The Bewley's brand name could become as internationally renowned as Jameson Whiskey. if Michael Cummins lives up to his reputation. Mr Cummins, who is credited with establishing Jameson as a whiskey of world repute, starts his new job as chief executive of the Campbell Bewley Group on Monday. His task will be to implement a five-year plan, drawn up by the group, a key part of which will be to develop the Bewley's name overseas.

Acquisitions, either through joint ventures or independently as well as a possible flotation in three or four years time, are also on the cards.

Acknowledged as a leading brand manager, Michael Cummins formerly worked as group marketing director of the Irish Distillers Sales Company. Although he left in 1993, Mr Cummins believes that the work he did has undoubtedly laid the groundwork for the magic one million cases sales mark, for Jameson, which the brand is close to achieving.

Mr Cummins comes to Bewley's at a relatively good time in the company's history. The group returned post tax profits in excess of £1.5 million on turnover of more than £60 million. Last year was a record financial year for the company and its chairman Patrick Campbell says trading this year is well ahead of last year.

The company has franchised two hotels - one attached to Bewley's Cafe in Westmoreland Street, and the second at Newland's Cross in Clondalkin. On paper, the future looks good.

However the company has realised that growth potential in Ireland is limited. To expand and develop, it will be necessary to look outside Ireland. Research has been undertaken in Britain and the US to see how the name would be received.

Patrick Campbell says this has revealed some very interesting findings."

Mr Campbell has long since stated that he would like to split the role of chairman and chief executive. After much searching - the company spent a year looking abroad and in Ireland - it has recruited Mr Cummins.

Michael Cummins has spent the last three years leading a company called Personal Development Consultants (PDC), which helps chief executives focus on what they are doing and helping them decide where they and their companies want to go.

This is done chiefly through a series of intensive personal counselling sessions. Its client list includes Quinnsworth, Abbot Laboratories, Lotus, Canada Life, Cadbury and National Irish Bank.

The Campbell Bewley group has used PDC to train its staff and it was through this work that Mr Campbell met Mr Cummins.

Sources say Mr Cummins' skills in the human resources field should serve him well at Bewley's. The group employs more than 2,000 people and is very much a people business.

The company has identified a programme of improving the quality and efficiency of its products in Ireland and implementing this programme will also be part of Mr Cummins' brief.

He sums his role up simply: to implement the company's programme and add value to the stakeholders.

Building the brand name will inevitably involve franchising, something which has not been a totally happy experience for the group. It terminated three franchises in the North, recently. Chairman Patrick Campbell said they were, being terminated for "commercial reasons. The decision surprised competitors who thought the cafes were trading reasonably well.

Mr Cummins says he will be examining how best to proceed with franchising. There are lessons to be learned at home, he says, which can be carried abroad on the franchising issue.

Competitors are quick to pay tribute to the Bewley's name in Ireland. "It is a great name and has a great tradition," says one source. However, they question whether the name will travel. "Outside Ireland, it is not really a brand name," says one industry expert, "the company would have to spend a large amount of money to establish it."

Bewley's has three distinct divisions catering, cafes and hotels and its tea and coffee business. Competition is intense in all areas.

With 19 restaurants Bewley's believes there is little scope to further develop the restaurant product in Ireland. The tea and coffee business is one where it feels there is growth potential. It controls around 5 per cent of the tea market, but it is a hard market to develop, as Unilever discovered when it launched the Lipton brand in the Republic.

The contract catering sector in Ireland features three main players - Bewley's, Sutcliffe Catering and Gardner Merchant. The latter two players are multinational-subsidiaries. One source describes the Campbell Bewley approach as cost driven, rather than quality driven. Industry sources also say the contract catering market is not growing to any great degree and Mr Cummins will find it hard to make gains in this area.

Various sources also expressed surprise that Bewley's became involved in the hotels business. "Looking back on it, there was a certain synergy there and it makes sense now," says one source.

Mr Cummins' appointment fits in with the company's efforts to diversify. He has experience in virtually all the areas it is working in. He is a founder shareholder and director of the Mulligan's, restaurant and pub chain in Britain and also helped to build the business of FitzgeraId & Co one of Ireland's leading wine and spirit companies.

He began his working life in 1964 when he joined Guinness where he rose quickly and held senior marketing posts with the group in Ireland and the US.

In 1988, eight years after he joined the company, Irish Distillers was taken over by Pernod Ricard, following a protracted and controversial legal dispute with the British food and drinks giant Grand Metropolitian. Mr Cummins found himself in the middle of the battle.

He admits they were turbulent times, but says the experience served him well, as he became very familiar with the financial institutions, part of his role was to make presentations to the fund managers who ultimately decided the outcome of the takeover bid.

Former colleagues believe that the new culture which came with Pernod Ricard didn't suit Mr Cummins, who was used to working for an independent company negotiating only with third parties. He left in 1993 and bought into PDC.

He is described by colleagues as an excellent marketing man, very confident. "He is very committed, very capable," says one source.

Richard Burrows, the chief executive of Irish Distillers, says Cummins was "one of the most professional marketing men that Irish Distillers ever had". He says Mr Cummins made his mark on the company when he established the company's export marketing strategy with Irish whiskey brands.

Others say he is a great strategist and when he devises a plan he lets everyone get on with the task at hand, having established clearly with people what their role is.

Others describe him as a tough businessman, and very self-disciplined. In his job at Personal Management Development he was at his desk at 7.30 a.m. each morning, generally putting in a 55-hour week.

It is understood that his package is in the region of £100,000 plus per annum, with various financial incentives built in, if he meets certain targets.

On the wall of Mr Cummins' unprepossessing office in Blackrock, is a photograph of a black hand passing a baton to a white hand. Underneath it reads: Teamwork - working together means winning together."

Mr Cummins has six years to win the hearts and minds of staff and customers. Whether he can brand Bewley's as successfully as he branded Irish whiskey remains to be seen, but few doubt his commitment and determination.