Hitting the right mark

Brendan McBride tells Ewan Turney how employing quality staff helped the Spitfire in Kings Hill, Kent, scoop Shephed Neame's Pub of the Year award

How I got here

I enjoyed working in central London for five years in a pub that was also owned by Shepherd Neame, just behind the Guildhall. They are a really good company because they have that tradition that comes with brewing your own products. The company is small enough to maintain an individual approach, but offers career security at the same time.

Eventually I fancied a change as the pub I was running was a bit impersonal. People would come in for lunch and then leave, and at weekends we hardly opened. The Kings Hill development was only built 11 years ago, so it is all fairly new. The pub had been here for five years and I arrived three years ago.

How I turned the pub around

The pub wasn't trading badly before I arrived but seemed to lack direction. The front-of-house staff were young and naïve, and they lacked leadership. The pub didn't really know its market. There are surrounding

business parks and residential areas, but it wasn't attracting customers from any of those places. I wanted to become involved in the community. My wife and I are now having a baby and putting down roots in the area, and people here really appreciate that. It shows we're committed.

My two markets

The pub lacked definition and the mix of customers is hard to satisfy. On the one hand, we are surrounded by business parks, and there is also the Kings Hill community. It is a difficult balance to strike, but by tailoring service to those two types of customers it's possible to maintain two revenue streams.

The business crowd want to come in at lunchtime, have quick, efficient and probably less personal service and leave. Locals often want to be served at a more leisurely pace and appreciate the personal touches and interaction with staff. The priority is to get to know your customers in order to judge the level of service required. We encourage families to come in, so we don't have Sky here. It costs a fortune and we'd rather have four families in for a meal than eight lads watching football. We also work closely with two local primary schools and run quiz nights for them.

My staff

The staff are 90% of the business. When I started we changed several front-of-house staff. Sometimes there's a bit of negativity when a new manager arrives and introduces new ideas, but some enjoy it a whole lot more. I look for personality when I'm recruiting staff and focus on that more than experience - skills can be taught. I need staff who can share my vision of the business.

We don't have set roles in the pub - I encourage staff to be flexible. This creates a good atmosphere as you don't get people moaning that it's not their job. My staff were the key to winning this award.

My training programme

Shepherd Neame runs a very good training programme and we also organise inductions and offer a lot of training here. There is a lot of health and safety stuff to take into account these days and it can be a bit boring, but it's necessary. In those situations, we try to make it more interesting by running sessions as a group and keeping them interactive. It helps to relate the theory to everyday practice and stories of real events.

Sometimes we use external trainers, who bring a fresh pair of eyes and a different voice. The staff seem to enjoy that, too.

My staff environment

I have worked to create an open environment with my staff. I would much rather they asked questions than simply guessed and got things wrong. If they have questions about food, they can ask the kitchen. That way they find out the proper answers and ways of doing things. I always tell them that if they are unsure they won't get into trouble for asking.

My staff meetings

We hold six-weekly staff meetings where we discuss ideas and events and I hear their views. I encourage young staff to talk to get feedback from our younger customers. Being part of the community means we need to know what our customers want.

Staff may come up with ideas that I have to reject as they've been proved not to work, but we always aim to think ahead. In their minds they probably want to prove me wrong, which is fine. The youthful enthusiasm they provide helps to drive this business.

We all go out to other places to see what they are doing and to decide whether it could work here at our pub. If you have properly trained and motivated staff, they do the work for you.

My food

At the moment we are doing about 700 meals a week. I sit down with the chefs and discuss what we are going to put on the menus. We really think about what we would expect to find in a pub and how much we would be prepared to pay for it. We're able to source some local produce, which adds to our profile in the community. We are thinking of bringing in pre-orders for our business customers - they could ring to place an order an hour early and then eat as soon as they arrive.

My marketing strategy

We don't do much external marketing - I think it smacks a little of desperation if you have to mail out to everyone telling them how good your pub is. We concentrate on the inside of the business - getting the service and standards right and talking to customers. We've also had a bit of a refurbishment. Before, the pub didn't have a clear identity but it's very clean and light now. Our best form of marketing is people talking about what a good time they had at the Spitfire.

My plan for the ban

I am not overly worried about the smoking ban - we have two outside areas and a balcony upstairs. I am looking at it quite positively as we may get more families coming in and be able to sell more food. We are in talks with Sheps at the moment, but we have no special plans yet.

My Pub

Tenure: Shepherd Neame managed

Growth: 30% year-on-year

Wet:dry split: 60%:40%

GP food: 65%

GP beer: 57%

Ales on tap: Four

Price of pint: £2.90 Spitfire

Meals per week: 700

Average spend per head: £7 lunch, £10 evening

Awards: Shepherd Neame Pub of the Year