links Dublin with Limerick.

Employing more than 70 people, these extensive new facilities – which opened at the beginning of June – include a large food court, a motor accessory shop, a convenience store, a 20-space truck stop, a suite of meeting rooms and a unique interpretive centre built to highlight President Obama’s family ties to the region.

Speaking to IFCR recently, Pat said that Barak Obama Plaza – which covers 20,000 sq ft – was probably the biggest scheme that his company had taken on to date.

He added, however, that he was “very optimistic” and said that he believed it had the potential to become “a top performing site”.

“This is an expensive project, but we look at this as the next big business opportunity for us,” he added.

“It’s an area of real business growth and it’s where we see the future.”

The convenience store element of the Plaza is branded by SPAR and following Pat’s positive experience with Topaz at another of his sites – Mac’s Place in Mallow – he decided to work with the oil company again at Moneygall.

The President’s great-greatgreat-grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, emigrated to New York from Moneygall in 1850 and now Henry Healy – Mr Obama’s closest living Irish relative – has come on board as manager of the Plaza site.

*Read the full interview in the latest issue of Ireland’s Forecourt & Convenience Retailer magazine