Train with the best and prepare for success
Simply taking on the Plungington Tavern from Punch in 1999. It was basically a wreck and had been boarded up and closed for some time.
Even my business relationship manager at the time said "don't do it" but I saw the potential. The place was a disgrace and it took 17 full skips to clear the inside of rubbish. But half the fun was starting from scratch because we had no rep-utation or trade to sustain and we knew the only way the business could go was up. We have ploughed about £100,000 back into it over the years.
Why my business is successful
1. Self motivation: Firstly, I am in this game to get paid and make money. Once you have fixed in your mind that you are a micro company and you will be hiring and firing, serving customers and doing the cellar, motivation will come naturally.
2. Staff: You need to train your staff. People think training is expensive but actually it is free if you look at courses like Diageo's Every Serve Perfect (ESP). I am prepared to pay for staff training up to the professional portfolio level as long as they commit back. This is a professional business and I want them to make a career of the job. Two former members of my staff have taken on Punch pubs and I am very proud of that.
My training programme
I set a training budget of around £3,000 at the start of each year and put that in a separate bank account so that if we have a couple of lean months, the training is not affected. All staff have a personal portfolio detailing their training with me. There are four core training schedules:
1. Basic bar: This is how to pull a pint, what glasses to use and how to care for customers. You must assume they know nothing about the job.
2. Core health and safety: There are five of us with foundation food hygiene courses even though we don't serve food at the moment.
3. Core first aid: We also have five first-aiders, so if I am not here, everyone knows what to do.
4. Cellar management: So they know their way around the cellar and how to change a barrel.
When the staff want to leave, they can take the portfolio with them. It looks very professional."
My motivational games
To keep staff up-to-date on issues and interested I have designed several motivational games. This year, we had a game called "risky business" based on monopoly, which we played once a month. When you land on a square, there is a question on health and safety, risk assessment, customer care or first aid. We have an egg timer and if they don't know the question they have three minutes to go to our library and find out. There are bottles of wine, spirits and meals at a restaurant up for grabs. Last year, we did a similar thing with a bingo-style game. We always want staff to keep up-to-date and on breaks they can go to our library and read up rather than do the crossword. One of our staff recently got a free holiday to Alicante. I was given the holiday and I let the staff choose who deserved the trip most.
My future training initiatives
In 2006, I want to make a training DVD with help from the University of Central Lancashire drama college and media students. I want to film their actors doing things the wrong way and then my staff doing things the right way. We could cover all subjects from pulling a pint to racial issues to alcoholism to violence. I would like to produce 1,000 DVDs and send them out. It is a mega task and I hope I have not bitten off more than I can chew. Hopefully people like the BII (British Institute of Innkeeping) will be interested enough to help with funding.
My leadership technique
I found it extremely hard at first but once the training schemes were up and running, I don't have to lead so much because they lead me! We have monthly formal staff meetings that are minuted and where ideas are discussed and also frequent informal chats. One great idea from one of my members of staff came after we had been on Diageo's Every Serve Perfect (ESP) programme. She said 'Why don't we have ESP 2 ESP? - Every Serve Perfect to Every Single Person'. It is fantastic because some customers don't like ice or lemon, so we serve it how they want it.How I plan to
grow the business
It amazes me every year that we continue to grow. Just when I think we have nowhere else to go, because of the training we make improvements and the business grows again. We are never afraid to have a go at something if we think it can bring in extra business. It's an ethic that has stood us in very good stead over the years. We are considering bringing in a food initiative being run by Punch to help develop the business. If you rest on your laurels in this game, you can pay a very heavy price because a pub business has to constantly move forwards.My pub
Wet:Dry split: 100% wet
Weekly Turnover: £5,000 to £7,000 depending on the time of year
Barrelage: 12 per week
Number of staff: Four full-time, five part-time
Wage bill: £600 per week
Training budget: £3,000 per year
