Chimac sauce creators looking to grow their business

Whitestown-based Chimac are set to close a funding round later this year worth €500,000 as they look to grow their brand in the retail sector in Ireland and abroad.

The sauce creators are looking to grow their presence on supermarket shelves across Ireland and the UK with their half a million funding round set to close later this year.

The company founded in 2021 by spouses Sofie Rooney and Garrett Fitzgerald, will look to execute this from their 3,000sq ft base in South City Business Park, Tallaght.

The founders of the company also run a restaurant with the same name in the city centre, opened in 2019 after the idea sprouted at home in 2016.

Co-founder Sofie Rooney noted that the funding will help them achieve their goal of expansion in multiple ways.

Sofie said: “We’re looking to really build a team, build the processes, build the factory out, so that we can kind of achieve what we’ve set out – to regrow the business substantially over the next couple of years.

“To date, we’ve been very much bootstrapped, so we’re pretty excited to be able to build as a team, hire a number of key hires that will help us develop our strategy and deliver on it as well.”

Chimac currently offer four sauces to consumers – Sriracha Caramel, Korean BBQ, Korean Hot Sauce and Kimchi Ketchup – as well as other flavours like Espresso BBQ and Whiskey Wing (a collaboration with Limerick’s Foxes Bow Distillery).

They recently launched the Sriracha Caramel product in Aldi and are also set to bring a buffalo sauce to the market later this year – the brand is also seen in Tesco and Marks and Spencer’s in Ireland and Whole Foods in the UK.

A “pre-packaged” product is tipped for the market in September, teasing a different kind of product yet to be added to the Chimac portfolio.

Sofie noted that working out of Tallaght (and Ace Enterprise Park in Clondakin previously) has allowed the company to move forward.

“Initially, we were in Ace Enterprise Park in Clondalkin, which absolutely changed everything for us because it gave us the time and space to have full-time staff.

“Previously, before that, we were working like two/three days a week out of a shared kitchen…

“…When we outgrew [the first space], we’ve been in Tallaght for maybe the last year and a half. We’ve got a 3000 sq ft unit there, so we’ve got five people who work full-time, one person part-time as well.

“So, it’s amazing to have the ability within Dublin to be able to employ people and to be able to build products and have our own development, because it’s hard to come across, so we’re really, really lucky and we absolutely love it.”