Irish Pubs Global hosts 2nd conference in Philadelphia

Irish Pubs Global’s ‘Conference of the Americas’ was held recently at the Crystal Tea Room in Philadelphia and attended by close to 200 Irish Pub owners and managers along with leading industry professionals, suppliers, designers and manufacturers.

The conference followed the inaugural Irish Pubs Global Conference held in Galway last September where owners and managers of Irish pubs outside Ireland gathered for the very first time.

Though the content of the this year’s conference was primarily geared towards the North American and Canadian markets, delegates from Australia, Uganda, Brussels and Mexico also attended, thus reinforcing the belief that “everywhere in the world, you will find an Irish pub”.

Increasing profitability, authenticity, sustainable access to the best of Irish produce and networking were the dominant themes for this year’s  event with an Irish music group, the Mickey Finn Upstarts, specially flown in from Inis Oirr.

The conference provided an excellent forum for networking among pub owners and leading industry professionals and its content was delivered over the course of two-and-a-half days with ample breaks to meet key vendors and to network.

For the event, Irish Pubs Global partnered with Dave Magrogan, founder and Chief Executive of the Dave Magrogan Group. Among other operations, he runs the seven-strong chain of Kildare’s Irish Pubs. His contribution was fundamental to the success of the event as he hosted and provided excellent content on pub profitability and motivational speaking.

Added to this, key members of the group, notably Chief Operating Officer Frank Kaspar, Marketing Director Frank Daly and Managing Partner Jay Murphy all made telling contributions to the proceedings.

Social media and hospitality training guru Barry Chandler, a native of Cork and founder of Barkeeper.ie and Barblogger.com, conducted seminars and open panel discussions on grassroots marketing as well as reinforcing the value of connecting with your patrons and customers through social media channels.

Irishman Dónal Ballance (founder of Ballance Hospitality manageforprofit.com and an independent consulting practice based in Toronto) put on eye-catching presentations of operational and strategic development for Irish Pubs across the US. His wealth of knowledge stems from over 25 years’ experience within the industry and his comprehensive understanding of finance in the hospitality sector.

On the second day the conference split in two with separate content for owners and for managers. In addition to these fora, Conor Cunneen hosted a motivational speaking seminar and Jameson brand ambassador  Stephanie Joyce hosted a comprehensive Jameson whiskey-tasting session.

Irish Pubs Global also used the occasion to honour New York pub owner and President of the New York Restaurant and Tavern Owner’s Association Paul Hurley as the Irish Pubs Global Humanitarian Pub Owner of the Year. The award, presented by Deputy Consul General Jacqueline O’Halloran Bernstein, recognised the contribution that Paul has made to the Irish community in New York for the last number of years, both through his association with the St Patrick’s Day parade and as one of the founders of Fáilte32.

The conference concluded on Wednesday afternoon with a presentation on Irish Pubs Global by Ciara McCarthy, Managing Director of the company, who read the nominations for Irish Pubs Global Chapter Presidents around the world.