Jonathan Townsend: an independent spirit
Jonathan Townsend has come through a rocky year as head of the newly independent wholesaler WaverleyTBS, but he's excited about future prospects, as he tells Phil Mellows.
When you've been in and around the pub industry all your working life, when your brother has worked in the trade and your father too, you must get used to the idea of turmoil.
As Jonathan Townsend reminds me, constant change hasn't only been a feature of the industry since the Beer Orders. Think of the period of brewery consolidation and closures in the 1960s and 1970s.
Townsend's father, Douglas, worked for Bass then, and his brother, Jeremy, was until last year finance director at Mitchells & Butlers.
So he should be comfortable with turmoil. Even so, the past year must have felt like a rocky one for the managing director of WaverleyTBS.
As part of the Heineken empire, the wholesaler went through a painful restructuring. The operation was slimmed down, jobs were chopped and pubs told they could no longer be supplied.
And then, last summer, the division was sold to investment firm Manfield Partners.
There's a sense now that the
newly-independent company is heading into relatively calm waters. Townsend seems relieved that WaverleyTBS can at least pursue its own destiny, free from the constraints of a global brewer.
"Heineken is a company incredibly focused on its core activities and we were, in essence, a non-core business. There was a long debate about the sale to Manfield, it was given proper consideration and I spent a long time talking about the merits and demerits. But it has been a win for them and for us.
"Yes, it has been a double-edged sword. We don't have the same resources that we had as part of a national brewing operation. But the flip side is that we are now our own number-one priority and enjoying our independence. We've got more day-to-day strategic focus.
"Because of the link to Heineken, our conversations with some suppliers were stifled and we were seen as a competitor.
"Now we can market ourselves
as an independent and our suppliers can see the excitement in where
we are."
Where Waverley is is handily placed to exploit the current wave of change in the pub industry. The decision by Punch Taverns in
its strategic review to sell off
2,400 more pubs is one cause
for great excitement.
"Pubs will recycle back into the freetrade and we're very excited about what the future holds," says Townsend.
"There will be more potential customers for us in the marketplace, opportunities with smaller groups and the independent freetrade. Waverley is going to play its part in the changes and we'll be an important route to market for brand owners. That's core for us.
"The new multiple operators are a group we want to do business with," he adds. "They're fantastically innovative, and I see more opportunities for larger groups to be formed out
of them.
"The balance is going to be a difficult question for us, the balance between dealing with pubco headquarters and dealing with the outlet direct. We need to bring together elements of each, I think. What's important is that everything we do is
customer-focused, helping our customers sell as much as they can.
"Our success is driven by the
success of each of the customers
we service. So we must build our capabilities, our product range and our systems."
While WaverleyTBS is a composite wholesaler, aiming to supply pubs with everything they might need, the focus continues to be on wines, spirits and beer.
Wine, in particular, is a product Townsend believes his team can help with, and it exemplifies the company's category approach.
"Wine in pubs has come a long way, but it can still get a lot better. I know many pubs are keen to serve more wine. A good number can
benefit from advice — and this is where we can add value.
"All our staff have had specialist training and have the product knowledge to go into a pub and know what will work and to talk through a wine strategy with the licensee.
"It's a slower process but we'd rather do that than go in and say 'I'll sell it to you for 50p less'.
"Wine is an area where we can really make a difference, supplying pubs with wines that you don't find in supermarkets, thereby giving quality and choice and a real point
of difference."
In terms of innovation, the new WaverleyTBS portfolio features — for the first time — wines available in plastic bottles, both full bottle and single-serve.
"There are more occasions when a pub needs to serve drink in plastic, and now it doesn't have to be beer."
Cask ale remains a big part of the offer — TBS still stands for The Beer Seller — but the range has been simplified.
"We have to have a balance. We can't offer every cask beer in the market, you can't run a business like that — there are consequences in quality and costs. But we can give licensees a choice of the best at local, regional and national level.
"Drinks is a very complex arena," he goes on. "There are a lot of pressures on a licensee's time.
"So it's up to us to give them any help we can. And to understand their business we have to try to understand their customers too."
At the other end of
the logistical chain, WaverleyTBS is in deep conversation with its own suppliers, selling the on-trade as a
key route to market despite the pub closures and the continuing shift of drinks sales to the
off-trade.
"Suppliers can still make good money in the on-trade," Townsend insists.
"It's still a very big business, and it's still the place to build and grow brands. It's dangerous for a supplier to over-emphasise the off-trade. That will come back to haunt them in pressures on pricing and the equity of a brand.
"Yes, it will be a tough year for pubs with the public-sector cuts and the tax rises.
"But the royal wedding and the burst of holidays in April are a positive stimulus and I see the good operators getting by, although they may have to trade a little margin to keep the place busy.
"We have a role in helping our customers through it, too. Our margins are incredibly tight but, since Christmas, we've had some strong activity to stimulate trade.
"Promotional programmes have to be more focused, more tailored to circumstances though. We won't give up margin for cheap volume. But promotions such as the one we ran on Guinness in March produced a significant uplift in sales around St Patrick's Day — and our loyalty points scheme might have been going for a long time, but it still works."
There has been talk that WaverleyTBS may be in the market to buy rival wholesaler Matthew Clark from Punch, but Townsend keeps a straight bat.
"There have always been many rumours. There will be more changes but there's no truth in that one at
the moment.
"Our task is to be clear sighted in what we're doing and to complete the job we've started — to create a sustainable, profitable business.
"We've gained that clarity since the takeover, we understand where we're going and we've got the commitment of Manfield and the commitment of our people.
"We've already developed a culture of resilience and that showed in the way we delivered in all sorts of conditions over Christmas. Our people went the extra mile to do that, when it would have been easy for them not to."
My kind of pub
"I'm from a village in North Yorkshire and I like a pub that's homely and warm with a roaring fire in winter, a range of hand-pulled beer, good food and good service for families — I've got two boys.
"If I have to pick one, it would be the Windmill Inn at Linton in West Yorkshire."
Key dates
1986 — After leaving Loughborough University, Jonathan Townsend joins Bass as a graduate trainee, going on to work as a managed house area manager and national account manager
1993 — Gains an MBA from Bradford University
1994 - Becomes commercial operations director for Centric Pub Company
1997 — Management consultant for Hero Drinks/Cott Beverages
1998 — Join
