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A true love story
A chaotic, sticky story powered by obsession, infatuation and a deep love of food and flavour. It all started with a trip to South Korea where we (Sofie Rooney &Garret FitzGerald) fell head over heels with the Korean cultural phenomenon “Chimaek”.
Pretty much a national pastime, the Korean compound word Chimaek (치맥) comes from “chi”, short for “chikin” plus “Mac” from “maekju”, Korean for beer. That first bite of the crispy, crunchy chicken would change our lives forever..
Find out more about our restaurant below
2014
Love at first bite
We were young and in love. Little did we know that a trip to South Korea for a family wedding would change everything.
In Seoul we fell head over heels in love with the cultural phenomenon which is “Chimaek”. Crispy, crunchy chicken served with irresistible, addictive sauces captured our hearts forever.
We returned to Ireland with a hunger for more..
2017
Someone here stinks of fried chicken
Garret’s experience as a brewer and a chef came in handy as we spent the next three years frying chicken at home. Our hair, clothes and kitchen smelt like oil day and night (this would become a common theme in our lives). Nothing could fill the chicken shaped hole Korea left in our hearts but we kept trying, mixing gochujang and kimchi with Irish cheddar cheese and bending every single rule you could think of.
We returned to Korea to pack as much fried chicken as possible into our swollen bellies, sampling every single variation available - pure research, we swear!
2019
The world’s crispiest Gemini is born
After three years, we had nailed our recipes. With a leap of faith, we both quit our jobs and did what we were born to do - open a fried chicken restaurant in the heart of Dublin city.
Our small menu was packed full of fusion flavour, bringing a unique Irish perspective to Korean fried chicken. We called it “Chimac”, combining the Korean word Chimaek with the Irish word for son “Mac”.
2019
Life After Chicken (AC)
Critics and customers loved it!
We subsisted on a diet of Monster and fried chicken. Sofie got scurvy. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. We barely slept. All was right in our chicken filled world until….
2020
The time that must not be named
The whole world shut down. We operated our restaurant as a take-away with an itsy bitsy skeleton team. While others baked banana bread, we got thinking - how could we bring Chimac to homes across Ireland? The idea to bottle our dream (and sauce) was born!
2021
Sauce on sauce on sauce
We had no big plan, just really great sauce. We started selling our sauces directly from our restaurant. A couple local retailers got wind of this and asked to stock them. Demand started to grow. A whole new business began to rear its sticky head
2022
Keep calm and keep stirring
As our restaurant re-opened to the public, we rented kitchen space by the hour, struggling to keep up as demand began to boom.
We started selling our sauces in the UK. We got the call that Selfridges wanted to stock them and we really couldn’t believe it. At the same time we opened a second branch of Chimac in Terenure and a stall in Dublin's Aviva Stadium. Crazy? Maybe. Obsessed? For sure
2023
The keys to our very first production kitchen
We got the keys to our very own unit in Clondalkin. This was lifechanging. No more sauce tetris. No more carting ingredients in and out every day, no more back injuries (fingers crossed)
2023
DUA tasted our sauce
This was a big year for personal wins. We got married. We won our first Great Taste Award. But best of all… we spotted our Korean Hot Sauce on Dua Lipa’s table. Turns out she’s just like us…obsessed with sauce.
2024
Big wings
In 2024 we popped a bottle (fizzy red for your future reference) a couple times –we won three Great Taste Awards plus another three at Blas na Heireann. We screamed, we cried, we danced to Tiesto The Business till dawn. Then we made more sauce
2024
HELLOOO USA
Yup. 10 year old us honestly would never believe it but we started selling in the US, sending our very first pallet to the States. How cool is that?
2024
Say yes to heaven
We upgraded to our very own factory – with space to grow, expand and make even more sauce. Quite literally what gochujang doused dreams are made of.
2024
We sailed the seven seas
The seven seas aka the Irish channel in a banged up van. We brought Chimac to the people of London with appearances at Wingjam, FUME and a week long popup at the home of Irish hospitality in London, Homeboy
2024
Sachet away
We launched on the shelves of both Aldi and Lidl with our sauces with limited edition drops, making our tasty sauces even more accessible to homes across Ireland. Wahey - we officially infiltrated your weekly shop.
2024
Hello Tesco!!
Our little sauce brand launches in one of Ireland’sbiggest retailers – Tesco. What a moment!
PS: Tesco UK if you’re reading this, call us maybe
2025
Kimchi Ketchup
After 7 months of trials and tests in our development kitchen and with Chimac customers, our kimchi ketchup was born. Umami, bold and packed full of spring onion kimchi, we can’t believe we made it this far without this guy
2025
M&S – yes, yes yes
We kicked off the year with a massive milestone, launching in M&S Ireland - WHAT A DAY!
2025
Launched in Dunnes Stores
Our award-winning sauce sachets launch in Dunnes Stores
