MR G. SHANMUGAM is about as Irish as Mr Phua Chu Kang, but that hasn't stopped him from banking on the luck of the Irish to bring in the dough.

Having cut his teeth in the food business as the boss of well-known Indian restaurant Gayatri, he recently set forth into the fluid world of pubs with The Blarney, an Irish pub-cum-restaurant at the upmarket Sail in Marina Boulevard.

Pubs can be a risky venture and often open and shut faster then one can down a large Guinness.

Mr Shanmugam himself was burnt after he opened an Indian pub called Bottoms Up in Little India in 1990. It closed inside of two years as the competition got too hot.

Despite that bad experience he and his partners boldly sank $850,000 into The Blarney, named after a famous stone in the land of leprachauns, well aware that lurking around the corner was a pub belonging to Harry's, the biggest pub chain in town.

Now, four months on, Mr Shanmugam remains buoyant, convinced that there is room enough for everyone: "I would like both of us to do well so there will be no competition. It's possible. This place is growing. There are banks all around and more are coming up. We're packed on weekdays with the office crowd and I'm hoping we can break even in the next 12 to 18 months."

The Blarney, which claims to have the longest bar in town, serves a combination of Irish and Indian food. Interestingly, the idea came from some of Mr Shanmugam's Scottish friends who felt there were too many English-style pubs in town and not enough Irish ones.

His clients are a mix of locals, Caucasians and Indian expats.

"Having been in the service industry for many years I have encountered lots of people who drink and talk nonsense. Our customers are easy to handle. They expect only good service and we give them that," says Mr Shanmugam, 46.

If things go according to plan, he intends to launch another two Irish pubs next year. His long term plan is to go regional in places like Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.

"I've never been to Ireland but I'll be making a trip soon to check out the pubs there. They use a lot of wood as part of the decor and I want to do the same here," he adds.

The Irish pub business was the last thing on Mr Shanmugam's mind when he left school after his O levels to help his father, Mr Ganesan, in the family's sari and textile business. Things got more hectic when his father, who hailed from Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu, was involved in a car accident and lapsed into a coma.

Mr Shanmugam, who was just 20 years old then, worked hard to keep the business afloat but it was uphill most of the way. From a business point of view there was a disturbing trend - young, educated Indian women were shunning saris, preferring instead the informality of jeans and salwar kameez.

He also observed that many were not keen to learn from their mothers how to cook the delicious curries they had grown up on, preferring to focus on their careers and to eat out with their spouses.

The sari business eventually folded and Mr Shanmugam started a freight forwarding company. But the potential in the food business was never far from his mind and in 1996 he opened Gayatri in Chander Road. It proved to be an instant hit and within two years he bought his own place a stone's throw away, in Race Course Road. He has never looked back since.

"Whatever business I go into, Gayatri will always be closest to my heart," says the president of the Indian Restaurants Association of Singapore. He tried to replicate a Gayatri in Dubai but things did not work out. Then two years ago, he struck gold again with an air-conditioned food court which caters to 9,000 construction workers daily at the Marina Sands worksite.

He has tasted both success and failure in business and long ago learnt from his father not to worry about the risks. "In business, you can be rich and sleep on a comfortable bed. But if things turn bad, you must be prepared to sleep on the floor and get on with your life," he says.

Mr Shanmugam's family helps him at Gayatri. Wife Savathiry keeps a close check on the food quality and eldest son Mahendran, 20, waited on tables to learn the trade before his national service and will be leaving for Switzerland soon to study hotel management. Second son Vikneswaran, 18, is a student at hospitality school Shatec.

While too young to join the family business, Kabilan, 12, and sister Madumitha, 11, are already picking up some tips at the dinner table. Says Mr Shanmugam: "When we sit down to eat, we often end up talking about business. My wife gets irritated when this happens but I don't think it's such a bad thing."

Building a business empire is not easy but with hunger in abundance, he obviously knows the dinner table is a good place to start. .

raj@sph.com.sg