Pub mentors. Greets Inn, Warnham. The Great Lyde, Yeovil. The Elephant, Bristol. College Arms, Stratford

Transcription

1 Pub menors Offering help in overcoming he significan challenges facing pubs is he key heme of Pub Menor, he brand-new join iniiaive from Coca-Cola Enerprises Open More Business and he Publican s Morning Adveriser. The Elephan, Brisol The Grea Lyde, Yeovil Grees Inn, Warnham College Arms, Sraford

2 2 Pub menors Exper knowledge: he Pub Menors will be helping he pubs over a hree-monh period 3 Realising pub poenial Helping hands Offering help in overcoming he significan challenges facing pubs is he key heme of Pub Menor, he brand-new join iniiaive from Coca- Cola Enerprises Open More Business and he Publican s Morning Adveriser. Michelle Perre repors Round able The ground-breaking Pub Menor scheme, launched by he Publican s Morning Adveriser (PMA) and Coca-Cola Enerprises Open More Business, was inroduced a a roundable a Coca-Cola Enerprises (CCE) CLIC (Collaboraion, Learning & Insighs Cenre) las week. Wih he rigorous search over for he four pubs we-led, communiy, ciy and counry he even, chaired by PMA group edior Paul Chariy, saw he menors, represenaives from he pubs and senior members of he CCE Open More Business scheme discuss he challenges faced by he pub secor. The pubs will be menored by four experienced reail expers, Ali Carer, Jay Smih, Alasair Sco and Phil Davison, who will help hem build heir businesses over a hreemonh period. As par of he iniiaive, a CCE exper will visi all he pubs and give invaluable advice on improving heir sof drinks offer. During he roundable, he aendees discussed he main changes ha have happened o he pub secor over he pas 10 years, he challenges facing he secor and he fuure for he rade. Food Alasair Sco: Ten years ago, pub food was prey dreadful and skills were prey low. If you know how o do food and do i righ you sill have a massive advanage. I is sill surprising how many pubs do food badly. I hink abou a quarer of pubs do food well and only abou half of hose know how o make money ou of i. I don mind if someone serves microwaved food if hey are going o sell a lo of i and make some money ou of i. When I worked a Michells & Bulers (M&B) we used o have Sizzling Pubs serving seak & chips for 3.99 and we learned how o make I hink abou a quarer of pubs do food well and only abou half of hose know how o make money ou of i money ou of ha. Res assured, here was a poin a M&B when quie a few of he food businesses did no make money. The real challenge is o conver food sales o profi. Ali Carer: The skills shorage is absoluely criical when we are alking food. Tha pus a lo of food operaors ino very weak posiions. AS: I was in a pub recenly wih wo very good business people. I wandered around he kichen for a few minues and hen asked hem how long hey spen in he kichen. They said: None we don like i. And i showed. Their kichen manager was having hem over and probably had abou hree imes oo much labour. I really upses me when people pu heir life savings ino a pub and hen avoid he very issues ha can make hem successful or fail. Phil Davison: If you have an owner who can also work in he kichen heir eye is a lo more criical and hey won have he chef holding hem over a barrel. One of he problems publicans have is when hey are decen cooks and hey build he business up hey ge o ha crossroads of wheher o employ a chef. Jay Smih: If you go somewhere ha has a licensee who is über-conscious of he kichen and he sandards and he process, you find ha whoever is lef in charge of he bar is lifing his leg. And hen you ge he reverse. If he licensees are no ineresed in Marin Sampson, ou-of-home shopper markeing conroller a Coca-Cola Enerprises CCE s Pub Menors projec is an imporan par of our invesmen his year as we look o help licensees realise he commercial opporuniies available o hem, by giving hem he suppor and guidance o help unlock headroom and open more business. This includes maximising sales and driving profiabiliy in all areas of heir pub. One area of focus will be he poenial of sof drinks revenue, which is ofen overlooked. Sof drinks, worh 4bn in on-premise sales, are now he hird larges caegory in he on-rade afer food and alcohol and should, herefore, be a major focus for licensees waning o find ways o increase heir sales and help keep cusomers coming back o heir pubs. In an increasingly compeiive marke, pubs mus coninue o ensure hey offer a beer experience han people can have a home, and ha includes he sof drinks proposiion. Execuing he basics brillianly for a beer qualiy experience is Sof drinks, worh 4bn in on-premise sales, are now he hird larges caegory in he on-rade afer food and alcohol simple o implemen and addresses he common consumer percepions of sof drinks in pubs. These focus around a limied choice, ofen invisible o he cusomer and served poorly, ulimaely represening poor value for money and wihou he heare ha is so imporan in he ou-of-home environmen. Having a good choice of sof drinks will encourage cusomers o buy more across your range, and here is a need o make ha range visible. Wih a growing focus on food, menu visibiliy is key for sof drinks as hey mainain he highes incidence wih food of any drinks caegory. Qualiy of serve Finally, qualiy of serve is also vial. Make sure you re puing as much ime and effor ino a sof-drink serve as you would pouring he perfec pin. Like many hings, serving a perfec sof drink in a branded glass is no a difficul science and i is reassuring o he cusomer, bu i is concerning how much inconsisency here is in he markeplace. If we wan o increase he number of cusomers buying a second and hird drink, we have o ge he firs one righ. Over he nex hree monhs, we will work closely wih he PMA, he Pub Menors and he four chosen pubs o ensure hey are execuing Brillian Basics while exploring oher opporuniies o increase heir sof-drinks sales and, in urn, maximising overall revenue. We hope you enjoy following he programme and are inspired o coninue o give your cusomers a beer sof-drinks experience han a home. Trade consulan: Ali Carer, pub menor, we-led pub Caon Consuling: Alasair Sco, pub menor, ciy pub Former BII Licensee of he Year: Phil Davison, pub menor, counry pub TV campaigner: Jay Smih, pub menor, communiy pub Lawrence Gould, CCE caegory insigh manager Marin Sampson, CCE ou-of-home shopper markeing conroller morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

3 4 Pub menors 5 he kichen, and hey are ou fron bragging abou how amazing he wine collecion is, he kichen manager is normally having hem over. If you can respec boh pars of he business, hen have only one par of he business. Service AC: Service is geing beer, alhough i is one sep forward, wo seps back someimes in erms of being able o access raining. The naure of he beas is ha a pub is open all hours and o rain saff while i is sill funcioning is one of he bigges challenges. Add ino ha he saff working in he morning, or afernoons only, he weekend saff and hose who come back from universiy raining is one of he bigges challenges o enhance service levels and ge people o buy ino wha hey are serving. PD: Wha gives pubs he poin of difference is he people running hem and he way hey look afer service. For my pub, people have o drive pas hree discoun pubs o ge o me a Sizzling pub, one ha does wo meals for 8 and a Harveser. I hink our food is good and consisen, bu he one hing ha has brough success is he service. Every member of my eam knows wha hey have o do and ha has come hrough having very sric disciplines and procedures. Saff have a golden checklis and we rack every cusomer from he minue hey come hrough he door. JS: I only hink service has go a bi beer because cusomers are a lo more vocal abou crap service. They are exposed o good service ofen in differen counries and differen environmens. There are sill a grea number of pubs being run by people where you wonder if hey have ever been ou. You arrive, you ge a crap drink, in a crap glass, wih a wheel of Joanna Arevalo, he College Arms, Sraford-upon-Avon I is mean o be fanasy island people are coming ino he pub o forge abou life ouside lemon in he op so you can drink i. You order some food and i s no very good and hey end up apologising for i before i even arrives. The problem is ha you have now aken away he fun of going ou. I is supposed o be fanasy island people are coming ino he pub o forge abou life ouside. They don really care if you are sruggling. Wha hey care abou is having a pin, a bie o ea and socialising wih heir friends. When here are a lo of people in our indusry who don undersand wha he pub is supposed o be delivering, hen we are always going o sruggle from a service poin of view. AC: I hink wha JD Weherspoon has done for service over he pas 10 years has been phenomenal. I is leading he way on how i rains is saff o do some of he basics really well. The company moniors hings and has los of mysery shoppers o check hings have been done. They check if you were offered a range of beers and a range of glass sizes. AS: Someimes we can forge ha food and drink is imporan, bu hospialiy is why people come ou. They wan o go away wih an experience. Sof drinks Marin Sampson: If you run a weled pub, he choice of real ales migh be he reason he consumer goes ino he venue. Bu if hey go in for Marilyn Herdman, he College Arms, Sraford-upon-Avon food, sof drinks is he caegory of choice. You can le yourself down on some of he supporing caegories such as sof drinks. You can do a grea job offering a lovely meal for a group of friends who are meeing for lunch in a pub. If you serve hem a fla sparkling sof drink wih no ice or no garnish or no necessarily in a branded glass, you are devaluing some of he overall proposiion. Lawrence Gould: We have seen cusomers (publicans) who wan o alk abou he sof drinks caegory now and no jus abou he price. They are ineresed in wha we can do o help hem sell more and make i a beer serve. Evenually, hey migh wan o alk abou price oo, bu i is no jus abou ha anymore. MS: We have seen a greaer swichon from some of he key operaors he big managed chains on offering choice and qualiy of serve. We have seen a greaer demand for our glassware our visibiliy ools which communicae here is a grea qualiy Coke served here. Invesmen in saff and consisency of serve is really imporan, as our brands are in he hands of ohers. I is imporan ha we inves in ha and we have seen a greaer call for saff raining. The drinks offer Paul Chariy: The ruh is ha wo hings have happened since he Beer Orders. More range is available wihin he pub environmen, which is a good hing. The second hing is ha beer has become, in erms of margin, a challenged caegory. If you apply raional hough o his here are beer margins o be made if you focus on sof drinks, spiris or wine. Duncan Enwisle, he Grees Inn, Warnham, Wes Sussex JS: The sandard of drink offer in he pas 10 years has jus exploded. We are no jus places selling wine ha you wouldn wan o sprinkle on your chips. And he real-ale explosion has come along o couner he decline in beer sales. I is a shame ha acually a lo of places carry oo many producs. The number of pubs you go ino and here is a bole of Belvedere and you have o ask why? Who behind he bar knows how o do jusice o his? AC: Consumers undersanding of brands in general has shifed so much in he pas 10 years. People didn ge brands hey weren prepared o pay more for brands. The whole branding issue has enered every aspec of life and has mean ha i is now somehing ha is demanded. JS: Five years ago we would no have had branded glassware in our unis and we considered i cheap a o pu in he bin. The good qualiy beers ha came along wih good qualiy glassware changed people s percepion of having branded glassware in he uni. I means ha people are used o holding somehing in heir hands ha represens a produc hey are consuming. I has sared o become par of he process of giving some auheniciy o he producs ha you are selling. PC: You can hope o ge a premium price unless you are offering a premium produc ha s for sure. And i is no all abou money, as ha is jus one par of he marke. People a Ben Sco, manager of he Grea Lyde, Yeovil, Somerse Miller Brands speak really proudly abou how hey have managed o pioneer he 4 pin. People will pay more if hey are convinced i is premium. AS: I is incredible how many people sell Peroni a 50p more han any oher lager on he bar and i is sill heir bes-selling produc. People may be price sensiive, bu hey are looking for value in whaever way hey define i. JS: Mos places do a promoion of some descripion a some poin during he week. You will find mos don have beer on he menu such as a pie and a pin promoion. A lo more are offering a sof drink, bole of beer or a glass of wine, and spiris and mixers are saring o be included in hese sors of offers. I was always a pin because i was easy, bu here is no sense in ha if you are no making any money. LG: We did research on wha sor of promoions would work mos effecively in pubs. We found ha offers for wo main dishes for he price of one worked way beer han anyhing such as a dish and a drink. People don go ino he pub o ea on heir own, bu having a se price for he meals for a family or a group works. Then hey will buy he drinks on op of ha. You don really need o discoun he drink. Sarah Eskins, direcor of Bar-Inns Trading, he Elephan, Brisol Consumer behaviour PC: I hink he smoking ban was a big boos o rade. There was alk of allowing some pubs o carry on allowing smoking. When you see a pub ha has been refurbished, six monhs and 12 monhs laer you don ge ha smoky smell and i is aracing a broader range of cusomers. Some people ry and argue ha pub closures are no linked o he smoking ban. Bu some pubs relied on quie a small number of smokers who drank and hey los ha cusomer base. JS: I was good for rade if you had he opporuniy o pu your smokers somewhere. Land-locked premises did suffer afer he smoking ban was implemened and i was quie debiliaing for a lo of pubs, especially hose in deprived areas. People wen ou o smoke and drink, and one wihou he oher wasn accepable, so hey sayed a home. I is incredible how many people sell Peroni a 50p more han any oher lager on he bar and i s sill heir bes-seller Ben Barrip, direcor of Bar-Inns Trading, he Elephan, Brisol Duncan Enwisle: When you wen for a business lunch 10 years ago here wasn much choice, bu nowadays you have hundreds of branded resaurans moving ino he high sree. Whenever you see a shop closing, you see a resauran opening up. People have more choice. Cusomer behaviour has changed people now don end o have as many business lunches as hey used o and if hey ge a lunch break hey don ravel 10 o 15 minues o a counry pub. One key issue he rade mus address o make progress going forward AC: I is geing some of he basics righ, such as pub exeriors. You sand here looking a he pub and ask: Why on God s earh would I wan o walk hrough he door of his place? I could be absoluely beauiful inside, bu in order o give he cusomer ha confidence, he exerior of he place has o look good. JS: I hink he mos imporan hing ha needs o be brough back is fun. You go ino a gasropub where people are quiely eaing, you go ino a counry pub and everyone is sa around having heir own conversaion. You hear someone laugh ou loud and i akes you by surprise. There is no soul in hese places anymore. They are supposed o be places where people enjoy hemselves, cach up wih heir maes and heir family and fall in love wih heir fuure wife. MS: I is abou geing he fundamenals around qualiy righ. If you produce menus for food, do you offer a range of choice for sof drinks? Display your range on he menu, as ha is where he cusomers make heir purchase decisions. They migh wan o choose drinks from across your range raher han a cola or frui juice. I is abou execuing he basics. Paul Chariy, group edior, he Publican s Morning Adveriser Why do he pubs wan a menor? The College Arms, Lower Quinon, Warwickshire Joanna Arevalo: We had a good firs year, bu afer ha he recession hi and we fel we had wo no-so-good years. Now rade has gone back up again, bu we wan o find he poenial we hink is here and make some profi. Communiy pub Ciy pub The Elephan, Brisol Ben Barrip: One of our main drivers o ge ino he business is ha we had been o a lo of poorly run businesses. We hough i couldn be ha difficul o do his beer and I hink we have delivered ha. Wha has been frusraing is ha we haven delivered he level and urnover of profis we hough would come naurally wih ha. We-led pub The Grea Lyde, Yeovil, Somerse Ben Sco: I am managing he pub for he curren enan who asked me o come in and ge he service up and we have done ha. We don have a passing rade and people will come o he pub because hey wan o. There are a lo of chimney pos around and a new housing esae going up ha has massive poenial. I wan o know how o ge hese people in he pub o spend heir money. Counry pub The Grees Inn, Warnham, Wes Sussex Duncan Enwisle: We have grown he business and are really pleased. Bu we go o where we are now prey quickly because he propery had no been managed properly and had los is cusomer base. We are well on he way, bu appear o have hi some sor of ceiling in rade ha I can seem o ge over. I is abou driving volume and geing more cusomers in mid-week. Menoring migh help us ake ha nex sep up. morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

