Insomnia Coffee Company is an Irish chain of coffee shops, with headquarters in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. Its first location opened in the back of a Galway bookshop in August 1997. The company has over 150 cafés and over 400 self-service units in operation around Ireland. Insomnia outlets serve both hot and cold drinks,

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...

es,

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed ingredients, frequently vegetables. They are typically served chilled or at room temperature, though some can be served warm. Condiments called '' salad dressings'', which exist in a variety of flavors, a ...

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...

snack A snack is a small portion of Human food, food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including Food packaging, packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at ho ...

cake Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabor ...

s, and

pastries Pastry refers to a variety of doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bak ...

History

Insomnia has grown from a single location in an

Eason & Son Eason Retail PLC, known as Easons or Eason, is an Irish retail company best known for selling books, stationery, cards, gifts, newspapers and magazines. Headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, it is the largest supplier of books, magazines, and ...

bookshop in

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

in 1997 to an estate of over 150 coffee shops with both directly-owned and franchised outlets, and through partnerships with SPAR/Eurospar, Mace and Londis as well as other Irish retailers such as

, Fresh, Meadows & Byrne, Maxol and

Penneys Primark Limited (; trading as Penneys in Ireland) is an Irish multinational fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original ''Penneys'' brand is not used outside of Irel ...

. In 2003, the company merged with the sandwich company Bendini & Shaw. In 2005, Insomnia acquired the Perk coffee chain. From 2006-2017, the company was equally owned by chairman

Bobby Kerr Bobby Kerr may refer to: * Robert Kerr (athlete) (1882–1963), Irish Canadian sprinter * Bobby Kerr (businessman) (born 1960), Irish entrepreneur and businessman * Bobby Kerr (footballer, born 1901) (1901–1972), Scottish footballer * Bobby Kerr ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Harry O’Kelly, and John Clohisey. In 2010, O'Kelly was appointed CEO and Kerr became chairman. In December 2017, Kerr left the business and sold his shares to the other shareholders. That same month, Clohisey became chairman, CFO Barry Kehoe joined the Board of Directors, and Dara O'Flynn joined as COO. In April 2012, the Insomnia high street franchise was launched. The first franchise café opened in 2013 in St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, Dublin. In 2015, the company announced a new partnership with

Primark Primark Limited (; trading as Penneys in Ireland) is an Irish multinational fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original ''Penneys'' brand is not used outside of Irel ...

, an Irish-based retail chain, which trades in Ireland as

. In 2015, three

Insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have difficulty sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low ene ...

concession cafés were rolled out at Penneys in Waterford, Swords and Athlone, with Liffey Valley opening in 2016. In 2015, Insomnia expanded to the United Kingdom, with a café opening in

Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, close to the border with Northamptonshire. The population was 24,779 at the United Kingdom census, 2021, 2021 census. It is the ad ...

. It continued to expand in 2016, opening three more UK cafés in Calver, Laceby and Bromley, which was the first of seven cafés in partnership with Primark. As of September 2022, Insomnia has over 100 cafés in the UK, having most recently opened an outlet in Eastham, Wirral in 2022, in partnership with the Central England Co-operative. In 2016, a new franchise partnership developed between Insomnia and Maxol, which saw the first outlet opening in Mulhuddart Service Station in April 2016. In 2018, Insomnia's first coffee drive-thru opened in partnership with Maxol at Maxol Ballycoolin in the heart of the Dublin Enterprise Zone.

Products

Insomnia offers a range of beverages, including tea, coffee and hot chocolate. It also offers food options, including sandwiches, filled baguettes, panini, focaccia, flatbreads, wraps, ciabattas, salads and soups.

History

Products

See also

References

Further reading