Chairman of Insomnia Coffee, Newstalk Radio Presenter, Entrepreneur and Dragon's Den Investor
Bobby is the Chairman of Insomnia coffee, a weekend radio presenter on Newstalk 106-108FM. He presents “Down to Business” the popular business show on Saturday at 10am and “Bobby’s Late Breakfast” a lifestyle magazine show at 9.00am of Sunday mornings. He was one of the original Dragons on Dragon’s Den for the first 4 years of the series. Although he has left the series to look at other broadcasting opportunities he continues to be actively involved with the 9 investments he made during the series. Bobby is a popular business, entrepreneurial and motivational speaker.
Bobby started out on his own in the coffee business after leaving Bewleys in 1998. From small beginnings Bobby is Co-owner of a company that has 140 shops and the coffee brand Insomnia is also available in over 300 Spar & Mace convenience stores. Strategic partnerships with Debenhams and Primark have resulted in Insomnia now having a presence in the UK with 10 stores located there. Insomnia now sells more than 16 million drinks annually and employs over 500 people.
Bobby’s other business interests are in a variety of sectors including food and hospitality, technology, hardware and exhibition. Best known in Ireland as a ‘Dragon’ on the Irish TV version of Dragons’ Den, Bobby is also a popular public speaker and business mentor. Since 2010, Bobby has been presenting a Newstalk radio show ‘Down to Business’ now on Saturday mornings at 10am. The show has been very well received, has a listenership of over 100,000 and covers a wide range of business topics in a positive, down to earth, Saturday morning manner. More recently he has started to present “Bobby’s Late breakfast” on Sunday mornings. This relaxed upbeat life style show features music, food, modern history and a weekly profile interview with a well know guest.
Bobby’s other broadcasting TV show Along Home Shores for UTV Ireland (now B3) has been really well received by the Irish public and had very strong viewing figures. This spectacularly shot production by ShinAwil sees Bobby rambling around maritime Ireland and looking at coastal towns and inland waterways. The first series of 8 episodes saw bobby circumnavigate Ireland and portray the stunning Irish coastline as well as our rivers and lakes.
Bobby is passionate about small business. He sat for 3 years on the board of Microfinance Ireland (MFI). MFI is a not for profit lender that provides loans to small businesses of less than 10 employees with a turnover of less than €2m. This organisation has €90 million in funds to lend to small business over the next 10 years As well as his involvement on the board Bobby also sat on the Credit Control Committee, responsible for reviewing the terms of credit agreements. Bobby is also a member of the Small Business Advice Programme – a targeted programme set up to provide free advice and support to SME’s.
Bobby is actively involved in the food and hospitality sector. He recently worked on the catering tender for Croke Park – responsible for reviewing and evaluating the tender process for the contract to provide catering services to Croke Park. As part of this project Bobby evaluated the existing offering, reviewed best practice at other European and American stadiums, prepared the tender document and contributed to the tender evaluation and recommendations.
Bobby was chairman of the business development group for An Post, a group set up by the Minister of Communications in 2015 to decide the future of the Post Office in both urban and rural Ireland. Having completed the “Kerr report” after working on its content and implementation for 2 years’ Bobby has a unique insight into the challenges facing business in rural Ireland.
Bobby currently serves as a non-executive director for the DIT Foundation. This foundation is responsible for fundraising of over €7 million and overseeing the amalgamation of over 30 colleges to one site in Grangegorman Dublin 1.
In 2010, Bobby changed his role in Insomnia from CEO to Chairman in order to allow him to focus more attention on his new Dragons’ Den investments, such as Prevent a Puncture, BinTrasher, Uncle Aidans Flour and many more. In addition, he is a shareholder in BANG Restaurant, a popular cosmopolitan restaurant located on Merrion Row in Dublin. Bobby’s public speaking career has taken off as well. He is regularly giving motivational speeches including valuable pieces of business advice once or twice a week to a variety of organisations.
Bobby lives by the sea in Sandycove, just outside Dublin City, with his wife Mary and their four daughters. He is actively involved in raising money for several Charities, including The Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity and Saint Luke’s Hospital. In 2010 Bobby raised over €42K for Habitat for Humanity by taking part in building trip in Zambia. In addition, Bobby is actively involved in raising money for Blackrock Hospice. Through the organising of Fitzgerald’s Sailing Regatta and public speaking, he has raised over €100K for the hospice in the last three years. He has been a keen yachtsman for the last 25 years and races competitively in Dun Laoghaire.
In 2015 bobby was diagnosed with head and neck cancer and has successfully overcome the disease. He has recently embarked on a fund-raising initiative and raised a further 12K for St Luke’s Hospital in 2016 with the “Along Home Shores” photographic exhibition.