4 6 Pub Menors 7 The Elephan, Brisol The elephan in he room Pub menor Alasair Sco gives licensees Ben Barrip and Sarah Eskins, a he Elephan in Brisol, he benefi of his indusry experise The Elephan is a wofloor leased pub in he cenre of Brisol. Ben Barrip and Sarah Eskins ook i over in May Boh are experienced business people, Ben coming from a sales background and Sarah from animal welfare. The couple have a real passion for he business and he indusry, having worked in bars and pubs when hey were younger. They are keen o progress o become muliple operaors and wan o learn all he skills in he indusry. The wo of hem have learn he usual way, by making misakes and improving, and have picked up an immense amoun of knowledge in such a shor space of ime. They wen ino his firs pub believing hey could deliver a beer experience han many oher operaors. One of heir main drivers behind geing ino he business was ha hey had been o a lo of poorly run businesses and hough i couldn be ha difficul o do i beer. The pub is in a good locaion, wih lunchime rade from business people and laer evening rade from people ou for he nigh. Ben and Sarah Ben s key quesions n How can we deliver he level of urnover and profis we wan? n We have delivered he qualiy for he cusomer, bu wha we have no done is fully undersood where he coss should be. n We have hi a ceiling in urnover and need o undersand how we can boos ha. n How can we couner he seasonal weaher and improve sales during he summer? n Also, how can we ge some of he cusomers who are coming down o visi he branded operaions on he same sree o come ino he Elephan? have made he business look magnificen afer spending 80,000 on a refurbishmen and rade has grown consisenly, earning hem a grea repuaion for food. Bu he business now seems o be hiing a ceiling, and he challenge is o ake i o new heighs, boh a he sales and profi levels, as well as o equip hem wih he skills o go on o heir nex sie and hi he ground running. They wan o make his firs pub successful so ha hey can replicae he food-led offer a a second sie. The sympoms The marke for he pub is hreefold. I is on he edge of he business disric so here is good opporuniy for business lunches. I is surrounded by brands such as All Bar One and Slug & Leuce, so he afer-work marke remains a prime opporuniy. Bu here is also a significan lae-nigh business, wih he pub siing opposie a Revoluion vodka bar. Ben and Sarah have relied on a head chef o deliver he food offering, bu admi hey don have a full undersanding of he kichen. They also face srong compeiion from Visi 1 hese bars and need o encourage people o come ino heir venue insead of he branded operaions. They also need o encourage new people o head down he sree and come ino heir venue. The wo main challenges for he business are an exerior ha prevens a view ino he pub and only a small ouside space a he fron on he pavemen. The Revoluion has a large ouside space, so he Elephan loses rade o ha sie when he weaher is good. They are considering anoher invesmen o open a roof garden o couner his. The business akes less han 5,000 a week and is a break-even poin, wih he challenges for Ben and Sarah being a combinaion of equipping hem wih experience for new sies while improving he exising business. The diagnosis Ben and Sarah s siuaion is surprisingly familiar. As an indusry we have successfully araced high-energy people wih a deerminaion o succeed. Bu wha we have failed o do is Sizing up he problems: from lef, Ben Barrip, Sarah Eskins, menor Alasair Sco and Coca-Cola Enerprise s Marin Sampson o rain hem sufficienly, eiher a he sar or on an ongoing basis. Our abiliy o diagnose problems and find relevan raining soluions all need o be improved if we are going o improve he success rae of new enrans, a prize ha seems vially imporan o he fuure of our indusry. Alasair Sco is managing direcor of Caon Consuling. He also runs S4, a new produciviy ool for pubs, and Caon Training and Developmen, which focuses on pracical skills for pubs and area managers. The acion plan n Fully undersanding he kichen. Ben and Sarah have lef he running of he kichen o he kichen manager and focused on oher areas of he business. My advice is ha hey need o learn how o run he kichen hemselves, so hey can sep in if required and also manage i more closely. n Labour managemen. The labour cos can be lowered wihou affecing service. The plan, herefore, is o reduce hours in a carefully planned and conrolled way, which will save he pub money, bu will in no way affec he service o cusomers. This will also equip hem for a new sie more effecively and generae cash for ha sie. We will use he S4 benchmarking process (a ool o improve saff scheduling) o deermine he opimum opporuniy for labour. n Signalling. While he pub has ables on he pavemen ouside here is no enough signalling of he offer a he fron of he building. This can be recified easily and is an immediae prioriy. The second signalling challenge is a able. Currenly he Elephan pus ou is cockail menu. Their plan is o pu ou a food menu during he day and a cockail menu a nigh, hus signalling he righ aciviy a he righ imeslo. The plan for he fuure will be o have wo differen layous of he able dependen on ime of day. The only area ha would benefi from some invesmen is seaing. As is he case for so many operaors Ben and Sarah were igh on cash for opening and so hey didn pu cushions on he benches. However, o arac he all-imporan professional audience we will look o have a leas some of he benches recovered. In he immediae erm we will generae hese funds hrough quick and effecive labour managemen. n Markeing. Promoing he pub more heavily o build a bigger daabase and arac more business, spliing his beween he business marke and he nigh-ou marke. Ben and Sarah need o marke differen offers o he differen arge groups, and also enlarge heir marke hrough seeking ou new cusomers via . The plan is, herefore, o creae several disinc markeing offers and buy specific address daabases o genly expand ou he cusomer base of he business, and grow he pub s inernal daabase. n Pricing sraegy. The business has an excellen food GP and here may be an opporuniy o re-inves some of his margin o grow he business, by creaing a more laddered approach o he food menu and creaing some cheaper dishes. Lapop maserclass: Sarah Eskins, Ben Barrip and Alasair Sco Focus on food: he Elephan s dining area Pavemen pull: addressing he limiaions of he oudoor seaing area Coca-Cola Enerprises Open More Business acion plan: over page morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

5 8 Pub Menors The Elephan, Brisol Make i easy on he eyes To serve a perfec Coca-Cola and keep your cusomers coming back for more ake a Georgia Green Glass Marin Sampson, ou-of-home shopper markeing conroller a Coca-Cola Enerprises, gives his insighs on improving sofdrink visibiliy a he Elephan in Brisol The Elephan is in a grea locaion. Nesled in he busy bar and resauran area of Brisol, i is perfecly locaed o capure he busy daily lunchime rade of nearby businesses and also he busling vibran Brisol nighlife. The Elephan s offer reflecs his wih a lunchime menu and evening cockail menu boh highly visible during my visi a 11am. And his is he firs key opporuniy for he Elephan if you wan o appeal o differen people a differen imes of he day and for differen occasions hen how do you adap and communicae your oule and your offer accordingly? Fron of bar: firs impressions for cusomers as hey approach he bar Back bar: assessing fridge space Acion plan: soring he prioriies Acion 1 Acion 2 Acion 3 IMProvIng SoFT drinks visibility AT ThE BAr There is lile if no visibiliy of sof drinks on or behind he Elephan s bar wih one in four drinks orders in a pub including a sof drink i is no a caegory ha should be heard and no seen. Chilled space is an issue for Ben and Sarah, so we reviewed he space currenly given o all brands across all caegories in he back-bar cooler. Acion plan Ben and Sarah idenified a specialiy boled beer brand ha was delivering a poor volume performance and likely o be de-lised, so hey agreed o place a selecion of popular packaged sof drinks in ha prime space. This will help o ensure hey have adequae chilled space for packaged sof drinks ha are visible o heir cusomers. Fill 1/3 wih ice Pour in correcly chilled Coca-Cola Add appropriae, fresh garnish IMProvIng SoFT drinks visibility with Food Sof drinks have he highes purchase incidence of any caegory wih food and 65% of all sof drinks purchases are before 4pm. I is really imporan ha you offer a good range and make i visible o cusomers o ake full advanage of he sales opporuniy. When Ben Barrip and Sarah Eskins ook over he pub, food accouned for circa 25% of he revenue; i now accouns for almos 50%. The pub has cockail menus on ables and a lunchime food menu, bu no sof-drinks menu, which limis he opporuniy o maximise heir sof drink sales a his key ime of day. In rials conduced across 250 managed pubs in 2011, Coca-Cola Enerprises (CCE) winessed caegory uplif on sof drinks of beween 5% and 9%, simply by making heir sof drinks brands visible o cusomers on he menus of he paricipaing oules. Menu visibiliy a lunchime presens Ben and Sarah wih a grea opporuniy o drive peneraion and purchase wih food. Acion plan Ben agreed o work wih CCE o creae a sof-drinks menu o complemen he lunch menu. This will be displayed on all ables before 4pm wih he opion o remain on he able wih he cockail menu during evening hours. The sof-drinks menu will display brand logos and produc descripions o help improve and widen heir appeal o Ben and Sarah s cusomers. ThE IMPorTAnCE of quality Alasair Sco, he pub s official menor, alked a lo on our visi abou he imporance of sign-posing, especially ouside he oule, indicaing clearly wha your pub is abou, and hereby giving people reasons o come in. He also cied small ouches inside such as wooden boxes wih condimens as a good way o reflec he credibiliy of he food offering in he Elephan. Brands and packaging can also help say a lo abou your oule in he same way. Ben was keen o rial Coca-Cola in he 330ml glass conour bole in addiion o his exising pos-mix o help signpos a qualiy message abou he Elephan s offer. Ben acknowledges he imporance of glassware in he serve and provides all of his beers, where possible, in a branded glass as he feels i enhances he qualiy of experience for his cusomers. He was keen o mirror his bes pracice wih he Elephan s sof drinks range. Acion plan Ben and Sarah will rial branded glassware for sof drinks o enhance he overall qualiy experience and drive he value-for-money percepion wih cusomers in he same way as for beer. I horoughly enjoyed my rip o he Elephan and look forward o measuring he impac of execuing he brillian basics around visibiliy, range and qualiy of serve and heir appeal o Ben and Sarah s cusomers. You ve jus made hisory Visi for more informaion. morningadveriser.co.uk Coca-Cola, Coke, he design of he Coca-Cola Conour Bole and he Dynamic Ribbon device are regisered rade marks of The Coca-Cola Company.

6 10 Pub Menors 11 The Grea Lyde, Yeovil A Lyde and kicking Trade consulan Ali Carer gives Ben Sco, manager of he Grea Lyde in Yeovil, Somerse, he benefi of her indusry experise Ben Sco has been a he sprawling Grea Lyde in Yeovil for seven monhs and I warmed o him immediaely for his enhusiasm and willingness o soak up knowledge. His background as a Thomas Cook holiday rep organising enerainmen, kids club rips o Lapland and weddings makes him perfec publican maerial he even sings, so ha s he karaoke sored! I also ook o Ben for his honesy. By his own admission he has a lack of knowledge abou he rade and we agreed o go back o he basics, explaining commonplace expressions such as barrelage o describe pub performance. I find he idea of changing hings prey scary, he says. And ha s why I m here o help. The pub is massive he sheer size would make i difficul for even he mos experienced operaor o manage and wih 83 resauran covers, and a furher 42 doed around he snug and spors bar, Ben has sensibly resriced he opening imes of various areas; he spors bar is closed before 5pm on weekdays and he resauran shu on Sunday evenings and all day Monday and Tuesday. This obviously helps wih saffing, bu Ben maximises peak rading imes by using he pub s 24-hour licence o keep he spors bar open unil 2pm or laer a weekends. Smile hrough he pain: i s number-crunching ime Assessing he sae of he business: from lef, Ali Carer, Ben Sco and Coca-Cola Enerprises Marin Sampson 125 he oal number of covers a he Grea Lyde 4,500 he weekly ake a he Yeovil pub Visi 2 The sympoms Building cusom is going o be key o Ben s success and he is saring from a hisory of six monhs closure and hree enans in four years, which is never grea. The previous food offer can bes be described as inconsisen, bu Ben was canny enough o avoid puing up anoher under new managemen banner. I didn wan cusomers o see i and say, Oh no, here we go again! His neares compeiion has Sky spors and cheap beer, bu is also aimed in a differen direcion o Ben s vision for he Grea Lyde, so wih all hese facs in hand we sar o move forward. The bigges quesion I have is, how do I run a pub? I did say Ben was hones! I urn he quesion around and firsly explain he necessary abiliy ha he does have, such as excellen personnel managemen skills and an innae love of people, boh vial o running a successful pub. I s he business side ha we need o work on. Ben s never been self-employed and has a hazy idea abou he serviceprofi chain, profi & loss and even VAT. Despie his, he is able o le me know ha he pub is 80% we-led and weekly urnover has increased since his arrival from 3,700 o 4,500, which he aribues largely o he friendliness of his eam owards exising and new cusomers. Exensive: he spors bar gives a clue o he sprawling naure of he pub Ben s key quesions n How can I ge people ino he pub o spend heir money? n How can I increase food sales o 35% of urnover from he curren 20%? n How can I ge my weekly urnover o a consisen 7,000 a week? n How can I improve inernal markeing and promoe he venue for paries and evens? The diagnosis Basically, Ben has wo pubs in one a radiional boozer and a familyfriendly pub-resauran and I sress ha he has o hink of hem as wo separae businesses, bu a he same ime inerlinked. He has inheried a loyaly sysem, bu hasn promoed i because he s no sure if i is he bes use of a promoion. I is designed o build rade during dead periods by offering 50p off a pin of beer or glass of wine, bu before any launch i needs weaking so he knows exacly how much profi he is reaining from his incenive. The pub has around 30 o 40 core drinkers every day, more on Sundays, which in many pubs would look busy, bu hey do end o rale around he Grea Lyde due o is size. There is a real need o drive foofall here and I see communicaion being he key. Ben has he IT skills o creae a cusomer daabase and has made a sar on Facebook wih he pub currenly regisering 86 likes on he social neworking sie. Ou-of-dae websies wih no aciviy are poinless and we agree he needs o consanly monior aciviy and updae a leas once weekly o promoe weekend evens. Ben will also develop a schedule of evens his auumn and winer from Halloween hrough o New Year. Ali Carer runs an indusry consulancy and is a former BII Licensee of he Year Coca-Cola Enerprises Open More Business acion plan: over page The acion plan n Targe new cusomers. The Grea Lyde s size lends iself o weddings and engagemen and birhday paries, so I sugges Ben creaes a show reel for he pub, no difficul o do yourself wih modern compuer sofware and a Flip video camera (a small apeless camcorder), for example. This will enable him o ge he message ou and form an effecive par of he markeing package he inends o develop. A grea idea for a venue ha has a large proporion of special-occasion evens is o offer he guess a reason o reurn, such as special-offer vouchers and discouns on paricular days. The pub is surrounded by chimney pos so he poenial is grea and we discuss promoing he pub using flyers wih a compelling redempion offer o measure he success. This is one of he few pubs where I would recommend using flyers as i is slap bang in a very high densiy housing area. These will promoe he wo pubs in one idea of spors bar and family carvery resauran. n Exising cusomers. The curren resauran clienele is around 50% aged 50-plus, and he res eiher couples or families. There are los of ables seaing six or more, making i an ideal family venue. These people are mainly in evidence over he weekends wih jus 10% coming in during he week. I sugges Ben finds ou more abou hese people where do hey go he res of he ime? Currenly here is jus one Food sales: make war on wase No good: dead hanging baskes ladies dars eam wih a pool league due o sar nex March. Ben really needs o push for more pub eams as his is one sure way of building rade and loyaly wihin he communiy. He is also going o work on a riahlon even based around pub spors for January/ February nex year. n Food sales. Curren prices in he carvery resauran are 6.80 sandard and 4.80 for OAPs and smaller porions, wih around 70 o 80 covers being served a Sunday lunchimes. Cos per meal is around 3.58 and I sugges Ben works hard a reducing wase o increase food GPs. Currenly food isn served in he spors bar as here were objecions from cusomers and Ben says he d raher people ae in he resauran as he has go he saff here. We will hink abou a suiable food offer for he spors bar ha doesn require addiional waiing or kichen saff. n Making inroads. I sugges ha Ben acively ges ou ino he communiy and promoes a series of evens. He already has a good framework in place, wih evens such as a kids Halloween fancy dress disco pary and a firework nigh barbecue, feauring a local fire juggling ac. All of hese can be promoed a minimal cos using social neworking sies, such as Facebook and Twier, word of mouh and poser campaigns. An acive Chrismas schedule including Chrismas Eve and Boxing Day paries and, using Ben s holiday company experience, a Chrismas pano will also be planned. The pub s large car park also lends iself o hosing scooer, car or bike club evens and Ben will work on a package including carvery meal and live band, again promoed on Facebook. Sharpening up he basics n Hanging baskes need he ired plans replaced wih fresh growh. n Cigaree bus and lier don underesimae he poor impression his gives; i doesn maer where he lier came from, if i s on your propery i s your problem. n Aenion o deail; for example, he chilled display cabine is promoing las week s dried up dessers! n Back-bar lighing needs improvemen and, one of my favourie bugbears, all blown ligh bulbs need o be replaced. Nohing says I don care more han his. n Back bar his is a pub s shop window and Ben isn selling invoices, sraws or even leprechauns, so why are hey prominen on he back bar? n Housekeeping mirrors, copper and brass need polishing daily and fly-srewn ligh covers look really ay. n Inernal markeing here are pleny of posers adverising nearby aracions, bu nohing relaing o he Grea Lyde s own aciviies. Why? n Toiles no complains here, he loos are fanasic, bu Ben is missing a grea markeing opporuniy by no having posers above he men s urinals or on he back of he ladies loo doors; i s a grea chance o promoe o a capive audience. Appearance: polish up on basics morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

