Trouble shooting
Calling in an independent expert can help your pub business to thrive. Phil Mellows reports.
The next couple of months will test the health of every pub business. The lean time between the festive period and the warmer days of March will find many independent licensees reflecting on the state of their trade and a few will face the crunch.
In this context troubleshooting TV shows such as Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and Risking It All, hosted by pub operator Martin Webb (pictured), should be essential viewing. Our heroes go into an ailing restaurant or retailer and tell some harsh truths about what's going wrong, providing along the way lessons that most small businesses could learn from.
Trouble is, the publicans who would really benefit from these shows are far too busy staying afloat to watch the telly at peak viewing hours, and high-profile experts can only tackle a tiny minority of the problems that are out there.
Such is the complexity and competitiveness of the pub industry these days that everyone could gain from spending some time with a troubleshooter. This has been recognised, for instance, by Leicester brewer Everards, which has hired former BII deputy director John Walker to work with new tenants in their first month.
Carl May is another real-life troubleshooter. After a quarter of a century in the hospitality industry he set up CM Hospitality Consultants in 2002 and has just relaunched himself as Catered4.
"I realised I'm not a consultant," he explains. "That's not what I'm about. I don't sit in a classroom and talk at people, I go right into a business to find out what makes it tick. I have stood in a kitchen for three days just watching them to find out how it works." He has identified four key factors that might cause a pub to fail - and chief among them is how you treat your staff.
While he can help with every aspect of running an operation, Carl is especially concerned with the people issues he sees as being at the heart of any successful hospitality business.
Recent research he has carried out has confirmed to him that "it's the attitude of staff that makes the difference, not the product. Customer interaction is so important and that's often undermined by the indifferent way employers treat their staff".
Carl will deliver his own training where needed, tailored to the particular business. "Everyone is different and every business has a different approach. It's important to train people at a pace they can take in," he says.
Marketing is another area where publicans can fail. "Any business needs to understand where they fit in the marketplace," says Carl. "Are you better than the competition? Are you cheaper? These are important questions but independent licensees often don't have the time to find out.
"Another common problem is small businesses working hard but not smart," Carl adds. "You have got to get the basics in place for running efficiently and within the law before you can do anything else, and people often fumble around with this."
To help, Carl's hands-on approach is supported by computer software, available through the Catered4 website, which contains all the staff documentation you'll need plus a finance and stock control package and health and safety guidelines.
- For more information visit www.catered4.co.uk
Serving the industry's Davids
If independent pubs have a built-in edge in the marketplace it is that they offer individuality to customers bored by big high-street brands. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't sharpen up your image.
With that in mind a new company is offering tenants, freetraders and small pub chains a branding service that can help them stick in a customer's mind without going down the corporate route.
Red Lion Design has been set up by University of Huddersfield graduate David Simm to specialise in the needs of independent licensees. Its first project, for the Dog & Doublet in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, has already produced beermats, stationery and a website in the pub's own style.
By enabling independent pub owners and smaller chains to create a brand and corporate image, David hopes to "bring the professional services used by the Goliaths of the industry to the Davids".
He says: "As far as I can tell we are the only company aiming this kind of service at the niche market of pubs and restaurants.
"It's a big market and there is a lot of competition so all pubs can benefit from a sharp image that will help customers know what it is and keep them coming back.
"Independent licensees don't want to become like a high-street brand, though, so we have to be careful about keeping a pub's individual image."
- For more information go to www.redliondesign.co.uk
Pictured: David Simm outside the Dog & Doublet with its bespoke beermats.
