French connection: The Paris House

How I got here​

I’m from Glasgow and managed Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) outlets there for several years. I moved to London 11 years ago to manage some of M&B’s Castle gastropub outlets in affluent areas such as Hampstead and Notting Hill.

When I came to Brighton in July 2010 I became a manager for a restaurant company but was made redundant, then helped my friend run his Hove pub, so I’m familiar with the demographic of the Brighton-Hove border: mobile and cosmopolitan with fairly high disposable income.

When I approached InnBrighton, which has 46 outlets across the city, and expressed interest in managing a food-led venue, the company proposed converting an under-performing pub on the border of Brighton and Hove into the Paris House, an all-day dining pub with a continental theme. We opened in March, and I’m the director of my own company here, receiving a percentage of sales.

Achieving business growth ​

Although this ornate building is eye-catching, the previous pub had become tired and people were used to hurrying past. We put up our Paris House sign three months before we opened to alert the public to the impending radical change.

Beer is always served in half-pints and we sell only French wine. The décor is reminiscent of a Parisian café-bar, with black and white photographs and newspaper clippings, and the authentic French atmosphere is casual and relaxed, with regular wine nights and musical events. Our food offer is based on cheese and meat platters, and we monitor demand carefully. In six months we’ve quadrupled weekly sales from £2,000 to £7,000 to £8,000.

The Paris House suits the area, which has several fine-dining restaurants and boutique and artisan shops selling cheese, flowers and bread.

Three of my original staff worked with me at the restaurant and one still works here. We take service seriously and aim to make all our guests comfortable. Many women like to come in on their own for coffee, or to work on their laptops, and groups love to meet here too.

Standing out from the competition​

We open and serve food every day from 10am, closing around 11pm on weekdays and around midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. As a coffee-lover, I know it’s hard to find good coffee late at night in this area. We sell Drury coffee — Moka D’or pure Arabica blend. Our coffee machine doesn’t close until we do, and helps to give the Paris House a truly Continental feel. Our new coffee loyalty card offers a sixth coffee free, and every hot drink comes with free buttered toast until midday.

It’s very unusual to find a bar that only serves platters and this autumn we’re planning special events such as beef bourguignon nights. Our entertainment, including energetic gypsy jazz and laid-back French music, really suits our customers. I don’t speak French but could probably sing a French song as we play so much French music.

Business philosophy ​

To make what we’re doing go further, building on what we find works well.

Best piece of business advice​

Follow your instincts, try to be yourself and work with what you think is working.

Five best ideas​

Platter & carafe offer​

Our platter and 500ml carafe combination (£14.50) is an extremely popular sharing experience targeted at
sensible drinking.

Tailoring our food​

Offer to the seasons, such as beef bourguignon or French onion soup in the winter.

French radio and movies​

At first we tuned into FIP (Radio France); now we stream French Radio London (www.frenchradiolondon.com) live via the internet, and show a selection of French films.

Themed events​

Our Bastille Day celebration on 14 July was a huge success and featured can-can dancers and French DJs.

Live music​

Our customers can’t get enough of our authentic gypsy jazz and other live music. We’ve planned our programme up to November and feature live music twice a month.

Pub facts​

Licensee​: David Carrick

Website:​ www.drinkinbrighton.co.uk/parishouse​

Wet:dry split​: 40:60

GP food:​ 63%

GP drink:​ 73%

Total covers:​ 60

Average covers per week:​ 250

Average spend per head:​ £5.50 (wet and dry combined)

On the menu​

We have no kitchen or microwave — just a small grill — and enjoy preparing all our platters ourselves, saving on chef costs and adding a personal touch.

All our platters include bread and salad. Each platter for two people consists of four cheeses or four meats or two of each for £9.50; individual platters start at £2.50 with each extra item, such as cheese or meat at £1 each; our sharing platter & carafe of wine costs £14.50.

We always offer four meats: serrano ham, lomo, salami and chorizo. Our six cheeses include Cashel Blue and two guests, such as Ponte Vecchio, which rotate every three days, and we like to include British varieties, such as Scrumpy, Sussex which often appeal to tourists. Our Tracklements chutneys from Wiltshire cost 65p per portion and include green tomato, organic fig and apricot & ginger.

Italian boscaiola and Greek kalamata olives (£2.25) are popular additions. We also offer croque-monsieur, rillette (home-made coarse shredded pork pâté) with mixed leaves, cornichons & toast (both £4.50), red peppers stuffed with feta cream (£2.25), pickles and bar snacks such as chilli puffs (£2) and habas fritas (£1.50).

This autumn we’ll supplement our baguettes with warm sandwiches such as pastrami & gherkin.

At weekends we offer pastries such as apple turnovers and fruit Danish pastries (£2). Winter mornings and afternoons are particularly popular times for local customers to visit, and our free toast boosts early trade.

Best-selling platter​

Cheese & meat combination (£9.50)

Food GP aimed for ​

65%

Best weekly night​

Our Wednesday wine night offers 20% discount on wine.

In the know​

Service secrets​

M&B encouraged me to see the pubs I ran as my domain and revamping outlets with them taught me a lot about service, managing staff, maintaining quality standards and exceeding expectations.

Having a small team is great — I have one full-time and two part-time staff members — and we value training. For our platters we have an ingredients book with pictures, and hold regular wine-training sessions as we’re one of the few local outlets specialising in French wines.

Knowledge about wine and cheese-matching helps staff upsell and it’s always a good talking point with customers. NVQs and Government training courses help to build staff skills and our reputation.

Credit check​

Portion control is vital and we save on cheffing costs by making platters ourselves.

Successful marketing and PR ideas​

We are on InnBrighton’s website and print flyers for events such as Bastille Day. Word of mouth is our most powerful marketing tool, as we have many loyal customers, and the Paris House is an accommodating venue for social visits by yoga and other groups. A local language school arranges for a group of students to visit us regularly to practise their English.

Couldn’t live without…​

Our small Dualit grill (£150) has proved invaluable.

Bar talk​

We serve only French wines and our house wine is sold in 175, 250 or 500ml carafes, or in a 125ml glass from taps. Bibendum supplies our great range of bespoke wines. Symonds cider, Brighton Best ale and Murphy’s stout are on draught, as well as Amstel and Kronenbourg lager.

We serve only half-pints and plan to grow our range. A range of bottled beers and fruit juices is on offer, and hot drinks are popular with our cakes and pastries.