7 12 Pub Menors The Grea Lyde, Yeovil Going for high visibiliy To serve a perfec Coca-Cola and keep your cusomers coming back for more ake a Georgia Green Glass Acion 1 EnSuring qualiy of SErvE When people are enjoying sof drinks in a pub i is imporan hey receive a beer serve han hey could ge a home. We should never forge ha 63% of consumers hink sof drinks represen poor value for money. Bu we mus remind ourselves ha value for money is no simply how much somehing coss. The price is he money he cusomers pay, bu value is everyhing ha he pub gives hem back in reurn. Qualiy glassware is key. More and more pubs are serving beer in branded glasses, as i adds o he qualiy percepion. Sof drinks should be no differen, as appealing glassware adds o he qualiy experience and is somehing many consumers canno deliver a home. Ben currenly serves his cola in a pin or a half-pin glass. Only when he serves a Coca-Cola glass icon bole does he use a branded glass. Ben should use branded glassware across his enire branded sof drinks range, as i sends a qualiy and refreshmen message o oher cusomers in he pub and conribues o he value-formoney message. By using branded glassware ha dispenses a larger serving size han he half-pin and pin measure, Ben has an opporuniy o increase his cash margin on every serve while sill delivering more value o his cusomers. Making he mos of glassware Ben has agreed o use 16oz and 22oz branded glassware as his sandard regular and large serving sizes. He will also re-align his reail prices o ensure he is sill offering value o his cusomers bu driving his own profiabiliy forward. Marin Sampson, ou-of-home shopper markeing conroller a Coca-Cola Enerprises, makes his suggesions for improving sof drinks sales a he Grea Lyde in Yeovil, Somerse The Grea Lyde, siuaed on he ouskirs of Yeovil, is grea in many ways. I is in a good locaion, nesled in he hear of a large cachmen area, i also occupies an elevaed posiion making i highly visible o boh he nearby communiy, a large new housing esae ha is currenly being buil, and frequen passing rade. Secondly, he oule has a grea deal of space, wih wo large bars as well as an exended resauran area. This offers more han enough room Sof focus: Ali Carer and Marin Sampson discuss glassware opions o accommodae an aspiraion o increase his pub s appeal o families and o help sep change is curren food sales of 20% v 80% for we. Finally, i has Ben Sco, he manager and a grea hos no only o us, bu o all his cusomers. He energises his eam enormously and offers his regulars good conversaion and allround excellen general hosing. Looking a he key aspecs of he Grea Lyde s sof drinks offer here is an opporuniy o work wih Ben o improve he qualiy of serve and visibiliy from good o grea. This will help Ben s eam o be beer able o refresh heir cusomers more ofen and ulimaely refresh heir sales and profis as a resul. Ben s primary challenge is how he communicaes and serves his sof drinks range o his cusomers. Acion 2 Acion 3 Acion 4 ChillEd visibiliy Sof drinks accoun for almos 40% of an average pub s packaged sales urnover and should ideally be allocaed an equal share of chilled space. In he Grea Lyde chilled space is quie scarce and, as a resul, many of Ben s sof drinks are ambien. Chilled availabiliy is really key so Ben can offer ice-cold refreshmen and deliver cusomer saisfacion. increasing chilled space for sofs Ben has only one back-of-bar fridge. Mos of his back-bar space is given o glassware, which does no visually generae sales. We agreed o suppor Ben wih an exra back-bar chiller so he can increase no only his chilled space for sof drinks, bu also heir visibiliy o he consumer. visibiliy behind he bar The pub is one of he few reail environmens where consumers ofen have o guess wha is on offer 40% of consumers make heir sof drinks choice inside he pub and grea visibiliy raises his o over 60%. The Grea Lyde has a grea chance o make more of he reail space behind and above he bar o maximise sales of all caegories. refreshing space behind he bar Ben, ogeher wih Ali Carer, our pub menor, and Coca- Cola Enerprises (CCE), agreed o refresh and re-merchandise he area behind he bar o improve he visibiliy and simulae purchase across key caegories. Going from good o grea on sof drinks will help make a difference o Ben s cusomers, and his boom line. The acion plan we have worked on ogeher will help refresh he pub s sof drinks business and I look forward o seeing his progress. visibiliy on MEnu Ben is keen o appeal o local families o drive his lunchime food rade. He currenly has a radiional lunchime menu prined on A4, which is hen laminaed. However, here are no sof drinks lised on his menu. Wih sof drinks having he highes peneraion of any caegory wih food in he pub rade, a 43%, i is vial o increase visibiliy of sofdrinks. In ess across 250 pubs las year we saw a sof-drinks caegory uplif of beween 5% and 9% simply by including hem on he menu. Producing more aracive menus Ben agreed o use CCE s menu-maker ool o creae beer-looking menus, including lising he range of sof drinks on offer. Fill 1/3 wih ice Pour in correcly chilled Coca-Cola Add appropriae, fresh garnish You ve jus made hisory Visi for more informaion. morningadveriser.co.uk Coca-Cola, Coke, he design of he Coca-Cola Conour Bole and he Dynamic Ribbon device are regisered rade marks of The Coca-Cola Company.

8 14 Pub Menors 15 Grees Inn, Warnham Gree expecaions Former BII (Briish Insiue of Innkeeping) licensee of he year Phil Davison offers Duncan and Naalie Enwisle, lessees a he Grees Inn, Warnham, Wes Sussex, his exper knowledge Duncan and Naalie Enwisle are he perfec sor of couple o run a qualiy counry pub. They are friendly, full of enhusiasm and on paper should be fully qualified and capable of urning i ino a successful business. They boh come from a professional hoel managemen background and know wha makes cusomers happy. However, his corporae grounding may be one of he reasons hey are sruggling o unlock he full poenial a heir picure-poscard counry pub. My opening picure of Warnham was ha Miss Marple would no have been ou of place living here. The Grees Inn is a 13h-cenury, imber-framed building wih los of original feaures and cerainly fis he bill as an idyllic counry inn. So, as I pull up ouside for he firs ime, I ask myself he quesion: If my wife, Lauren, and I were passing by, would i appeal o us o sop and make a visi? Sadly, he answer would have o be no. While he building has los of characer, my firs impression of he ouside was ha i sen ou compleely he wrong signals o arac people in. The signage looked a lile ired, here were no direcions o he car park, and while here were a few green shrubs a he fron, here were no flower displays or hanging baskes o ell me his was a well-loved and cared-for rural pub. However, he hing ha really se off my alarm bells and insanly made me realise we had an issue wih wha I call image percepion was he sigh of he washed beer owels hanging ou o dry over he ables in he fron garden. The same sory carried on inside he pub los of fanasic characer wih some lovely feaures, nooks and crannies, which were sadly le down by he pub being disorganised and unidy. The back-bar was cerainly crying ou for help and here was very lile 20% he sales growh figure ha he Enwisles are looking for Duncan and Naalie s key quesions n How do we ge ime for our family, when he pub is open every day? n How do we develop Monday o Thursday rading? markeing o make i easy for he cusomer o buy. However, on he posiive side, I could see ha, wih a few suble changes involving very lile cos, he Grees Inn could be a fanasic village food pub and would emp he imporan drive-ou marke o visi and enjoy i. The sympoms Over he pas wo years, he Enwisles have worked immensely hard and done a good job of saring o rebuild he Grees Inn s repuaion. However, like many licensees, he dream of running heir own counry pub is ofen aken over by he amoun of hard work involved. Having ploughed all heir money ino geing heir business his far, cashflow could become an issue over Visi 3 Sizing up he job: from lef, Duncan and Naalie Enwisle, Coca-Cola Enerprise s Marin Sampson, and Phil Davison he coming winer monhs. This makes i very imporan ha hey make he righ decisions and focus on increasing sales and increasing profi. Ye Duncan and Naalie sill seem o find ime o do he hings hey did in heir corporae days, such as compleing fancy spreadshees, allowing hem o undersand exacly how many cusomers have eaen every day, and wha he average spend is. They also follow he corporae markeing plan of promoing heir brand hrough local PR, wihou any means of measuring is reurn on invesmen. These hings can be useful and have helped build rade up o a respecable level. Bu, if Duncan and Naalie wan o see heir business really grow and enjoy more highs han lows, i is ime for hem o rip up he corporae guidelines. They need o roll up heir sleeves and embrace change, ensure heir pub is se up o rade, hen develop a direc-response markeing programme, aimed a building business from local areas. From my iniial meeing and discussion wih Duncan and Naalie, he challenge and objecive over he nex few monhs is o inroduce and make whaever changes are required o enable sales o grow by 20% from he curren weekly sales of around 5,500 while holding or reducing overall coss, so ha he boom-line profi also increases. The diagnosis Like many counry pubs, he Grees Inn does a large proporion of is business a weekends. My philosophy is ha a decen weekend rade pays all he bills, bu he real profi and he answer o easing cashflow problems is in developing grea mid-week rade, so his is very high on our acion-plan agenda over he nex few weeks of he menoring programme. Hopefully, by adoping ried-andesed mehods we will answer his over he nex few monhs. In erms of food, here are a decen selecion of dishes and hey are sensibly priced, bu I can undersand why wo separae menus are offered, when i d be more aracive o offer i all as one really good menu. From looking a he prices and he average food sales per cusomer (hanks o one of Duncan s fancy spreadshees) I feel here is a huge, insan, opporuniy o generae more food-sales income. In order o make his happen, all he fron-of-house saff mus undersand hey are par of he Grees Inn sales eam. They mus be augh how o make i easy for he cusomer o buy. I would sugges his alone could add 15% o food-sales income and will cerainly boos he boom line. The pub needs o inroduce saff Geing o grips wih he job ahead: he eam discuss heir opions raining and wrien saff procedures, checkliss and sysems, so ha grea cusomer service will sill be offered when hey are no presen. The financials: while Duncan has pleny of informaion available hrough his spreadshees, I would sugges ha, wihou a regular sockake and regular managemen accouns being produced, he business is run on a keep your fingers crossed policy. I recommend ha a we and food sock-ake is inroduced, and par of our immediae acion plan is o inroduce an in-house weekly rading repor. n Phil Davison is a former BII (Briish Insiue of Innkeeping) licensee of he year and Wadworh enan a he Sun in he Wood, in Ashmore Green, Berkshire. Coca-Cola Enerprises Open More Business acion plan: over page The acion plan n Fesive sales. To marke and drive Chrismas bookings; creae an acion plan for November ha will drive and promoe sales ino he fesive period and beyond. n Image managemen. To give he pub a creaive and low-cos makeover, so ha i is se up o rade wih he correc image percepion. n Saff raining and procedures. To inroduce saff raining, checkliss and procedures ha will drive cusomer service, sales and Duncan s ime managemen. n Mid-week rade. To develop and marke a fanasic wocourse mid-week offer, o drive sales during he quie rading periods. n Village celebraion. To wrie o he local village communiy, inviing hem o celebrae Duncan and Naalie s firs wo years a he pub. n Supper evens. To inroduce a monhly village supper nigh, and o link i ino Briish Pub Week. n Markeing overview: To develop in-house markeing poscards, so cusomers leave wih more han jus memories; review all he pub s markeing, so is effeciveness can be measured agains cos; creae direc-response markeing, wih measurable reurns on cos. n Sockaking plan. Inroduce a we and dry sock-ake, plus an in-house weekly rading repor. n Margins push. Ensure he pub maximises he margins on The back bar: cerainly crying ou for help Markeing iniiaive akes shape everyhing i sells. n Sales focus. Make sure he Grees Inn has a fanasic in-house sales eam. Top ip o help Duncan and Naalie make he acion plan work: Inroduce a wrien morning se-up checklis and have a member of saff sar a 10.30am. They should be augh o use he checklis o se he pub up for opening. This will free up Duncan o become he business manager, so ha he can plan and execue beer uses for he monhly markeing budge and sar seeing an increased profi. Please remember o use his ime driving your sales and profi, and no filling in fancy corporae spreadshees. morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

