Jack and Theo Kirwan: ‘We were down to fewer than 100 orders a day during the pandemic – but it kept us alive and focused’

The Sprout & Co owners and brothers on growing their business, going viral on TikTok while Theo was in intensive care, and how their love of food has strengthened their bond

Sprout & Co owners Theo and Jack Kirwan. Photo: Matt Russell

Katy McGuinness

It’s Monday morning on Dublin’s Camden Street, where brothers Jack and Theo Kirwan opened the seventh branch of their Sprout & Co restaurant last month. The space was formerly home to Listons, a Dublin institution still lamented by those who live in the city centre, a forerunner of fancier spots such as Fallon & Byrne, with a history of good food embedded in the fabric of the building.

A wall of salad leaves — many grown on Jack and Theo’s own organic farm — at the far end of the restaurant draws the eye. The familiar green and white livery of the menu on the wall confirms that though this is a new location, everything on offer, from the box-fresh smart interior to the assembly line of pristine ingredients and the cheerful staff, is just the same as it is in the branches of Sprout dotted around Dublin 2 and 4 and in Kildare Village.