Remember, marketing is key to pubs' success

Who's the boss in your pub? As a Wadworth pub tenant for the past 15 years, but also as someone who sits on the BIIBAS (British Institute of Innkeeping's Benchmarking and Accreditation Services) committee and accesses the pubcos' codes of practice, I hopefully understand most of the ups and downs of the tenant/lease issues and am in a good position to see things from both sides of the fence.

So, it was with great interest that I recently read in the PMA how Charles Bartholomew, the chairman of Wadworth, was criticising some of its tenants when reporting disappointing annual trading results.

He felt some tenants were performing well, while others did not have the skills to market their pub properly and, worse still, there were some who believed that just being an average pub would make them successful.

This made me ask the question: who is responsible for making your pub successful?

Surely, it is in the interests of all parties for the pubs to be successful. My view is pubcos and breweries have in general improved the support to new and experienced licensees. But they have not yet gone far enough in ensuring new licensees are selected properly, to match the pub they are taking on, and then provided with the tools, information and support to become professional business people.

But the pubcos and breweries are not solely responsible. Many people who run their own pub simply don't fully understand the role they should play as 'the owner'.

Yes, whether you own the freehold or rent the pub from a brewery or pubco, you are the self-employed owner of your own business, and you must commit yourself to working on the success of your business and not just becoming a busy fool, working in your business.

Sadly, many licensees are convinced that rolling up their sleeves and 'running the pub' will lead to success. But this mindset is often the fatal flaw behind many under-performing or failed independent operations.

Just offering good food, drink and service is no longer good enough to grow your business. To become really successful you can't just rely on good food and service anymore. Customers are the most important commodity in your pub and great marketing is the key to attracting them and getting them to return.

But sadly, many hosts, while brilliant cooks and hosts, are not good at marketing and developing their pub, so often the success of their business is down to chance, backed up by the occasional ad in the local paper when the sales guy calls.

So if you think more customers returning to your pub more often, would be helpful, learn to use cost-effective marketing and pester your pubco for some positive support… you might be surprised at the results. Good luck.