9 16 Pub Menors Grees Inn, Warnham Acion 1 righ range, righ PrIce The Grees Inn socks a comprehensive choice of sof drinks. However, i has a grea opporuniy o increase sales and profi by delivering greaer consisency across he size of serve and he prices i charges. Currenly, a cusomer who orders a Cola is served a 200ml Cola mixer and pays A 330ml bole of waer is 1.75 and a 275ml juice drink serve is Offering a larger Cola, a 330ml bole, and aligning he reail price o wha cusomers currenly pay for waer or a juice drink will no only increase cusomers value for money, bu will also improve sales and profi. acion Plan Duncan decided o lis he 330ml bole and review his reail price of Cola in line wih he res of his range. He will also rial branded glassware o furher boos his cusomers value-for-money percepion and qualiy experience. Acion 2 VIsIbIlIy on ables Food is seen as an imporan growh engine for he Grees Inn. Diners receive able service so purchase decisions are ypically made a he able and no a he bar. Couple his wih limied back-bar space and Duncan and Naalie need o make use of opporuniies o communicae heir sof-drinks range, including displaying a sof-drinks menu. acion Plan Duncan will work wih CCE o creae a sof-drinks menu ha will include branded visibiliy, as research shows his can increase caegory uplif by beween 5% and 9%. Menus will be in he pub and on garden ables a lunchime when incidence of sof drinks wih food is highes o capialise on his opporuniy. morningadveriser.co.uk Brillian basics are key o sales drive Marin Sampson, ou-of-home shopper markeing conroller a CCE, advises he Grees Inn on how o boos foofall As a firs-ime visior o he Grees Inn, he firs hing you experience is, as he name above he door would sugges, a warm and heary greeing. Duncan and Naalie Enwisle, a husband-and-wife eam, are boh from esablished corporae hospialiy backgrounds, and hey no only run he day-o-day operaional side of he pub, bu are fine hoss o locals in he small village of Warnham, Wes Sussex. This is jus one compeiive advanage hey need o offer as he Grees Inn is compeing wih anoher village pub and social club ha service he same poenial cusomer base. Duncan and Naalie wan heir pub o be known for grea food and a warm welcome, no only o arac local cusom, bu also people from beyond he village. Perhaps surprisingly, sof drinks can help wih his. Sof drinks are already imporan o he Grees Inn s offer, bu hey can play a greaer role o assis Duncan and Naalie s appeie o grow heir lunch-ime rade and Acion 3 IncreasIng foofall As we approach Chrismas, Duncan and Naalie s houghs have urned o how hey can maximise foofall during his key rading ime. While pre-bookings have sared, Duncan and Naalie are keen o coninue o generae new foofall and repea visis. sofs focus: naalie wih coca-cola enerprises Marin sampson arac more families ino he pub. Execuing brillian basics and using he righ promoional aciviy o drive foofall were wo of he key opporuniies we discussed. We For anyone visiing he pub from ouside he village his Chrismas, geing here safely and driving responsibly will be a key consideraion. A designaed driver scheme offering free sof drinks a key rading periods such as Chrismas and he new year can encourage more people o visi, say longer agreed on a robus acion plan o help increase sof-drinks sales and drive cusomer foofall, he resuls of which, I hope, will deliver grea success for hem boh. and pus he pub a he hear of he communiy. acion Plan Duncan agreed o rial Coca-Cola s Designaed Driver scheme, which is par of an ongoing parnership wih he Deparmen for Transpor s Driver Friendly campaign. To serve a perfec Coca-Cola and keep your cusomers coming back for more ake a Georgia Green Glass Fill 1/3 wih ice Pour in correcly chilled Coca-Cola Add appropriae, fresh garnish You ve jus made hisory Visi for more informaion. Coca-Cola, Coke, he design of he Coca-Cola Conour Bole and he Dynamic Ribbon device are regisered rade marks of The Coca-Cola Company.

10 18 Pub Menors 19 College Arms, Sraford Learning curve Jay Smih, owner of Money s Rock Café in York and Harrogae and sar of TV s Save our Boozer, shows Jo Arevalo and Marilyn Herdman, owners of he College Arms a Lower Quinon, Sraford-upon-Avon, how o opimise heir communiy pub This sunning pub daes in par from he 16h cenury and is a feas for he eyes. Inside i s very much a ale of wo halves: he original 16h-cenury building used for diners includes a room so radiional and inviing, i s hard o believe all pubs aren made his way. The 18h-cenury half of he pub is reserved for drinkers, pool-players and he various eams suppored by owners Marilyn Herdman and Jo Arevalo, including an Aun Sally eam, wo dars eams, a fooball eam, pool eam and a regular dominos nigh. Marilyn has owned and run a successful hoel in Howarh and beween hem he ladies have driven urnover o a respecable 7,000 a week from a combinaion of drink, food and room revenue, wih drink as he bigges conribuor. Sympoms The big issue here is lack of profiabiliy from relaively healhy urnover. Cash-flow is no more han OK and Jo and Marilyn are saring o wonder if all he hard work associaed wih running a pub ha is open all day as well as offering rooms is really worhwhile, offering lile or no reward. They also hink hey break even a 7,000 per week which maches heir urnover. They don hey break even a 5,500 which iniially seems o be a relief o hem, unil I ask where he money is? The College Arms is on a ied lease and offers he usual range of beers, wines, spiris and sof drinks you would hope o see. There is no focus on margin a all and so far Jo and Marilyn have never ried o drive sales owards he bigges earners in heir range. The pub is divided ino secions, he main wo being he drinking room and he dining room wih a hird, snug-like area, joining he wo. The dining room is beauiful and Focussing on he fuure: from lef, Marilyn Herdman and Jo Arevalo wih Jay Smih Jo and Marilyn s key quesions n How o urn income ino profi n How o increase urnover from locals packed wih old-world charm. The drinking room is absoluely horrible, a real le-down in almos every way. The radiional wooden panels are now a lurid pinkish-purple, he onefoo-hick beam on he ceiling is covered in runking and wiring and for some reason half of i has been pained whie, and he remainder brown. There s a jukebox on he wall ha looks a lo like i was designed by Briish Leyland. Marilyn and Jo cringe when I walk ino his room hey know i s awful and hey know much of he issue ress wih hem, as hey pained i! Diagnosis Jo and Marilyn already do a grea deal of hings righ, bu a mixure of inexperience and lack of confidence have lef hem wih some bad habis. A run-in wih heir energy supplier was resolved by signing a fairly expensive new conrac, Groupon recenly made a lo more money ou of a promoion for he pub han hey did and here is no cashing-up procedure or checks on wha he saff, in paricular in he kichen, are order- Visi 4 5,500 he break even poin for he College Arms An effecive aiude owards cash and buying could deliver increased profis ing and signing for. In shor, while cusomer service and suppor of local eams and evens have been a prioriy, resuling in increased rade, a lack of business basics is puing a sop o any real profi. The College Arms could easily move average weekly urnover owards 8,000 or even 8,500 a week wihou he need for much more saff spend and wihou increasing opening hours. A more effecive aiude owards cash and buying could deliver a healhy increase in profi even before urnover is improved wih he new-look layou. No being afraid of energy companies and sales reps will also be a grea help. Jo and Marilyn have a lo o be proud of here and I am confiden ha hese few changes in appearance and admin will give hem he resuls hey have worked so hard for in he pas bu failed o grab. Coca-Cola Enerprises Open More Business acion plan: over page The acion plan How o urn income ino profi A cashing-up shee is drawn up ha enables urnover o be moniored and raced from ill o bank and up-o-dae prices are sen o he accounan so ha accurae margins can be worked ou. I s hard enough o make a profi hese days, wihou losing i somewhere beween your cusomer s pocke and your own bank accoun. We need o ake as much of he urnover as possible from non-ied lines o make sure we deliver he bes possible margin. This means a greaer emphasis on he gues ale, sof drinks, wine range and of course spiris, all of which can be promoed beer in he pub o drive sales and deliver profi. Many producs sold here are bough from he mos convenien supplier, raher han he mos compeiive. The chef is allowed o order prey much whaever he wans and while he kichen isn overflowing wih unnecessary producs, i isn a well-organised environmen, and i s one he ladies are clearly frighened o ackle. This needs o change if he healhy income on offer from his deparmen is o sar falling all he way o he boom line. Key arges n Find a range of suppliers for non-ied iems o compee wih each oher n Cash up every day n Promoe he mos profiable lines n Ge a grip on he kichen n Know your figures Making i sack up: Marilyn and Jo go over he figures wih Jay Smih How o increase urnover from locals The drinking room needs o close. I s no wonder ha a high proporion of he affluen families living in he village have no desire o drink in his half of he building. Space is no an issue and we can afford o close he curren drinking room unil funds are available o change is appearance. In doing so we can also move he pool able and dars board from here o he under-used snug, which in urn means hey are no longer sied under he leing bedrooms a cause of more han he odd noise complain. The snug also offers access o he prey rear garden, which would be a much beer place o enerain smokers han he fron sep of he building. I also ask Jo o approach some suppliers for a large umbrella o sheler her smokers in he winer monhs. Once he locals sar o be reaed o he delighs of drinking in he beauiful old dining room, urnover will surely increase as he amosphere creaed in his room Warm and welcoming: he environmen is criical o increasing rade sars o deliver an esablishmen he villagers wan. This in urn should sar o drive incidenal sales, so I have asked he ladies o draw up a new bar-snack lis o replace he over-sized bags of maize snacks currenly on offer. Effecive promoions on key lines should also be used o ensure ha cusomers feel able o use he pub more regularly. All in all he villagers I alk o are well aware of he pub; hey jus don like he room hey are asked o use and will visi more ofen if he environmen improves. Re-organise he back bar The back bar is a cluer of producs a huge array of mis-mached glassware, coffee equipmen and a general dumping ground for Jo and Marilyn. This is no he look we are going for! Nohing major is required oher han some fresh eyes. I s clear ha i hasn been considered from a cusomer poin of view for a long ime. Landlords up and down he counry make his misake in hinking he area behind he bar is jus for hem. If a cusomer can see i, a cusomer will judge i. Key arges n Rearrange he dining room o accommodae boh diners and drinkers n Creae a new games room in he old snug n Move smokers away from he fron of he building n Offer higher qualiy snacks n Sreamline he back bar o reflec he syle and qualiy of he venue morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

11 20 Pub Menors To serve a perfec Coca-Cola and keep your cusomers coming back for more ake a Georgia Green Glass College Arms, Sraford Maximising opporuniies CCE s ou-of-home shopper markeing conroller Marin Sampson comes up wih a wide-ranging plan of acion Fill 1/3 wih ice The College Arms is a grea looking pub in a lovely village seing wih huge poenial. According o hospiable and enhusiasic enans, Jo Arevalo and Marilyn Herdman, he village has wo disinc demographics and heir pub accommodaes boh wih a 16h-cenury pub resauran and a communiy bar for he more heary locals. Jo and Marilyn have really pu he pub a he hear of he communiy, hosing he local dars eam during he week here were hree dars boards in up he pub during my visi and local fooball eams a he weekend. Currenly here is a healhy 60:40 spli beween we sales versus food. sparkling ideas: coca-cola enerprises marin sampson goes hrough his ideas wih licensee marilyn Herdman And wih Jay he Menor looking o make some fundamenal changes o he layou and pub offer o maximize he opporuniy his grea building has o offer, i is vial Jo and Marilyn ensure heir sof drinks offer is also refreshed o generae more revenue for he pub. Refreshing sales Jo and Marilyn s pub is very much par of village life. I suppors communiy aciviies, and i also has a beauiful hisorical pub resauran. The acion plan for he College Arms will help refresh his oule s sof drinks sales, and I look forward o seeing he resuls. Pour in correcly chilled Coca-Cola Acion 1 Acion 3 Add appropriae, fresh garnish serve Qualiy I is imporan o ensure qualiy in every par of he business. In paricular, uilising glassware across all drinks caegories is a grea way of amplifying he qualiy message of socked brands. Jo and Marilyn currenly use branded glassware from a high-sree sporswear chain, bu feel i does no reflec eiher he College Arms image or he qualiy of he brands socked. Acion 2 caering for families The College Arms is a grea communiy pub and Jo and Marilyn have an appeie o encourage more families o visi. They sock a good range of adul sof drinks, bu offer a limied kids range. acion Plan Jo and Marilyn agreed o review he College Arms branded glass range. The pub s regular cusomer base includes a number of local spors eams so his also presens a real opporuniy for he pair o increase sales by offering larger branded glass serves. Jo and Marilyn are keen o rial 22oz glasses in addiion o heir regular 16oz size. acion Plan Jo and Marilyn will broaden heir sof drinks range o include more formas for children. They plan o provide younger family members wih somehing creaive o do a he able and will offer aciviy kis o help enerain hem. Range & Visibiliy The College Arms socks a good range of sof drinks, wih more han 15 differen adul sof drinks currenly on offer. However, visibiliy is inconsisen across all of hese brands. Jo and Marilyn agreed o raionalise heir range in line wih heir bes sellers and focus on a simple and consisen visibiliy plan a key poins of purchase, including he communiy bar and he diningroom ables. acion Plan The back bar is essenially a reail area and i is imporan ha licensees make he mos of i o maximize sales, bu also make sure he changes complemen he look and feel of he whole pub. Jo and Marilyn agreed ha hey would improve visibiliy of heir sof-drinks range by increasing chilled space and merchandising heir range in line wih sales volumes. They also agreed o insall an exra back-bar fridge o ensure here was adequae chilled space for sof drinks. In addiion, he old sof-drinks fons in he communiy bar will be replaced and an exra fon se up in he second bar o improve boh cusomer visibiliy and speed of serve. Some 63% of all sof drinks volume is consumed prior o 4pm, and by offering a branded sof-drinks menu during he lunchime occasion a caegory uplif of beween 5% and 9% is possible. Jo and Marilyn agreed o rial a new sof-drinks branded able menu designed in keeping wih he College Arms brand for use a lunchimes. You ve jus made hisory Visi for more informaion. morningadveriser.co.uk Coca-Cola, Coke, he design of he Coca-Cola Conour Bole and he Dynamic Ribbon device are regisered rade marks of The Coca-Cola Company.

