Coffee Republic, the Arab Investments-backed chain, has appointed Patrick Mooney as its new UK and international head of operations.

Mooney joins the c135-strong chain from Sainsbury’s, where he was project operations manager, which included overseeing the supermarket’s launch of its Fresh Kitchen food-on-the-move concept, according to M&C Report, a sister title of British Baker.

Previous to this he spent two years as an area manager at Eat and over four years at Pret A Manger.

He replaces Vincent Healy, who joined the company at the start of 2011. Healy has left the group to become a retail consultant at Retail Inc.