Cutting the mustard: Mustard Entertainment Restaurants

Mustard Entertainment is focusing on building its recently acquired Brannigans chain

Address:​ 200 Broad Street, Birmingham, B15 1AYTelephone:​ 0121 643 7218No of outlets:​ 20 mgdTurnover (2000/2001):​ £50m approx

Some of the tabloid press have recently been making a lot out of the different career paths of former Ozzie soap stars Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan.

The former, they say, is riding high, performing to packed arenas in the UK and Australia, while the other is reduced to performing his 10-year-old hits in a tour of Brannigans bars.

While Brannigans can never quite match up to the Manchester Apollo or Cardiff International Arena, the chain's owner Mustard Entertainment Restaurants is trying to raise the profile of its bar brand as one of the top entertainment venues in the UK.

Along with Jason, it has attracted new popstars such as Caprice - which comes with high-profile publicity - while continuing to attract its core audience of over-25s with '80s acts such as Go West, T'Pau and Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley.

Much to the delight of the tabloids, a ticket to see Jason on his current UK tour costs just £2 - a little less than the £22.50 charged by the Hammersmith Apollo in London.

But, for Mustard's management, this is because it doesn't need to hike up prices since - unlike concert venues - it makes most of its income from bar sales.

"We need to get good acts like Jason Donovan to make sure that we're getting good people coming in," explains marketing director Ed Aspel - who probably knows a bit about the entertainment business from his TV presenter father, Michael.

"What matters is getting people in, how long they stay and repeat purchases. Above all, we want people to feel that they're getting value for money."

It's 10 months since Mustard bought the Brannigans chain from First Leisure, and Aspel and the rest of the management team have been making their mark.

Last month saw the unveiling of a new restaurant concept, Firewall, within the bars which is aimed at building up food sales.

"Food currently accounts for just three per cent of turnover," Aspel said. "We're aiming to increase this to seven per cent over the next 12 months, and to 12 per cent after that.

Opportunities​

"When we bought Brannigans, food was available to support the late opening but First Leisure would be the first to admit that it did not put much emphasis on the restaurant area.

"Revitalising the food offering was one of the main improvement opportunities we identified as a management buy-in team."

Mustard has invested £500,000 in rolling out the branded dining areas to all of its sites, except for a couple that will be completed later this year.

A former Heroes bar in Aberdeen's Esplanade retail park may be converted into a stand-alone Firewall restaurant, with 160 covers plus a bar area for about 50 people.

"We want to experiment with Firewall to see if it can stand in its own right as a restaurant without a 1,000-capacity Brannigans behind it," Aspel said.

The menu is mainly made up of "sizzle and grill" dishes that are served at the table on hot plates - useful for keeping the food warm on the sometimes long trek from the kitchen to the dining area.

A shorter menu, Firewall Metro, is being tested at the smaller Brannigans in Stockport, formerly First Leisure's casino-themed bar Lucky's.

This provides an opportunity for Mustard to look at smaller sites for Brannigans on top of its core requirement for about 25,000sq ft venues with capacity for about 1,000 people.

Smaller sites could have a capacity of as little as 450, with only one or two bars, although they would still have a stage and DJs.

The conversion of the Aberdeen site marks the end of Mustard's involvement with First Leisure's second bar brand, Heroes, which is still owned by the nightclub operator.

Mustard is now focused on Brannigans, although it is still happy to hold on to three profitable unbranded pubs in western Scotland in Kilmarnock, Kirkintilloch and Bishopbriggs, Glasgow.

Last June's £65m acquisition included a number of development sites that have now opened in Bristol, Southampton and Warrington, with a fourth due next month in Norwich.

This summer will see the completion of the first site bought since the deal - a two-storey venue next to Cardiff International Arena. Mustard is also in "advanced stages" of talks for sites in Swansea, Bradford, Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.

It revealed last autumn that it was in talks to buy one or two significant packages of American-style branded restaurant chains, but no deal has emerged yet.

Managing director Stephen Evans, who led last summer's acquisition with backing from Phildrew Ventures, said Mustard was still planning to make a major deal.

This is likely to lead to the appointment of a non-executive chairman to give the existing management more time to run the bars.

"It's a seven-day-a-week job when you're trying to run a business and find acquisitions," Evans said.In the meantime, initiatives such as Firewall are helping to build turnover to over £50m a year. This will be further boosted by a new programme to improve merchandising and point-of-sale material in the bars.

Promotion​ The company has also been looking for ways to build sales before 8pm, known as "early doors". It has launched a promotion offering pints of beer, bottled lagers, spirits and PPSs (except for Smirnoff Ice) at £1.50 before 9pm.

"In the past we haven't competed effectively enough in the daytime with the likes of Yates's and JD Wetherspoon," Evans said.

While it has a string of former chart-topping popstars lined up for the rest of this year, it is also bringing in ex-footballers to boost custom when it shows big-screen matches.

Ex-Manchester United players Nobby Stiles and Frank Stapleton have provided live commentary at the Mancunian Brannigans, and there are similar plans for bars in other soccer-mad towns and cities.

Evans said Mustard was constantly looking for new ways to improve the brand and broaden its appeal throughout the day.

"We are lucky to have a flat management structure and venture capital backers who, like us, are all about moving quickly and being flexible," he said.

"People are looking in their pockets on a Monday morning and deciding they can go out maybe once later in the week and once on Friday or Saturday.

"The discretionary pound is under pressure. Trade is tough, and we know our competitors are in a similar situation."