12 22 Pub Menors 23 The Grea Lyde The hard work begins o pay off The College Arms Jus weeks afer PMA Pub Menors Ali Carer and Jay Smih visied wo differen pubs where help was urgenly required o unlock much-needed poenial, he duo reurn o see how heir charges have been faring Turning he Lyde ide Top marks for College girls Ali Carer had los of ideas when she las me up wih Ben Sco, manager of he Grea Lyde, in Yeovil, Somerse, o assess his pub operaion and advise him on improving profiabiliy. She is pleasanly surprised by wha she finds on a reurn visi I m delighed o see ha Ben Sco is an imple-menor! In Ocober I suggesed ha he pay aenion o deail and I was pleased o see ha he had replaced blown lighbulbs, cleared rubbish and inroduced Monday and Friday lier picks in he car park, wih all areas checked daily. Hedges have also been rimmed and I can see much has been going on since our las session. Ben s really upbea he las wo weeks have seen record akings. He s also had o adminiser CPR o a cusomer who had a hear aack in he pub. Resuls so far An EHO visi has earned he pub four sars. This should rise o five once Ben and chef Jason have made a few upgrades. The previous raing was wo. A Cask Marque spo check scored 20 ou of 20, so cask drinkers know hey have a good waering hole. Cask is an area ha has suffered less in he slump, so Ben is appealing o his cusomer base as well as a lo of ohers. Ben feels he has sruck gold Wha he licensee hinks Ben Sco says: I know roughly wha I should be doing bu his is really helping me do he righ hings in he righ order. I m saring o feel an ownership ha I m in charge of driving he business raher han jus responding o evens. I m really enjoying he challenge and am finding i incredibly moivaing. Ali has old me ha creaing and mainaining an accurae daabase is as imporan as wih Palmers Brewery as he has a fanasic array of op-qualiy ales giving him a unique advanage over he compeiion; and Palmers cask-ale raining course has clearly equipped him well o develop his side of he business. A big plus is he performance of he carvery, which for he las hree Sundays has opped he 100 cover mark wih record sales of around 1,000 wih an addiional 600 in he spors bar. The amosphere on Sundays in such a large building is definiely improving, wih so many people deciding o dine. When Ben ook over in February 20 ou of 20 he Grea Lyde s Cask Marque score in a recen spo check everyhing I do physically wihin he business and I am saring o see how his will allow me o communicae wih my cusomers when hey are no in he building. This is my firs pub and Palmers has been oally supporive. This has given me grea confidence. Where else would I have go such a fanasic sar in his indusry? Ali reinforces his, because wih he righ mind-se and proper raining anyhing can happen. he average Sunday lunch aendance was around 25 people his fourfold increase I pu down o Ben s personaliy and he friendly eam he is developing. Profiabiliy rise Profiabiliy is also improving, hanks o small hings for example, puing ou ongs insead of large serving spoons means ha people auomaically pu less on heir plaes. And pricey new ou-of-season poaoes have been replaced wih mash, which has gone down well and means less wase. A Wednesday evening Ligh Bie package of main and desser for 5.50 using smaller porions is now bringing in around 20 diners where previously here were none. Ben is adverising Grea Lyde evens in he pub loos a grea place wih a capive audience. Wih he need for a srong emphasis on cleaning, he vas amoun of copper (he calls me Mrs Brasso!) in he pub is now being polished during five minue gaps in service, and i s he same for dusing. Exernal bins have been idied and discreely hidden, lier parols organised and screw-o-he-wall ashrays insalled ouside. Exernal planing is also being planned o brighen up he façade. On he back bar, all blown ligh bulbs have been replaced and he area looks sparkly and cared for. Ben has had he brigh idea of aucioning off he large collecion of miniaures ha normally sand here o clear room o make his his real shop window. Fleshing ou plans for evens Ben s evens schedule is paying dividends. The Halloween Kids Disco wih pary games and dancing on Friday 28 Ocober araced 50 children, wih an adul s version he following day. The even was held during he lae afernoon so i didn impinge on evening rade. Raher han pay a DJ for he nigh Ben invesed 250 on a PA sysem ha he plans o make use of for fuure evens. As well as aking more han 1,300 compared wih he normal 800, i provided a grea opporuniy o adverise he Kids Chrismas pary. The even was so successful ha Ben is going o marke he pub as a kids pary venue and has had he idea of a colouring compeiion o gaher informaion for he daabase. Gearing up for Chrismas There are menus everywhere adverising he Chrismas offer. Ben is also doing some direc markeing based on las year s daabase. Aracive booking forms have gone ou designed o encourage larger paries o hold heir Chrismas celebraion a he Grea Lyde. Jay Smih is upbea by wha he found on a reurn visi o see Jo Arevalo and Marilyn Herdman a he College Arms in Lower Quinon, Sraford-upon-Avon I reurned o he College Arms a few weeks afer my firs visi, excied abou he progress I had been old abou by Jo and Marilyn. I go he firm impression hings were moving in he righ direcion, bu we sill had some way o go. I was wrong. Things had moved well beyond ha. The ladies had clearly spen heir ime in some sor of pub revamp warp drive! Resuls so far The whole amosphere of his beauiful old pub has been ransformed and I found myself sanding in a building ha could easily be owned and run by highly decoraed operaors. The horrible drinking room now looks like i belongs o he building and has been ransformed ino an all Wha he licensees hink We were so pleased when we were seleced for he Pub Menors scheme, because alhough we knew we had a grea pub, we hough we had ried everyhing o make i work, bu jus migh be missing a rick o unlock is full poenial. Jay Smih was seleced o be our menor, again a sroke of luck for us. Jay asked us o send him some figures and a bi of purpose dining and drinking area wih refreshing decor and a clever mix of furniure. The old dining room is now zoned in such a way ha makes i accessible o all and i feels like he sor of place you would be sad o leave. Breaking bad habis When we firs me i was clear he ladies had some bad habis and a big par of heir acion plan would need o involve back-of-house rouines, saff managemen and cash conrol. Making he building look and feel as good as hey have is one hing, bu I was keen o see if we had sopped he cash flow, ordering and scheduling leaks. Once again I was delighed wih wha has been achieved. Jo did look a lile shy when she old me ha using he new cashing-up shees I had given o her had resuled in he discovery ha she had over 1,000 in change in he building ha she didn know she had. Bu she was also delighed ha he shees had brough he finances of he pub ino sharp focus and made hem much more aware of incomings and ougoings on a daily basis. Changes in he kichen The kichen hours have been reworked and he chef is no longer allowed o dicae wha he may or may no do on any paricular day. A range of new suppliers are coming online which will help o increase boom line dramaically from wha background, hen came and sayed over in one of our rooms for he nigh o ge a fuller picure. He made grea suggesions and he really did give us he courage o make a big change ha we had hough of before, bu no had he confidence o carry hrough. He showed us how changing our bar ino our resauran and vice versa would help improve he business all round and imporanly was being achieved by jus using he easies roue o sock. Plans in he pipeline While cusomer areas are now in far beer shape, ha, sadly, is no he case in all pars of he building and we have now drawn up a plan for he reworking of he back bar. I have also been promised ha areas visible o he paying public will no longer be used as dumping grounds. There are also sill some lingering issues wih he relaionships wih some suppliers. Fesive season hopes Chrismas planning is well under way and a four-course Chrismas Day meal is already well subscribed. On he bar here is mulled wine and spiced, warmed cider o add some encourage more affluen drinkers in he village o come o us. Doing his solved los of problems, such as he noise problem ha had worried us before and he disance from he kichen o he resauran. Jay also worked wih us on figures and showed us our correc break-even figure. He showed us how o work wih cash shees, and simply cashing up every day has helped us grealy wih keeping 1,000 he amoun in change ha Jo Arevalo discovered in he pub afer using Jay Smih s new cashing-up shees incremenal sales and a number of lunchime and evening bookings are being aken hanks o some inernal markeing discussed a our earlier meeing. An impressive sar All in all i is impossible o be anyhing oher han impressed wih Jo and Marilyn. They are so keen o do well and absoluely willing o pu in he hard work required o make a good living from a pub like his. The changes o he layou, along wih he implemenaion of he acion plan, have already sared o pay dividends and here is a new energy around he whole eam which should drive hem hrough a busy Chrismas and provide a grea springboard ino conrol of our cash flow. Thanks also o Coca-Cola Enerprises for sending Marin Sampson who gave us loads of grea ideas abou improving sof drink sales and bar displays. The nex sep is a big open nigh in January o show he village and he papers wha we have done and o sample some canapés of food dishes and a bi of wine asing oo. morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

13 24 Pub Menors 25 Grees Inn Geing down o business Jus weeks afer PMA Pub Menors Phil Davison and Alasair Sco visied wo pubs o highligh areas where improvemens could be made o improve performance, hey reurned o see how heir charges were geing on The Elephan Making Gree srides Elephan rumpes is successes Former BII (Briish Insiue of Innkeeping) licensee of he year Phil Davison says Duncan and Naalie Enwisle, lessees a he Grees Inn in Warnham, Wes Sussex, have made good progress since launching heir acion plan Duncan and Naalie have made brillian progress in jus a few shor weeks, and have urned my hones and hough-provoking observaions and commens ino a posiive aiude o drive heir business forward. They have also made he ime o ake a sep back o look a heir business from a disance. We have developed a good, rusing relaionship, in addiion o working very hard o make our acion plan work and deliver he necessary resuls. Acion plan resuls so far My op ip o Duncan and Naalie was o make sure hey had he righ saff in place, hen o inroduce raining, checkliss and wrien procedures so he eam can do is job well and unsupervised. Duncan has now recruied a grea fron-of-house assisan o work wih him, so his gives him he ime o drive he business forward, ensuring sales and profis are maximised. We and food sock-akes have also been organised. This will also allow Duncan o achieve one of his real wishes, o spend more ime wih his young family. The saff have become he sales eam. All he fron-of-house people, including Duncan, have learned o become very focused on cusomer service and sales. This means sales will increase, even wihou any exra cusomers coming hrough he door. I believe ha, in ime, his will add 10% o sales figures. The pub is se up o rade properly and i has been given a creaive, bu very low-cos makeover. We gave he back of he bar a refresh, so ha i looked more appealing and made i easy for he cusomer o buy. As he Grees Inn is only ied for beer, we also inroduced a couple of new, bu proven producs, ha will emp women, while helping drive we margins up. We gave an area of he pub a new look, by moving a few ables around, giving i a coa of pain, insalling some lighs and providing local phoos and fresh flowers. This will link he pub ogeher beer and enable more people o ea when i ges busy. We also inkered wih all he lile hings ha could affec he image of he Grees as an idyllic counry pub, so ha i will now hopefully ge more people popping in. Wha he licensees hink Everyone is loving he new-look Grees. When Phil came down o work wih us, we never imagined wha we could achieve in one day, especially for jus a few hundred pounds. In he wo weeks since, we have aken 30 exra covers value 600 in he new snug area, a previously unused par of he pub. We have pu ogeher an opening and closing checklis, inroduced fresh flowers on he bar o appeal o women, and our new wine and beer boards are being compleed by an aris. 30 he number of exra covers generaed by he new snug area Pub promoion Wih Duncan and Naalie now having creaed some ime o work on developing heir business, hey have been ou acively promoing he pub. This includes visiing and delivering a leer o houses in he village, businesses in he local own and business parks, communicaing wih he media and also aking a sall a he village s Chrismas fee. We have also been ou in Horsham delivering Chrismas brochures, buying ables and urning hem ino A-boards. These are ouside adverising our lunch offers. We go grea feedback from sponsoring he village craf fee and have had a massive hroughpu of villagers, wih pleny of ineres in our Chrismas menu. The pas wo monhs have been inspiraional and we can wai o ge cracking on he nex sage of he acion plan. Mid-week rade A wo-course mid-week lunch menu has been inroduced and markeed a We have also developed a January dine-ou offer and his will be promoed during December. Summary and he fuure We all feel grea progress has been made during he firs sage of his menoring programme. We now have an updaed acion plan o ake forward ino 2012, which we believe will see Duncan and Naalie sar o see some real success wih heir fanasic counry pub. The new acion plan An in-deph review of he menus and how we can drive average cusomer spend upwards. To review he websie and how social media can be used beer. An overall markeing review, including creaing some grea PR sories for To improve signage and drive-by appeal. To inroduce weekly financial managemen shees. To inroduce a markeing calendar and markeing resuls shee. To creae a plan o drive cusomers reurning o ea more regularly. To prepare a plan for he Grees Inn s ren review in Consulan Alasair Sco had pleny of ideas o help Ben Barrip and Sarah Eskins, licensees a he Elephan in Brisol, improve performance when he las popped in, and he is pleasanly surprised by wha he finds on his reurn visi There is nohing more saisfying han he joy on people s faces when hey ge resuls. Ben and Sarah have such a grea aiude. Never oo proud o lisen, never oo fixed o change and never oo reicen o ac. They have embraced he acions wih a sense of vigour and purpose ha will make hem very successful whaever hey do. They have successfully driven he key acions ha are delivering specacular resuls in such a shor space of ime. Ouside areas They pu up wo blackboards, used for food messages during he day and drinks messages in he evening. On he exernal ables hey ve pu condimens, culery and menus in holders so food is clearly highlighed. I makes he pub look inviing. Early sales have been superb as a resul. On he firs wo days of doing his, lunchime sales doubled. Since hen he business has seen seady growh. Ticke imes Ben and Sarah had perhaps no seen he imporance of icke imes o he cusomer. Bu when you do he mahs hey are vial. Five minues o walk o he pub, five minues o order a drink and anoher five minues o decide wha o ea and you are already 15 minues ino your lunch-hour. If he food comes ou in 15 minues hen you have 20 minues o ea your food, five minues o pay your bill, and five minues o ge back o he office. So food has o be ou in 15 minues or cusomers won reurn. They now arge 10 minues for icke imes a lunch and i is working for hem. They have a grea chef who helps hem every sep of he way. He is pleased he pub is busier and isn asking for exra saff. If only here were more like him. Paries I happened o go in one evening and Ben and Sarah were holding a funcion. We changed how hey approach he pary marke, insigaing he following mehods for saging a successful pary and ensuring ha no only does he pary reurn, bu ha hose people aending become regulars. Offer he pizza (par of he buffe), using wairesses raher han leave people o collec i i shows a ouch of personal service and allows Ben o say hello o everyone and engage wih people. Ge addresses. A corporae pary is a fine way of geing deails. We chose in his circumsance o ge addresses and send hem a follow-up offer for a half-price pizza. Paries represen a grea opporuniy o conver on-off users ino becoming regulars. If you have a pary and close he pub, you mus no annoy regulars. There are several ways you can do his, including saving a small space for regulars and saggering he shudown of he pary and he opening of he bar o regulars. 40% growh in sales a he pub since he changes were implemened Labour managemen Ben and Sarah have embraced labour-managemen principles. They sripped ou 40 hours a week, saving 15,000 a year. We ll refine i o see how we can save more. Chrismas plans The Elephan has a grea se of plans for Chrismas. So far i has 1,500 people booked in for fesive bashes and buffes, and aims o reach a arge of 2,000. I is working wih Caon Consuling on January bounceback offers. The pub is shu on Chrismas Day, bu will be open for he New Year celebraions. Inerim resuls The resuls are specacular. Sales have grown by 40% as a resul of he work done. This is making a big difference o he pub s performance. The sales uplif will generae abou 50,000 a year in profi and is really exciing. Bu he work won sop, and here is sill more o do o make he pub really successful. Bu i shows he value of fresh eyes, of helping new enrans perform o heir maximum abiliy, and of raining. Wha he licensee hinks The Pub Menors scheme has been a grea opporuniy for us o look a he business hrough a fresh pair of eyes. A combinaion of brainsorming and aking advice from some indusry expers has allowed us o implemen changes ha have yielded insan resuls. I has been encouraging o know ha, despie being relaive indusry novices, we have done many hings well and ha, wih jus a couple of weaks, we have been able o improve business urnover dramaically. These changes have allowed us o add o he boom line wihou adversely affecing he cusomer experience, and we can now scale up he urnover knowing ha we will also be improving he profi. Having made a sar on highlighing he food elemen of our business wih exerior blackboards, we are also invesing in upgrading he exerior lighing o highligh he boards in he evening o drive food rade. Given our locaion, we are using his opporuniy o arac lae-evening drinkers o our cockail offer and furher increase hose sales. Bu his is jus he sar for us. We are sill some way below arge on wha we believe is a realisic urnover for his business and i is up o us o coninue o drive forward wih new ideas and bes indusry pracices o deliver he righ resuls. morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

