Cask on the mark at the Guide Dog

The Guide Dog - Visit 2​

Southampton​

Visit Date 24.11.08​

Time 12.00​

Present: Paul Barden​

Recommendations from Visit 1​

• He has a promotion on a Friday night and always puts one type of beer on at £2.20 a pint (why Friday? This is a busy night anyway). Would recommend doing price promotions on quiet nights

• He can go through 2 firkins on a Friday at the promotion price. Why not change to an 18 gall barrel?

• Needs to train other members of staff on changing casks and therefore eliminate throwing away a gallon of beer because he is not around the next day to change the cask when it finishes. This is needless wastage.

• Keg line cleaning frequency is every 14 days. This can cause unnecessary wastage due to yeast build up in the lines, causing fobbing beer. A training issue.

• Not worth stocking John Smiths Smooth - if an 11 gallon keg is lasting 14 days there will be major fobbing problems in the latter seven days. Kegs should be sold through within 5 days.

• Ventilate cellar for 10 mins each day to eliminate mould growth on walls

• Advised him to utilise blackboards over the bar to advertise current and coming soon beers, and also have a beer book for customers to request favourite brands

Overview: ​

Paul is a real ale man through and through - on the plus side his pub is a shrine to beer and the quality is never compromised. However, he runs his business like a charity - his customers dictate what beers they want, what price he sells them at, and he bends over backwards to please them rather than make a profit for himself. I had sight of his last three stocks before I visited the pub, and wastage is still phenomenal and GPs and yields are low even before his allowance is taken out of the equation.

He is clearly prepared to invest huge amounts of money in the place - we need to persuade him that any businessman would expect a return on this investment in the future; and to be fair if he is improving the fabric of the building as much as he says he is going to, customers would expect to pay a little more for the pub he has provided them with. They will not desert him!!

Observations from Visit 2​

1. Paul has had the further 8th handpull installed. 6 cask ales were on sale on the day of visit

2. Guinness has now been removed from the bar. This is due to a couple of factors - low sales, identified by Brulines (frequently only 8 pints per week). This has decreased wastage figures as a 7 day line clean is now not necessary. Also flash cooler is not operating properly, causing product to be served out of temperature spec, and Diageo have allegedly refused to service

3. Refurb of kitchen area into additional seating is planned to take place Jan 09. This will create an additional 35 seats, and Paul estimates costs to be approx £20K. A good decision as it is a drinkers pub - Paul will realise a return on this investment as it will encourage more female drinkers who prefer seated drinking areas as opposed to vertical drinking space.

4. Beer festival held mid October - 20 beers on sale over a weekend period. Paul sold out of Beer Festival ales by 6.30 on the Saturday night. No additional advertising was paid for - all word of mouth

5. As recommended in last report, Paul has rearranged his stillage in the cellar and has created two additional spaces for cask ale. He has done this by turning two of the stillages 'sideways on' to create more space. He also has a free standing stillage on the floor capable of holding an 18 gallon barrel - this will eliminate some of the wastage when he does his £2.20 a pint Friday night

6. Line cleaning; Paul has accepted the recommendation that every line does not need cleaning every time the beer goes. If Brand A is being replaced by Brand A, a water flush is being carried out, saving time and wastage. If Brand A is being replaced with Brand B a full clean is being carried out.

7. Pipe insulation has been fitted by Fullers to eliminate need to throw away the first pint. I have checked this and the lines are insulated right up to the pump in most cases. However, Paul insists on throwing away the first pint anyway as "customers like to see they are getting fresh beer"(?). A total waste of beer as this is not necessary - again, bending to customer persuasion rather than seeing the commercial impact.

8. Still no hard spiles being used to seal the beer at the end of a trading session. Little disappointed this recommendation has not been taken on, however his turnover is such that most containers are being sold through within three days (most of them within 2) so quality is not being compromised. As an interim method, Paul is covering his casks in beer towels to prevent infection entering through the shive and beer oxidisation.. Not ideal - but better than nothing.

9. Sampling - Paul is still allowing 1 pint per day sampling. This is incorporated into his allowances on his stock report. I have checked the sample size he is giving away and it is no more than 2oz. Would not want to dissuade Paul from this activity - it is a key factor in getting customers to switch categories. However, he has to be careful his regular customers do not take the mickey with this - and some of them are.

10. Paul has moved to 18 gall size containers on match days and £2.20 a pint night to minimize wastage - good move!

11. I asked Paul whether he still takes a beer off if there are only a few pints left at the end of a night - and disposes of this beer. Because of the fabric of the building, if he started to change beers when he opened, service would stop for 20 mins, as access to the cellar can only be reached behind the bar - and the till and pumps cannot be reached by staff when he is working in the cellar. There is the possibility that Paul is going to re-furb the cellar once the customer areas have been completed. I would strongly recommend moving access to the cellar from behind the bar - this is seriously impacting on service.

12. Previously, Paul had been doing all the cellar work himself. He now has a retired publican living on site who is trained up in line cleaning and changing casks. This should have an impact on service times.

13. To assist service and waiting times, Paul has introduced a four pint jug system on busy days. This is sold at £9.80 per jug (regardless of beer ABV). However, this is an excellent idea to alleviate waiting times at the bar in key trading periods.

14. Paul has started ordering up mini pins and poly pins so customers can pre-order their favourite beers to take out. Great idea - love this service! The minus side? He doesn't want to compete with his mate who runs the off licence up the road so he is selling these containers at a ridiculously low £1.80 a pint, with no deposit or cost attached to the container - again impacting on his GP.

15. Paul's business is being run by his customers - this is a major concern. He is afraid to re-structure his pricing (eg, Kronenbourg (5%) is on sale at £3.30 a pint, but Fullers ESB is on sale at £2.80 a pint). Paul says his customers will desert him if he puts prices up to help him achieve a decent GP. I explained that most customers understand that an annual price rise is inevitable - he expects it from his suppliers - but he is afraid to pass this on to his customers. I have seen sight of Pauls stock reports (he is unaware of this), and he is still losing around £40k per year in wastage and giveaways. In the nicest possible way I explained that he is not running a charity, and if he wants to sell his business as a going concern in the future, the new tenants will have serious problems maintaining his current strategy - and this will affect who takes the lease in the future.

16. Has not taken my advice on stopping the £2.20 a pint night on a Friday. This takes away sales from every other beer on the bar priced higher, and aff