South Dublin County Business Person of the Year 2026 , Chimac director Sofie Rooney
South Dublin County business person of the year, Chimac director and co- founder Sofie Rooney
A very big year saw the Tallaght based company close a €500k funding round and launch a new product
CHIMAC director and co-founder Sofie Rooney “never imagined” she would take home the Businessperson of the Year award at the South Dublin Chamber Business Awards at the Maldron Hotel on Thursday night.
The director of the Whitestown-based food brand scooped up the big award after “a very big year” for the company – in July, Chimac closed a €500k funding round that has allowed them to invest in new machinery at their 3,000 sq ft Tallaght site, a new product was kickstarted and a new range of sauces is set to launch this month in Tesco.
Sofie has built Chimac into one of Ireland’s most exciting food brands, with a growing footprint across Ireland, the UK and international markets.
The co-founder, who grew an idea in 2016 into a restaurant and factory nowadays alongside spouse Garrett Fitzgerald, noted that it is “surreal” to be recognised by peers.
Sofie said: “It feels crazy, like surreal. It feels like something that I never imagined was going to happen to me ever. It’s amazing…
“…[It’s been] a very big year. It’s hard to even remember all the things that have happened.
“We did like an amazing little kickstart with a barbecue pork microwaveable burger, which was so exciting to go into something that was outside of our category, and then, we’ve got a new range launching into Tesco this month, which is super exciting.
‘We’ve been working on that for a long time, so there is a lot going on.
“With so much going on, it’s hard to kind of even reflect and see all the things that are happening, because it’s always the next thing.”
The company opened a restaurant in Dublin City in 2019 and launched its retail sauce-making in 2021.
The team spent much of their time following the launch of the retail brand in South Dublin, with a space at Clondalkin’s ACE Enterprise Park initially before the company moved over to the space at South City Business Park.
This year’s investment round is set to grow the company further with the ability to increase its output.
“We’ve invested in machinery in the last two or three months since we closed our investment round, which is just so exciting to see how much we can actually increase our output, and then we can take on new customers because previously we couldn’t really.
“The constraints of how many people you could even have in the unit.
‘We couldn’t bring on that many more people to fill bottles and everything.
‘But now, with investment in machinery, it’s going to open so many doors and it’s going to make so many things possible for us.”
Sofie paid tribute to the help provided by the South Dublin Local Enterprise Office over the years, as well as ACE Enterprise Park, as a revenue stream initially viewed as a side-hustle grew into something more.
At the beginning of Chimac’s life, the director stated that it was only expected to be a chicken restaurant, and that becoming more than that was not part of a company plan, but something the duo developed it into.
Sofie was humbled by the recognition from industry colleagues within the county for the energy put into the development of Chimac, which “meant a lot” to the director of the Tallaght-based brand.
“To get an award like that makes you actually reflect for a moment and think, ‘wow, we’ve actually come a really long way’, and to have recognition from people in the industry, it just means a lot.
“Running a food business is incredibly hard, and obviously we run a restaurant and a factory, which makes it even harder.
“It’s a really tough industry, so this kind of recognition just means so much – to be seen, not just within food and drink but in business as a whole in South Dublin.
“It’s incredible.”