14 26 Pub Menors 27 The Grea Lyde, Yeovil Double your money On a reurn visi o his Somerse pub, rade consulan Ali Carer finds ha manager Ben Sco has been busy puing ino pracice many of her suggesions, has already doubled urnover and is well on his way o aking on he enancy of he Palmers oule 8k Weekly urnover has doubled a he Grea Lyde, driven by repea business Las ime I visied he Grea Lyde I was delighed o repor ha Ben Sco is an implemener so I was expecing grea hings his visi and from he smile on his face when we shook hands, I knew he had good news. A doubling of urnover o abou 8,000 per week in around a year was wha I waned o hear and Ben has already achieved his from reurn business driven by ideas we had discussed on my earlier visis. Apar from word of mouh, Ben says he in-house markeing he has insigaed such as chalkboards, posers in men s and ladies loos and flyers have all made a major conribuion o rade and, imporanly, resuled in los of happy cusomers. In fac Ben says he has never been complimened so much during his working life. The bigges hing o happen is ha families wih kids now know hey have somewhere o come where hey are genuinely welcome. I have found my niche here 100%, he beams. Caering for kids Chrismas rade was boosed by a successful 4pm o 6pm Chrismas Eve kids disco which was adverised locally wih an offer involving a meal deal (Capri Sun, main dish and ice cream) which 20 kids ook up, meaning ha 20 ses of parens were spending money over he bar. A valuable lesson was learned around his ime when Ben spen 120 adverising a redempion offer in a local paper, which resuled in jus one reurn. He compares his wih he pub s Facebook page, whose fanbase is seadily growing and building a loyaly ideniy. Ben has really grasped he need for Child s play: word of mouh booss business for kids evens, including we sales o parens an acive daabase and is developing a sysem ha will aler him four weeks before kids birhdays so hey can promoe paries and send cards offering birhday cakes for people who book. The pub will charge 2.50 per head for a buffe and 50 for he disco. which is good profi on a 250 invesmen on a PA sysem found on ebay (see las feaure). Each pary will obviously increase rade hrough incremenal paren drinks Ben esimaes a leas 30 o 40 sales per even. He says: Kids paries are going o be grea for business as heir word of mouh is incredible and in a lo of ways hey drive aduls behaviour. Family forunes New Year s Eve brough record sales of 2,300 afer Ben adverised i as a New Year s Family Nigh afer realising ha many parens waned o go ou bu could no find babysiers. Ben, a former professional enerainer, pu on a complee show and children policed he aduls, which he describes as he mos rewarding hing I ve ever done. I fel like my pub, wih my cusomers and has definiely consolidaed cusomer and saff loyaly. On New Year s Eve 2010 he manager was here running he bar a 10pm on his own; his year here was me and five Ben has firmly grasped ha daa collecion is key o fas business growh saff happily working unil he small hours wha a urnaround. Ben is already planning more kids evens for February half-erm, Easer and all fuure school holidays and will hos more Family Nighs during radiionally quie rading periods. Cabare evenings A massive highligh las year was he pary o celebrae Ben s engagemen o his parner. The cusomers embraced i and had a grea ime, especially enjoying drag queen Lady Comealo who urned he evening ino a cabare. Facebook wen mad and feedback from he evening was such a hi ha Ben is planning ickeed dinner/cabare evenings, promoed by he drag ac, who is a regular on he local cabare circui. I ve suggesed o Ben ha he success of each of hese evens provides a grea opporuniy o promoe he nex one, so pleny of flyers and pos- ers need o be ready wih some form of offer o make he reurn visi. Number-crunching Ben has firmly grasped my exhoraion ha daa collecion is key o growing a business quickly and I ve suggesed ha he concenraes on raining saff o do his as second naure. He is going o coninue using facebook o carry on he conversaion wih his cusomers and, in paricular, hank hem for heir coninuing loyaly. Wih all he undoubed success of his endeavours a he Grea Lyde here are ineviably hings Ben jus has no been able o complee. Problems wih he ills have held up he inroducion of he loyaly scheme menioned las ime, bu his is currenly being implemened. Developing he back bar Ben knows his is a bugbear of mine is a work in progress and he plans o spend 350 on good lighing and improve he fridges o display high GP producs more effecively. Food sales growh As repored las visi, food sales are seadily growing, wih around 20 dining regularly on week days, in par driven by repea business from he very successful Sunday lunch rade. Ben says he personal conac IMAge: HInkSOck Moivaed managemen: having buil a good eam, Ben is focusing on business developmen he has wih his cusomers is key o driving repea business. This is where we ge i oally righ! Anoher indicaor ha Ben is on he righ rack is he cusom he pub is aracing from he compeiion, including one pub ha has jus had a lo of money spen on a refurbishmen. People are realising ha we offer service and subsance over syle. Communiy spiri Ben genuinely loves his cusomers, remembers names and acknowledges hem and how hey are helping his business. He also acively helps cusomers link and form relaionships wih oher cusomers, which is hugely appreciaed and genuinely builds he communiy spiri. Ben s iniial aim was o grow he business o 7,000 weekly by he end of year one, bu he is comforably exceeding his by 1,000 a week and is deermined no o sop here. Three big evens are planned for January, including he reurn of a large scooer club afer an absence of five years and anoher big pary nigh. February will see a Valenine s Day pary and half-erm kids disco, and he hearical blood in Ben s veins is driving him o plan a big show nigh early in he year. The resauran is now open seven days a week for lunch by public demand. Tenancy negoiaions Ben has he drive and deerminaion o succeed in wha is definiely no an easy pub o run, parly due o is sheer size, and I leave him wih a reminder ha however big he business ges he mus always keep an eye on he basics and his numbers. As a novice o he rade, one could be forgiven for hinking ha Ben has gone from zero o hero in jus nine monhs, bu he ruh is he sill has a long way o go. I am really pleased, however, ha he is currenly more han midway hrough negoiaions wih Palmers of Bridpor o ake on he enancy of he Grea Lyde in his sole name. Palmers is offering Ben an advanageous package, parly in recogniion of his implemenaion of grea ideas during he menoring scheme; as a forward-hinking regional brewery, i undersands ha is enans come from all walks of life and offers on-going raining and suppor, paricularly in he crucial firs year. This will make sure ha Ben coninues he sharp growh he has demonsraed o dae and help him develop sound business pracices o keep him on rack. Laes on Coca-Cola Enerprises Open More Business iniiaive over page How he manager sees i Ali has made me focus on wha o do and how o do i bu mos imporanly she s also given me he confidence o acually achieve i. I m a differen person now. I s been hugely beneficial o be able o ap ino Ali s exensive indusry knowledge and experience. Amids such a lo going on, she s enabled me o home in on he really imporan hings ha will help me grow my business. Her emphasis on he imporance of daa collecion and acive use of a daabase has been key o growing i so quickly and I inend o work hard a his during Having buil a really good eam, I ll also ensure I spend ime on business developmen raher han spending all hours behind he bar. I can honesly say Ali has helped immeasurably in every aspec I now feel I m driving he business. Before I me her, i was definiely driving me! Confiden: following Ali s advice has helped Ben immeasurably morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

15 28 Pub Menors The Grea Lyde, Yeovil Opimising sof drinks service Marin Sampson, ou-of-home shopper markeing conroller a Coca-Cola Enerprises, reviews progress on improving sof-drink visibiliy a he Grea Lyde in Yeovil, Somerse To serve a perfec Coca-Cola and keep your cusomers coming back for more ake a Georgia Green Glass Fill 1/3 wih ice I was grea o revisi manager Ben Sco and see he progress he and his eam are making a he Grea Lyde. Wih rade consulan Ali Carer s suppor, he has achieved big wins in geing more cusomers hrough his door more ofen, and has sared o build up a real loyaly wih his locals. Here is a licensee really playing o his srenghs. He is a naural enerainer and clearly grea wih families, so helping o increase he number of hem enering his pub is a grea move. The main challenge for Ben is o maximise he experience families ge from his food and drink offerings while increasing his reurn of sales a he same ime and sof drinks can play a vial role in his. In erms of sof drinks, he acionplan Ben and I agreed on my iniial visi was abou geing he basics righ and undersanding ha sof drinks are as imporan as any oher caegory in a pub. No doing he basics righ will no only have a derimenal effec on he cusomer experience, bu also has he poenial o minimise he high revenue and profi opporuniy ha sof drinks offer o a licensee. The four key focus areas agreed were: n Ensuring qualiy of serve making he mos of glassware n Chilled visibiliy increasing chilled space for sofs n Visibiliy behind he bar refreshing space behind he bar n Visibiliy on menu producing more aracive menus Pre-ransformaion: Ben Sco has improved back-bar visibiliy o maximise sof-drinks sales and lif foofall I am pleased o say ha Ben has delivered on all key focus areas, which has grealy benefied his boom line. Ensuring qualiy of serve Ben has moved from a half-pin serve and now uses branded glassware for sof drinks. He s also now looking for a larger branded glassware size o upsell o his cusomers. Chilled visibiliy and visibiliy behind he bar Ben has acknowledged he was no maximising his visibiliy enough behind he bar or on menus. Despie having a lo of bar space, Ben did no have enough chilled space for sof drinks in his pub and was serving ambien produc wih ice. He has ordered an exra fridge o ensure his sof drinks are visible o consumers and served chilled where possible. Fridges and he back-bar are prime reail areas and should be considered carefully when merchandising. Visibiliy on menu Ben also agreed o include sof drinks on all his menus. These are being prined and will allow cusomers o see brands and produc descripors more clearly. In ess across 250 pubs las year, here were caegory uplifs of 5% o 9% simply by including sof drinks on he menu, so we have every confidence ha his will help Ben furher. Range review To ensure Ben can offer parens a range of sof drinks and boled waer for younger family members, he has chosen o broaden his family offer, and inroduced a juice drink wih no arificial ingrediens or preservaives. Impressively, Ben sold almos 200 unis in he firs few weeks. Ben also reviewed his energy drink performance and invesed some of his margin on energy drinks ino finished drink promoional aciviy. As a resul, he has seen his volume of energy drinks increase by 50% in he pas wo monhs. Promoions/foofall The Grea Lyde ook par in he Designaed Driver campaign, offering free sof drinks for designaed drivers o grea effec. Ben adverised i exernally and also offered i o all paries booked in for Chrismas dinners and paries in his pub. Ben old us ha a hird of all paries sayed on for longer as a resul of he Designaed Driver aciviy and he benefied from increased revenues. Pour in correcly chilled Coca-Cola Add appropriae, fresh garnish In summary While a relaively shor period of ime has elapsed and some of he iniiaives are sill being implemened, manager Ben Sco has already seen a significan growh in sof-drinks sales. Clearly some of his is down o an increase in cusomers, bu he also pus i down o more people buying more ofen, wih spend per head up more han 10%, due o he increased choice and improved visibiliy. Essenially, he s geing he basics righ. Ben says he has learn wo imporan hings abou sof drinks during he programme: Firsly, sof drinks are more imporan o he pub han I ever hough. Previously, I didn give hem any aenion. I is only when I look a my numbers ha I see how much hey conribue o my business. Secondly, small hings can make a big difference. One or wo changes o my sof drinks range have made a huge difference o he amoun I am selling, especially wih he increased number of families coming in. Also, offering free sof drinks o drivers a Chrismas had a much bigger impac han I hough i could. I am excied abou he fuure and look forward o he new menus coming in and geing my back-bar area working harder for me boh of which can only furher improve my urnover. You ve jus made hisory Visi for more informaion. morningadveriser.co.uk Coca-Cola, Coke, he design of he Coca-Cola Conour Bole and he Dynamic Ribbon device are regisered rade marks of The Coca-Cola Company.

