Training: Study to serve

We all need a helping hand from time to time, and it's always useful when the source of support is knowledgeable on their subject.

Building on a commitment to support its leased and tenanted pubs to develop the food side of their business, Greene King Pub Partners recently ran a masterclass in pub food development for regional managers.

The 'Food Made Easy' workshop saw 30 regional managers get an update on the skills needed to help licensees develop and build a food offer.

Figures published by the Chartered Institute of Personal Development suggest that spend on training per employee has fallen by almost a third in the past year. Caroline Hollings, recruitment and training director for Pub Partners, says the initiative was part of a drive to buck that trend.

"It's vital that we continue to train and develop our internal resource to ensure they offer the very best support to licensees in this sector and this is even more important now in this challenging period," she says.

The workshop included a series of classroom-based exercises, practical demonstrations and training in a working kitchen environment. Topics covered included:

• the mechanics of a meal deal
• identifying a target market
• costing a menu
• developing a food menu
• competitor analysis.

Steve Look, regional manager for Greene King, has used the tools from the course on a number of his licensees. He says: "I'm really focusing on margin improvement and cost management in terms of food with my pubs at the moment. The great part of the training we received is that it provided flexible tools to meet every opportunity and challenge."

Another regional manager, Craig Renforth, says: "The tools really help with this current climate, especially the P&L sheet, which looks at forecasting sales and planning cashflow and the stock and order systems to ensure you have the right quantities and right purchasing practices."

The food presentation skills acquired have also proved particularly useful when talking to licenses about boosting food trade. By serving the same dish in different ways, pubs can charge higher prices. "This is very powerful for licensees who need to be a bit more creative to increase their margins," says Renforth.

"I've also been able to identify with my licensees the cost to them of each table over a year.

"This helps plan activities and events that don't conflict with maximising the pubs' food sales. If you can calculate what each individual table will bring you in income per year, you can ensure you don't offer activities which jeopardises that profit."

The training supports an online support package, Food Made Easy, which is available to Pub Partners licensees through the company's extranet. The package includes menu design options and templates, a recipe bank, costing tables and health and hygiene advice.

Working with its buying partner, Pelican, the company is also developing more menu packages with food suppliers.

The Dog at Norton has already seen the benefit of the Food Made Easy package. With advice and support from Renforth, the pub is now further reviewing all its menus, changing its approach to purchasing, and improving the presentation of dishes in order to boost food sales.