The other day I bumped into a licensee I hadn't seen for ages. She moved into their pub around the same time as we had and trading had been tough over that period. So tough, in fact, that she had approached the brewery because trading had been so difficult and the returns didn't seem to be there. It takes a certain amount of courage to face such a decision but she was right ~ and it will probably have saved her. The brewery, apparently, got her to do an immediate stocktake which showed where the problem lay ~ a massive shortfall of around £30,000 in a year. Something was seriously wrong.
It is very easy to scoff at the naivety of licensees at times. Beset with the problems they have to deal with it is no wonder that some issues go unnoticed, uncontrolled and unacceptable. Every part of me is screaming "of course you must have noticed, don't be stupid, its £30,000 ~ that's £600 a week". But the absolute and utter truth is it happens, it happens a lot and many of us are unaware or ignorant of it.
Many years ago I suspected theft in my pub and set out to resolve it. But the process made me feel disgusted and dirty. In truth I don't have stocktakes and I am wide open to the abuse my friend experienced but I am sufficiently complacent, arrogant or pompous (see blogs passim) to that I think it won't happen to me and that, if it did, I'd spot it a mile off. To realise it could be here is awful.
I try to ensure everything in my business is focused on ensuring customers get the service they deserve delivered in the best possible manner. I am simply not watching where it counts. I rely on my bookkeeper to keep me in the right direction but even today she has identified an anomaly a year old which might mean I've been accidentally invoiced £4,500 too much.
I like to present to my customers an image of the licensee as a genial host with a glass of beer, a cheery anecdote and a hearty laugh. What I must conceal, like a duck on the water, is the frantic activity beneath as I paddle through the pitfalls. I rely on my specialists and experts who can protect me from the sharks. But in reality it is luck, rather than skill, that has guided me away from the disaster my friend experienced. Unfortunately the lessons learnt usually come too late. But hopefully, this time, not for my friend.