16 30 Pub Menors 31 College Arms, Sraford-upon-Avon Graduaion day When Jay Smih, owner of Money s Rock Cafe in York and Harrogae and sar of TV s Save Our Boozer, made a reurn visi o he College Arms a Lower Quinon, Sraford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, he found ha owners Jo Arevalo and Marilyn Herdman had been hard a work puing ino pracice he suggesions he made o urn he business around Afer a cha wih Jo and Marilyn a he launch of he PMA s menoring scheme, I arranged o go and see he parners a work and say he nigh in he B&B so as o fully undersand heir operaion. I also asked ha hey send me all heir recen figures and rading rends along wih heir break-even figure and supplier liss. Alarm bells sared o ring in my head when hey didn have he confidence o ell me abou heir financial problems hemselves, bu insead divered me in he direcion of heir accounan, a formidable woman who clearly considered herself inegral o he day-o-day running of his small business and who, i ranspired, had a lo o learn abou handing ou advice. Firsly, he figures didn really sack up and he pub was breaking even a a much lower level han she had advised. Secondly, and more worryingly, she had never flagged up he plain fac ha money was clearly leaking from he business hrough a combinaion of missing purchase invoices and lack of cash conrols. Sie visi realiy When I arrived on-sie, he firs hing ha sruck me was he absolue beauy of he building. Par 16h and par 18h cenury, his ruly is he sor of pub ha every village in he 11% he rae of increase in urnover a he pub Top ips: Jo and Marilyn wih menor Jay Smih a he College Arms land would wan o boas abou. The inerior, however, was a mish-mash of syles and a perfec demonsraion of he confidence-sapping effec a lack of rade can have. You could almos walk hrough he building and pick ou which areas were decoraed wih he enhusiasm of a new operaor and which had been subjeced o he kind of aenion a ba- This pub is lucky o be in he hands of wo such commied people le-weary landlord offers when he or she knows hings need o change bu isn really convinced anyone will acually care. The pub suppors an array of local eams, and offers food, a wide range of beers and wines, snacks and evens, bu only he dining room was really represenaive of he sandards expeced in an affluen area and he rading figures refleced his. Wha had gone wrong Jo and Marilyn knew his and heir faces old a million sories as we walked hrough he building and pieced ogeher heir overall business plan. The louder and, shall we say, more lager conscious puners had managed over ime o harves one side of he pub for heir own enjoymen where hey could play pool and feed he various frui machines while urning up he volume on he jukebox. The more discerning locals had rereaed o eaing in he sunning dining room, bu would rarely make heir way ino he drinking area. No surprise really, i was lurid purple wih more of he feel of a working men s club han a chocolae box pub. The flow of he building was all wrong, bu more ineresingly I was able o coax his view from he ladies quie quickly. They knew wha needed o be done, bu hey had jus los faih in heir own view of he business. The food offering was prey much where i needed o be, bu he chef was buying sock from wherever he waned and his more ofen han no included he supermarke on his way o work. He had esablished a posiion of power over he kichen, which mean he was rarely challenged, when in fac i was a par-ime kichen assisan from he village who saved he day by popping in a couple of imes a week o urn ou fanasic pies, curries and sauces for chef o dress up laer. Puing he wheels on All in all my firs visi wen as I had expeced. I knew he pub was in safe hands, bu ha a huge confidence boos was needed, along wih some basic rouines so ha a clear picure of where hings were going could be esablished. Office rouines didn really exis and here acually hadn been a daily cash-up for as long as anyone could remember. A dispue over credi on producs ha had been delivered in error had been lef unresolved for monhs and sock was being purchased from he mos convenien source raher han being deermined on price. In he end i ook one si-down cha o pu he wheels back on. I se ou a cash-up shee wih Jo and encouraged boh her and Marilyn o look again a he layou and décor. We ran hrough a lis of suppliers ha may be more profiable and raionalised he approach hey were aking o produc placemen. More profiable lines were o be promoed while he lower-margin mus haves were relegaed o less suble placemens. The way ahead Business-boosing iniiaives ha focus on key diary daes, such as Easer and bank holidays, are being inked ino he College Arms diary and seasonal rends will be marked ou o maximise opporuniies. Someimes you wan o see he nice guys win and his is one of hose imes. Good luck ladies, you deserve i, no only for your hard work, bu because you are acually very, very good a wha you do. Turnover is up jus a ouch over 11% and he running coss of he pub, as a resul of rimming some hours and by purchasing hrough Gaining confidence Being lucky enough o work wih wo people who in all realiy find his business easy o undersand, was a godsend. Nohing is oo much rouble for hem and hey aack challenges head-on wih reason and vigour, so long as someone can give hem he confidence o do so. We kep in ouch via over he nex few weeks and all seemed o be going o plan wih he changes I had suggesed o improve he vibe and feel of he pub, while also making srides o undersand he figures and alernaive suppliers, are down almos 7%. Chrismas rading bea las year by 1,500 on Chrismas week and 900 on New Year week. The new layou has conribued o an increase in food and drink revenue, wih he bigges gain being from locals now drinking wih hem who previously didn like he room. If rade coninues o perform in his way agains las year hey will make an addiional 40,000 on he boom line for he year 2012, raher han he break-even of Business booser: bank-holiday evens can help pack in he puners keep a igher conrol of he businessend of hings in he office. We se a dae for me o reurn and off hey wen, plan in hand o aack he allnew College Arms. Joy of visi wo Visi wo was a complee joy. Everyhing we had discussed and more had been carried ou experly and wih no compromise. A new gaming area, a new drinking room experience, a shared drinking and dining room, a couple of new Cheserfield sofas ha look like hey belong in he pub had been insalled and planning was under way for wha wen on o be a sell-ou Chrismas Day lunch. Jo had discovered so much change in he building her bank manager would probably have willingly bough i from her o see his branch hrough Chrismas and chef had had his wings clipped! There was now a clear focus boh on keeping and aracing cusom, as well as a backoffice rouine ha ensured every penny was accouned for. Flying high The ladies were flying and he pub fel like i was under he conrol of seasoned professionals wih an eye for profi in a relaxed environmen you would be happy o ea and drink in any nigh of he week. There were sill minor niggles wih he back-bar parly as a resul of Marilyn s penchan for hoarding hings behind he bar, bu all in all so much had been achieved in such a shor period of ime i was impossible o be oo criical. Our nex aim was o show off his fine-looking local o he villagers and le hem know no only wha hey had on heir doorsep, bu in how many differen ways hey could enjoy i. A cheese and wine evening is coming up, wih Jo and Marilyn inviing everyone o come and reacquain hemselves wih heir local. I ll be here and wih luck so will a large proporion of he villagers. This pub is lucky o have come ino he hands of wo such commied individuals and if hey hold heir nerve hey will have a fine fuure. Laes on Coca-Cola Enerprises Open More Business iniiaive over page Beauiful building: he sunning College Arms in Lower Quinon, Warwickshire Grape expecaions: a cheese and wine evening is planned a he pub morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

17 32 Pub Menors To serve a perfec Coca-Cola and keep your cusomers coming back for more ake a Georgia Green Glass College Arms, Sraford Sof sell pays dividends Marin Sampson, ou of home shopper markeing conroller a Coca-Cola Enerprises, keeps abs on his proégés progress IMAgE: ThInksTOCk Fill 1/3 wih ice A charming pub in a beauiful village seing wih enormous poenial, he College Arms has wo very passionae and capable enans in Jo Arevalo and Marilyn Herdman. On he firs visi, i was clear he pub layou was spli ino wo areas a pub resauran and a communiy bar o accommodae heir cusomer base; however, he layou was no proving effecive. The menor, Jay, advised he enans on several areas ha would help hem o ge some of he business basics righ. Jay also suggesed making a few cosmeic changes o he pub and improving he layou in order o maximise he foofall opporuniy his grea building has o offer. The difference in he look and feel of he pub on my second visi was a huge sep-change, and a real achievemen o have urned i around in such a shor period jus over wo monhs. Similarly, i was vial ha Jo and Marilyn ensured heir sof-drinks offer was fi for purpose in order o generae more revenue for he pub. On my iniial visi we looked a hree key focus areas: n Qualiy of serve n Caering for families n Range & visibiliy Qualiy of serve I was imporan o ensure qualiy was incorporaed in every par of he business, from cellar o glass for example, uilising qualiy glassware across all drinks caegories is a grea way for any oule o communicae o cusomers he qualiy message of socked brands. n The acion plan: Jo and Marilyn agreed o review he pub s branded glass range and sared using branded glasses for all he beer and sof-drink brands hey sock. In addiion o he 16oz serve, hey also Glassy operaion: caering for families and sof-drinks visibiliy were some of he areas he pub focused on added a 22oz cola serve o heir offering o maximise he upselling opporuniy from he high volume of spors eams visiing he pub. Jo and Marilyn also rialled cola in a 330ml glass bole, in addiion o pos-mix, and were surprised by he number of cusomers acively choosing i ahead of draugh, even a a higher reail price. n The resul: A hird of all cola serves are now in 22oz glasses, increasing heir cash revenue. Caering for families Wih he lay-ou changes ha were implemened, he College Arms now offers even more space for families o enjoy a grea meal in comforable surroundings. The enans were keen o encourage more families o visi, so a suiable sof-drinks Overall resuls As a resul of he changes Jo and Marilyn have made, heir sof-drinks sales have increased by around 13%, which is a grea achievemen. Jo and Marilyn now sock he righ brands for heir cusomer base. They have he selecion visible in he righ places and 13% he increase in sof-drinks sales since he changes were made range was essenial. While having adul sof drinks in heir offering was imporan, hey recognised ha, o maximise sales, a wide range of family-friendly sof drinks was required. n The acion plan: They also sared socking a sof-drinks brand for younger family members, and he supplier suppored he lising wih aciviy kis o keep he children occupied during heir visi. n The resul: The College Arms now sells up o 40 unis of he new lising now offer a qualiy, beer han home serve. Overall, a real value-for-money experience. I am delighed wih heir progress and how promising he fuure looks for heir business as a resul of heir commimen and Jay s exper business menorship. a week, highlighing how imporan i is o sock he righ range of sof drinks. Range & visibiliy The College Arms already socked a wide range of sof drinks including more han 15 differen adul sof drinks choices. However, visibiliy was inconsisen. Jo and Marilyn agreed o consolidae heir range in line wih heir bes-sellers and o focus on a simple and consisen visibiliy plan a key poins of purchase, mos imporanly he bar and able areas. n The acion plan: The back-bar was essenially a reail area and i was imporan for he licensees o make he mos of i in order o maximise sales. n The resul: Jo and Marilyn improved visibiliy of he sof-drinks range in his area by: 1 Insalling wo new chillers behind he bar, increasing chilled space and merchandising heir range in line wih sales volumes. 2 Insalling exra sof-drinks fons in boh bars o highligh he brands ha are available and o improve speed of serve. 3 Implemening a new sof-drinks able menu, designed in keeping wih he College Arms brand, for use a lunchime. Pour in correcly chilled Coca-Cola Add appropriae, fresh garnish You ve jus made hisory Visi for more informaion. morningadveriser.co.uk Coca-Cola, Coke, he design of he Coca-Cola Conour Bole and he Dynamic Ribbon device are regisered rade marks of The Coca-Cola Company.

18 34 Pub Menors 35 The Elephan, Brisol The Elephan makes is mark On a reurn visi o he Elephan in Brisol, rade consulan Alasair Sco, who runs Caon Hospialiy, discovers ha licensees Ben Barrip and Sarah Eskins have been hard a i implemening many of his suggesions This menor scheme has been righly judged by everyone o be a massive success and, for he Elephan, he figures have been sunning. The iniial 40% sales growh has been mainained and over he 12 weeks o Chrismas he figure was 36%. While he figures are good, i is perhaps worh looking a he achievemens on a more base level. Toal income year-on-year is up by 43.5% while food sales have risen by almos 87%. The Elephan has been ransformed, from making a loss ino a healhy profi Key changes The following poins are he mos relevan: The pub has moved from being marginal o making a significan profi, enough for he lessees o live on and re-inves in he fuure of heir business. Ben and Sarah are now incredibly posiive abou he fuure of heir pub. Their aim of geing o a second sie now seems achievable more quickly. They have learned some grea new skills. The inescapable fac is ha menoring works, and is a very quick and cos-effecive mehod of caapuling your business forward. The achievemens As a menor, one of he oughes challenges is o find he mos imporan elemens of he business ha are missing, and no jus hand over all your ideas, bu he ones ha will make he bigges difference. On he oher hand, you should also Income yearon-year is up by 43.5% while food sales have risen by almos 87% ell hem as much as you can o ge your knowledge across. So here are loads of hings ha we have done, bu only some make his aricle. Below is a lis of wha we hink are he mos imporan achievemens. Exernal signalling This undoubedly has had he mos effec, and i has even surprised me wih how much exra business i generaed. We have pu big blackboards on he ouside of he pub, highlighing he menu during he day and he Exernal signage: has really worked and had a massive impac on rade cockail lis during he nigh. We have laid ou exernal ables when he weaher permis. We are also looking a lighing and exploring he possibiliy of exernal wording pained ono he building. Ticke imes I have explained he imporance of icke imes in previous aricles and Ben and Sarah have really focused on he 10-minue icke ime. They have been very successful a his and i has made a huge difference o he business. Rosering and saff coss The Elephan has saved a sensaional 7% on is labour raio over he pas 12 weeks. The pub is using he S4 rosering ool, and i even feaures in is laes video. This amouns o a significan saving of around 25,000 a year. This, I am sure, is a saving many pubs will really need in wha could be a difficul year. They now really undersand how o schedule far more effecively, including he value of driving sales hrough effecive rosering of righ people, righ place, righ ime. For mos pubs, labour is he bigges cos, he bigges sales opporuniy and he bigges wase, so i needs some real managemen focus. Menu developmen Wih Coca-Cola Enerprises suppor we have improved he menus: one for lunch, one for he early evening (food-led), one for lae evening (cockail-led), and one for Sunday. These are all consisen bu wih small variaions. The menu now communicaes he business far more effecively, as well as highlighing qualiy and he funcion room upsairs. As a resul, he pub no only me some prey ambiious arges for December bu also has a very good level of bookings in he radiionally quie monh of January. Nex seps The grea hing abou success is ha you have so much more energy (and cash) o implemen he nex seps, and so we have go a fair number of nex seps. Capaciy managemen Once you are full, he bes way o increase sales is o boos capaciy. Ben and Sarah are now purchasing high ables for some of he less well-used zones and moving hings around. This should increase he number of covers downsairs by abou 16. Comfor facor One of he iems hey couldn srech Changes: Sarah Eskins and Ben Barrip are now inending o pu covers on he benches and chairs o when hey bough he pub was covers on he chairs and benches. They are now going o do his, which will hopefully make he building more appealing and also increase he lengh of says. Roof errace Ben and Sarah have always had one eye on convering heir fla roof ino a roof errace. This will clearly add significan appeal o he building during he warmer monhs and should significanly increase urnover. They are now acively working on plans o achieve his. Business markeing The Elephan is one of he firs pubs o use a new newsleer process ha has been developed for he pub marke, called Caon Communicaion (CC). No only will CC send ou he pub newsleer and manage he daabase for he pub, i will also help grow he cusomer base and sales. Wih more han 30 million addresses i is able o accuraely arge people by poscode, demographic and beween corporae cusomers and consumers. Laes on Coca-Cola Enerprises Open More Business iniiaive over page In he long erm The fuure is very exciing for Ben and Sarah. They have a profiable firs pub ha is growing, and hey are learning he key skills o be successful in his indusry. They wan o grow heir business o be successful muli-sie operaors and now need o esablish he skills o effecively do so. This is perhaps he hardes ransiion for any pub operaor, and requires compleely differen approaches o ensure success. These are he areas I will be working on wih hem over he coming year. Probably he single-mos difficul skill is one of influencing. For mos people running heir own pub heir presence and personaliy ensures ha he saff work hard and sandards are high. Bu as soon as you become a muliple operaor his all changes. You have o find mechanisms o ensure all hese hings wihou being here. The wo bigges misakes are in rying o manage in he same way, or jus working wice as hard. Neiher of hese approaches work, bu i is wha mos people do when hey make he ransiion, so his will be an ineresing and exciing journey. Ben and Sarah have he apiude, inelligence, and openness o do his very well. I am also encouraging hem o go for some awards his year. Doing well in awards will help any fuure licensee recognise ha hey are alened and worh consideraion, and will make i easier for hem o ge heir nex pub. So wha has he menor scheme achieved for Ben and Sarah? Profis, enhusiasm and an exciing fuure in he indusry. Perhaps he more sobering hough is wha migh have happened if hey hadn been on he programme. Bu hey had he bravery o apply, he applicaion o make changes happen, and he courage o ry new hings. I is he combinaion of hese hings ha has made hem so successful. Saring poin: he Elephan will ac as he launch pad for growh morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