Bobby is the Chairman of Insomnia coffee, a weekend radio presenter on Newstalk 106-108FM. He presents “Down to Business” the popular business show on Saturday at 10am and “Bobby’s Late Breakfast” a lifestyle magazine show at 9.00am of Sunday mornings. He was one of the original Dragons on Dragon’s Den for the first 4 years of the series. Although he has left the series to look at other broadcasting opportunities he continues to be actively involved with the 9 investments he made during the series. Bobby is a popular business, entrepreneurial and motivational speaker.
Bobby started out on his own in the coffee business after leaving Bewleys in 1998. From small beginnings Bobby is Co-owner of a company that has 140 shops and the coffee brand Insomnia is also available in over 300 Spar & Mace convenience stores. Strategic partnerships with Debenhams and Primark have resulted in Insomnia now having a presence in the UK with 10 stores located there. Insomnia now sells more than 16 million drinks annually and employs over 500 people.
Bobby’s other business interests are in a variety of sectors including food and hospitality, technology, hardware and exhibition. Best known in Ireland as a ‘Dragon’ on the Irish TV version of Dragons’ Den, Bobby is also a popular public speaker and business mentor. Since 2010, Bobby has been presenting a Newstalk radio show ‘Down to Business’ now on Saturday mornings at 10am. The show has been very well received, has a listenership of over 100,000 and covers a wide range of business topics in a positive, down to earth, Saturday morning manner. More recently he has started to present “Bobby’s Late breakfast” on Sunday mornings. This relaxed upbeat life style show features music, food, modern history and a weekly profile interview with a well know guest.
Bobby’s other broadcasting TV show Along Home Shores for UTV Ireland (now B3) has been really well received by the Irish public and had very strong viewing figures. This spectacularly shot production by ShinAwil sees Bobby rambling around maritime Ireland and looking at coastal towns and inland waterways. The first series of 8 episodes saw bobby circumnavigate Ireland and portray the stunning Irish coastline as well as our rivers and lakes.
Bobby is passionate about small business. He sat for 3 years on the board of Microfinance Ireland (MFI). MFI is a not for profit lender that provides loans to small businesses of less than 10 employees with a turnover of less than €2m. This organisation has €90 million in funds to lend to small business over the next 10 years As well as his involvement on the board Bobby also sat on the Credit Control Committee, responsible for reviewing the terms of credit agreements. Bobby is also a member of the Small Business Advice Programme – a targeted programme set up to provide free advice and support to SME’s.
Bobby is actively involved in the food and hospitality sector. He recently worked on the catering tender for Croke Park – responsible for reviewing and evaluating the tender process for the contract to provide catering services to Croke Park. As part of this project Bobby evaluated the existing offering, reviewed best practice at other European and American stadiums, prepared the tender document and contributed to the tender evaluation and recommendations.
Bobby was chairman of the business development group for An Post, a group set up by the Minister of Communications in 2015 to decide the future of the Post Office in both urban and rural Ireland. Having completed the “Kerr report” after working on its content and implementation for 2 years’ Bobby has a unique insight into the challenges facing business in rural Ireland.
Bobby currently serves as a non-executive director for the DIT Foundation. This foundation is responsible for fundraising of over €7 million and overseeing the amalgamation of over 30 colleges to one site in Grangegorman Dublin 1.
In 2010, Bobby changed his role in Insomnia from CEO to Chairman in order to allow him to focus more attention on his new Dragons’ Den investments, such as Prevent a Puncture, BinTrasher, Uncle Aidans Flour and many more. In addition, he is a shareholder in BANG Restaurant, a popular cosmopolitan restaurant located on Merrion Row in Dublin. Bobby’s public speaking career has taken off as well. He is regularly giving motivational speeches including valuable pieces of business advice once or twice a week to a variety of organisations.
Bobby lives by the sea in Sandycove, just outside Dublin City, with his wife Mary and their four daughters. He is actively involved in raising money for several Charities, including The Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity and Saint Luke’s Hospital. In 2010 Bobby raised over €42K for Habitat for Humanity by taking part in building trip in Zambia. In addition, Bobby is actively involved in raising money for Blackrock Hospice. Through the organising of Fitzgerald’s Sailing Regatta and public speaking, he has raised over €100K for the hospice in the last three years. He has been a keen yachtsman for the last 25 years and races competitively in Dun Laoghaire.
In 2015 bobby was diagnosed with head and neck cancer and has successfully overcome the disease. He has recently embarked on a fund-raising initiative and raised a further 12K for St Luke’s Hospital in 2016 with the “Along Home Shores” photographic exhibition.
