COOKIE king Richard O'Sullivan could never be accused of biting off more than he can chew.

For the former Whitefield man, who started off working in a Manchester restaurant, has successfully expanded the popular Millie's Cookie chain beyond expectations. And he is hoping to double the size of the business over the next three years.

Irish-born Richard, an energetic 38-year-old, runs a multi-million pound business which could easily boast a prestigious headquarters building.

But he is helping to establish a new brand of "lean but not mean" entrepreneurship. He believes in a "virtual head office" which operates from his five-bedroom home or wherever he happens to be.

After living in Whitefield for the past 17 years Richard recently moved to Lostock, Bolton, but still has a small service office in Bury where he employs a PA and assistant. Day-to-day running is down to Richard and five operations managers who operate from their cars on mobile telephones. Providing incentives for staff and supporting charities are also high on his list of priorities.

His Millie's Cookies chain of which he is the Managing Director has an annual turnover of £25 million, more than 100 outlets throughout the country and about 850 staff. The plan is to double the size of the company in the UK over the next three years and perhaps expanding overseas to Spain and other European countries.

"We don't make any money in the office," he said "If we did I would put a till in. "We would rather invest in people and shops rather than fancy offices."

Richard O' Sullivan was 15 when he arrived in Oxford from Dublin, where his father was a restaurant proprietor and retailer. After school, when his father was ill, he started a restaurant job in Manchester city centre intending to earn enough money to go home to Ireland. But he loved the city so much he decided to stay.

Training in his father's business gave him the experience to manage a 120-seat American hamburger restaurant in Manchester's Arndale Centre at the age of 18.

A year later he "did a deal with the bank" and took over as owner.

He was then approached, through an agency, by London entrepreneur Mario Budwig, the man who founded Millie's Cookies in 1985. The business, which started in the food hall of Selfridges on Oxford Street, London, was named after an aunt who lived in America.

Richard joined in September, 1987 with a brief to expand the business beyond London. At the time there were between 50 and 60 employees and the annual turnover was about £1 million.

The first venture in the north was in the Arndale, Manchester and since then constant progress has included securing a position as one of the top three retailers in Manchester's Trafford Centre.

The acquisition of the Cookie Jar chain of 40 outlets in 1997 was a major part of the expansion push.

These days Mr Budwig remains a partner and Mr Bill Holroyd, founder of the Holroyd Meek distribution brand, is the non-executive chairman.

Richard, who travels between 60,000 and 70,000 miles a year, operates mainly via e-mail and mobile phones.

"I'm a virtual boss," he said. Services which the business needs, such as accounts, personnel functions and marketing, are outsourced to other companies.

A typical day sees Richard getting up at 6am, going to the gym and then starting his working day by monitoring customer complaints.

Millie's produces 45 million cookies a year and written complaints of which there were 129 last year go to a Post Office number on the product which leads to them all being delivered to Richard's home for him to deal with personally.

Richard believes in "incentivising" staff members (they are mainly in their early to mid-20s) with internal competitions carrying prizes ranging from major cash bonuses to trips to the USA and Europe.

Millie's Cookies has donated more than £150,000 over the years to the Variety Club of Great Britain.

Richard, who has a son of 19 and a daughter of 15 from his first marriage, also has a crunch personal date later this year as he is getting married again in September.