19 36 Pub Menors The Elephan, Brisol To serve a perfec Coca-Cola and keep your cusomers coming back for more ake a Georgia Green Glass Surge in sof drink sales Marin Sampson, ou-of-home shopper markeing conroller a Coca-Cola Enerprises, keeps abs on his proégés Nesled in he busy bar and resauran area of Brisol, he Elephan is in a grea locaion o capure no only he dayime lunch rade of nearby businesses bu also he busling Brisol nighlife. I revisied he pub on a Friday afernoon wih he bar seadily filling up wih cusomers abou o sar heir weekend. Following a few s and phone conversaions charing he good progress so far, I was really keen and excied o see he impac of our execuion plan. The key focus areas agreed were: n Improving sof-drinks visibiliy wih food. n Improving sof-drinks visibiliy a he bar. n Showcasing qualiy producs and perfec serve. Overall resuls Ben has execued he business basics brillianly and made a fanasic sar wih he help of his menor s suppor and guidance. The sof-drink brands feaured on his menus and made visible on he op shelf of he back-bar chiller resuled in a 14% uplif in volume and revenue versus he four weeks prior o implemening he changes. I hope his posiive sales performance coninues and ha i is no long before Ben and Sarah realise heir aim of opening a second oule. Fill 1/3 wih ice Pour in correcly chilled Coca-Cola Add appropriae, fresh garnish Improving sof-drinks visibiliy wih food Sof drinks have he highes incidence of any caegory purchased wih food and 65% of all sof-drink purchases made before 4pm. During my iniial visi o he Elephan he menu did no reflec his, wih a food-only lunchime menu and a cockail one o peruse, from 11am, bu no sof-drinks menu. Menu visibiliy a lunchime presens licensees Ben Barrip and Sarah Eskins a he Elephan wih a grea opporuniy o drive peneraion and incidence. In rials conduced across 250 managed pubs here was caegory uplif on sof drinks of beween 5% and 9%, simply by making brands and packs more visible o he consumers. Resul: Ben agreed o improve sofdrinks visibiliy on his lunchime menus. Menus have been reprined o include brand logos and produc Nicely done: he pub has successfully improved sof-drinks visibiliy descripions for he Elephan s key sof-drinks brands. Improving sof-drinks visibiliy a he bar Previously, here was lile or no visibiliy of sof drinks on or behind he bar. The fac ha one in four drink orders in a pub conain a sof drink shows how hey are an inegral par of an oule s offer. Resul: Ben and Sarah have swapped a specialiy boled-beer brand on he op shelf of heir back-bar cooler ha was delivering a poor volume performance and replaced i wih heir packaged range of sof drinks. The imporance of qualiy producs and qualiy serve Alasair Sco, he pub s official menor, alked a lo on our visi abou he imporance of signposing ouside 14% he rise in sof-drinks sales since he changes were made and inside he pub, indicaing clearly o poenial cusomers wha he oule is abou, hereby giving hem reasons o visi. Resul: Ben was keen o rial branded cola glass boles, in addiion o his exising cola pos-mix, o help signpos a qualiy message abou he Elephan. Ben also acknowledged he imporance of branded glassware and, where possible, provides all of his beers in a branded glass and feels i enhances he qualiy of experience for he cusomer. He has now mirrored his bes pracice wih his sof-drinks range. The Elephan s sof-drinks acion plan summary n Creae a sof-drinks menu o complemen he lunch menu o be displayed on all ables pre-4pm. n Use brand logos and produc descripions on menus o deliver a clear message o cusomers. n Ensure adequae chilled space for sof drinks. n Ensure sof drinks are visible o cusomers. n Use branded glassware for sof drinks o enhance he overall qualiy experience and drive consumers value-for-money percepion. You ve jus made hisory Visi for more informaion. morningadveriser.co.uk Coca-Cola, Coke, he design of he Coca-Cola Conour Bole and he Dynamic Ribbon device are regisered rade marks of The Coca-Cola Company.

20 38 Pub Menors 39 Grees Inn, Warnham Duncan Enwisle: sepped back from he business o gain an overview Family fare: a winer warmer offer has encouraged more diners o reurn Female friendly: he appealing environmen is pulling in exra cusom Pain job: a one-day makeover has brough fanasic resuls for Naalie Making Gree srides Growh On a reurn rip o he Grees Inn in Warnham, Wes Sussex, Phil Davison, a former BII (Briish Insiue of Licensing) licensee of he year, finds lessees Duncan and Naalie Enwisle have been busy puing his plans ino pracice As my hree-monh menoring programme wih he Grees Inn comes o an end, i is wonderful o reflec on how far Duncan and Naalie have come in such a shor space of ime. I believe we have achieved all we se ou in our acion plan and more. When I firs visied he pub, hey fel hey had become bogged down wih he daily grind of running heir pub and, despie heir bes-laid plans, had los rack of wha hey se ou o achieve wo years before. Now, he sory could no be more differen. Duncan and Naalie have been very posiive and proacive and, wih a lile guidance, and a lo of hard work and deerminaion, hey have aken conrol of heir pub, realising he imporance of developing and working on heir business, raher han jus working in i. Key change As par of he menoring process, I encouraged Duncan o ake a sep back from he day-o-day running of he pub, in order o ge an overall view of how he business is run. This has enabled him o review all he producs hey are offering, including all he buying and selling prices, o be cerain ha heir profi is maximised. Duncan now complees weekly financial rading repors, ensuring he and Naalie always have an up-odae picure of he business. These objecive and professional procedures have given him he ime and informaion required o focus on We have achieved all we se ou in our acion plan and more a horough review of he pub s ren, and ogeher we have esablished ha a subsanially lower ren can be agreed wih he pubco, and have been able o clearly demonsrae he evidence. Upskilling saff The ime Duncan needed o pu his exra effor ino he business side of his pub was achieved as a resul of inroducing daily se-up shees and check-liss. These sysems allow saff o do heir jobs independenly and wihou as much supervision, and when combined wih raining on he imporance of looking afer and upselling o cusomers, Duncan and Naalie found hey were finally able o devoe he appropriae ime o markeing and business developmen. Feeling confiden ha he pub will run smoohly, even in heir absence, has relieved some of he pressure and, on op of ha, even given hem more family ime ogeher. Cusomer feedback As a furher measure o ensure he level of service heir cusomers receive remains consisen, I suggesed ha Duncan and Naalie inroduce a mysery-syle cusomer feedback form, which he saff pu on every able a he sar of each shif. This allows cusomers o le hem know wha hey are doing well, as well as giving consrucive suggesions on wha migh be improved. The informaion gives Duncan and Naalie he chance o assess sandards, even when absen from he business, bu will also fuel a coninual sream of new ideas, o allow hem o consanly re-evaluae and improve hings. Big achievemens Having aken on board my advice abou he imporance of argeed and measurable markeing sraegies, Duncan has gone on o achieve some grea resuls over he pas few monhs. No only was he able o secure a free, five-page feaure abou he pub in a local glossy magazine, bu he made ime o go ou ino he communiy and marke he pub s Chrismas pary menu, resuling in a fanasic, record-breaking rading period over December. I also encouraged Duncan o inroduce a winer warmer food offer in January, promoing his during he Chrismas period o enice cusomers o reurn, ensuring hey capure imporan mid-week rade, even in wha is a quie monh. This has proved o be a grea success, wih more han 100 cusomers aking advanage of he offer in he firs week of January alone, and pleny more bookings coming in for he res of he monh. Loyaly club Anoher key markeing scheme ha Duncan has aken on board is ha of a loyaly club for regular cusomers. By offering discouns and special evens, as well as reward poins for money spen, he has been able o collec and pu ogeher a powerful daabase o help drive loyaly and fuure sales, as well as keeping cusomers informed abou wha s going on a he Grees Inn. To make sure heir fuure evens are well planned, markeed and aended, we have also pu in place a markeing calendar for he year, which is designed o encourage Duncan and Naalie o hink ahead and organise some fanasic, profi-driving evens. Communiy focus As a resul of having made a concered effor o immerse hemselves in he communiy, hrough a sall a heir local Chrismas fair, and acive markeing, Duncan and Naalie now have excellen connecions wih many local businesses and suppliers, and are able o use he local sourcing of ingrediens as a unique selling poin of heir pub s menu. They have found heir monhly village supper nighs o be quie a success, and plan o coninue hese ino 2012, hoping o cemen heir posiion as a hub of he communiy. Pub makeover I am pleased o say ha he pub iself has had new life breahed ino i, wih a cos-effecive, one-day makeover bringing fanasic resuls, and showing jus how much you really can do in a day. Wih he developmen of a new 10-sea rading area, and a fresh coa of pain, he Grees Inn is now generaing new and addiional income, and hanks o he more appealing environmen, is urning passing rade ino reurning cusomers. One of my main areas of focus in his makeover was he bar, as I fel Duncan and Naalie s profis could be improved grealy by making sure heir producs were well-presened. Clear, asefully-decoraed promo- 80% of women don decide wha o drink unil hey re a he bar ional boards visible o heir cusomers, make i easier for hem o see wha is on offer, emping hem o spend a bi more per visi. This has proved successful, as did he inroducion of female-friendly pink sprizers. Ineresingly, a recen survey showed ha 80% of women don decide wha o drink unil hey re a he bar, so why no grab heir aenion wih your mos profimaximising opion? Final advice As I leave Duncan and Naalie wih some final bis of advice, I have no doub heir success will coninue. There are plans o renew all oudoor signage and renovae he road-side décor of he pub, so i is clear hey have realised he imporance of image percepion and are keen o ensure he pub looks is bes. They have a well-rained and cusomer-focused workforce, as well as having sysems in place ha allow hem o commi ime o heir business and heir family. The fuure I have advised Duncan and Naalie o complee heir financial managemen record promply every week, A he ouse of he menoring programme Duncan and Naalie waned o see sales grow by 20%. Following he programme and changes we have implemened we have seen sales increase as follows: n November 2011: up 16% on November 2010 n December 2011: up 39% on December 2010 n January 2012 saw his growh paern coninue. devoe he appropriae ime o markeing and business developmen, have he sysems and procedures in place o allow saff o do heir jobs independenly, and regularly do he number crunching. I has been a pleasure o work wih such a commied and enhusiasic couple, and wha really ses Duncan and Naalie apar is ha, once helped in he righ direcion, hey make hings happen for hemselves. Tha level of iniiaive and passion is essenial in his rade, and if Duncan and Naalie coninue o drive he principles and sysems we have inroduced, he fuure looks good. Laes on Coca-Cola Enerprises Open More Business iniiaive over page morningadveriser.co.uk morningadveriser.co.uk

21 40 Pub Menors Grees Inn, Warnham Sofs pu fizz ino To serve a perfec Coca-Cola and keep your cusomers coming back for more ake a Georgia Green Glass Fill 1/3 wih ice business Sof sell: puing sof drinks on menus has brough immediae resuls Marin Sampson, ou of home shopper markeing conroller a Coca-Cola Enerprises, moniors his proégés progress Execuing brillian basics on sof drinks and using argeed promoional aciviy o drive new foofall were he wo key areas ha lessees Duncan and Naalie Enwisle and I alked abou on my firs visi o heir pub, he Grees Inn in Warnham, Wes Sussex. Alhough sof drinks were already an imporan par of he Grees Inn offer, we had a good discussion on how saff could play a greaer role o assis Duncan and Naalie s appeie o grow lunchime rade and arac more families. So I was keen o see he changes ha had been made and wheher or no hey were having a posiive effec on he pub s revenue and profi. Key focus areas agreed: n Righ range, righ price n Visibiliy on ables n Increasing foofall Righ range, righ price The Grees Inn socks a comprehensive choice of sof drinks. During my firs visi, however, we idenified ha Duncan and Naalie had a really grea opporuniy o increase sales and profi in his caegory by delivering greaer consisency across size of serve and he prices hey charge. They reviewed heir sofdrinks offer and made a number of posiive changes. Resuls The pub has now swiched from serving a 200ml cola mixer as a sandard sof drink served in a 10oz glass a 1.45 o a 330ml glass bole served in branded glassware a a reail price aligned o he res of heir adul sof-drinks range. This has improved heir revenue by 20% on every cola serve hey sell and also, due o he larger serving size, increased cusomers value for money by 30%. Simply by offering a larger 330ml glass bole, hey are increasing cusomer saisfacion and incremenal profi even afer he increase in cos per uni for he larger serve size. They also ook he opporuniy o move he reail price in line wih he small boles of waer a This is now delivering greaer consisency across he size of serve and he prices hey charge. Sof focus: Naalie Enwisle and Marin Sampson mull over opions Visibiliy on ables Food is seen as an imporan growh engine for he Grees Inn. When eaing here, diners receive able service so purchase decisions are ypically made a he able and no a he bar. Couple his wih he limied backbar space and Duncan and Naalie agreed ha i was vial he pub makes he mos of he oher opporuniies o inform cusomers abou heir range of sof drinks. This makes sound business sense as sof drinks have he highes incidence of any caegory wih food in pubs. In ess across 250 pubs las year, simply including sof drinks on he menu fuelled a caegory uplif of beween 5% and 9%. Resuls Duncan and Naalie developed sofdrinks menus for ables inside and ouside o be acivaed a lunchime, when he incidence of sof drinks wih food is highes. Increasing foofall Wih a very compeiive local marke, mainaining foofall was a key objecive for Duncan and Naalie and ha ask was picked up wih In summary Duncan and Naalie agree ha sof drinks play an imporan for he Grees Inn in generaing new foofall, growing heir lunch-ime rade and aracing more families. By focusing on offering he righ range a he righ price, maximising he visibiliy on ables and looking a ways of increasing foofall, Duncan and Naalie are really helping o drive heir menor, Phil Davison. Phil provided grea help and ips on how o marke he pub more efficienly and effecively o he village and o a wider cachmen area. For example, he Grees Inn s January winer warmer offer produced incremenal foofall a he sar of his year. I was really delighed o hear ha he designaed driver scheme Duncan and Naalie ran over Chrismas brough new foofall ino he pub. The scheme rewarded cusomers who ook he responsibiliy o ensure heir family and friends go home safely wih free sof drinks. Duncan was really pleased wih he impac of his promoion and was ineresed o observe ha some cusomers had found his pub on he campaign s Pub Finder websie. Offering free sof drinks a key rading periods such as Chrismas can encourage more people o visi, say longer, and pus he pub a he hear of he communiy. Giving Duncan and Naalie s new cusomers a grea experience once inside he pub should now keep hem coming back o he Grees Inn all year round. cusomer saisfacion and maximise he Grees Inn s profi poenial. Their rading resuls for November and December when compared o he year before are fabulous and, wih Phil s on-going suppor and Duncan and Naalie s deerminaion o succeed, he fuure looks posiive a he Grees Inn. Pour in correcly chilled Coca-Cola Add appropriae, fresh garnish You ve jus made hisory Visi for more informaion. morningadveriser.co.uk Coca-Cola, Coke, he design of he Coca-Cola Conour Bole and he Dynamic Ribbon device are regisered rade marks of The Coca-Cola Company.