The Yum guns

How we got here​

We started the business back in July 2006 and it took us until September 2007 to find our first site, the Wiremill in Felbridge, Surrey. We hit the right note with this one and, in late July 2009, acquired our second site, the Grove Ferry, this time in Kent. It’s a rural mansion house built in 1831 which sits on the Stodmarsh Nature Reserve in the Stour Valley, eight miles from Canterbury and six miles from Herne Bay.

The building had great character, but had been neglected over the years and the business was on its knees. The whole place was tired, boring and didn’t give you a feeling that you wanted to be there. Food covers averaged 150 per week, net sales were £3,000 on a good week, the concept was dated and the food microwaved.

We have invested more than £200,000 replacing all the carpets and inside furniture, renewing the kitchen equipment, bar fittings and pumps and installing new log burners. The roof had to be renewed at a cost of £100,000, funded by Shepherd Neame. We have also just spent £10,000 upgrading our six bedrooms.

Achieving business growth​

The idea was to roll out the same concept we’d delivered at the Wire-mill. Shepherd Neame had confidence in us, as we had the track history, but they didn’t believe the concept could work at the Grove Ferry. We were sure it would and it has.

Word of mouth is the strongest piece of marketing in any industry, but especially in ours. People think they have to be on Facebook, have a Twitter account, have an all singing and dancing website, which is true, but I think they forget that people do still talk.

So, we get people talking about us by doing something to make them smile, such as going into the towns dressed as cows, or by going the extra mile, by creating little bags of waste bread for visiting kids to feed the ducks. Our view is similar to that of Starbucks; we are the third place after work and home.
Standing out from the competition​

We are never happy and are always picking holes in the business, months before our customers comment. We stand out because we are true to our offer; nothing is hidden behind the scenes. What we do is honest and people appreciate that.

Bar talk​

We are tied to Shepherd Neame, so limited on lines we can stock, but they offer enough of a range to keep us interesting. Cask ales are also a big feature for us and customers can buy any of the ales they have tried in the pub to take home. Lagers include San Miguel, Oranjeboom and Peroni.

In terms of wine, we offer 37 bins including British and New World, ranging from an entry level price of £11.95 up to £34 a bottle. With the exception of a few of the top-end varieties we also sell all of our wines by the glass.Menu philosophy
Our menu is British and consists of a mix of more unusual dishes and classics.

We feature cooking times on the menu, to manage expectations. Our freshly-cooked meals take 25 minutes to prepare. It’s been a really difficult learning curve for customers, which we have almost cracked at the Wiremill, but still have some way to go with at the Grove. The menu changes seasonally.
On the menu:​

Oven-baked rainbow trout stuffed with crayfish tails and tomato salsa (£14); slow braised beef and ruby beetroot in a Guinness sauce with a horseradish crumble topping (£14); butter-roasted supreme of chicken with wild mushrooms and bubble and squeak cake served with a banana shallot and tarragon sauce (£13).
Best-selling dishes:​

Starters: soup (£5) chicken liver and wild mushroom parfait (£5.50); cranberry and apricot Stilton cheesecake (£5.50).
Mains: Fish and chips (£11); beef Wellington (£16); roasted best end of pork (£14).
Desserts: Triple chocolate brownie (£5.50); cinnamon and apple sponge (£5.50); seasonal cheesecake (£5.50).
Two most profitable dishes:​

Fillet steak and roasted best end of pork.
Best food event​:

Our menu tasting sessions. We don’t really do events as they take time to organise and don’t really deliver anything exceptional to the bottom line, but we do hold a secret open house for our menu tastings. These are normally on a Sunday night when all the staff, their families and the locals come in. We get to show off our new dishes and customers get the chance to have their say before they appear on the menu.Ten best ideas

Butcher’s block deli counter ​

We had a large empty space, unsuitable for seating, so we decided to extend the kitchen out by offering our meats on display on a counter. We bought some butcher’s block counters and then created a shop using the ingredients we needed in the kitchen, but also adding things like chutneys, eggs, sauces and local cakes to the offer. The counter is open every day and has grown and grown in recent months to the extent that we are looking to have an in-house butchers shop selling meats to go, including Christmas turkeys.

Steak service area ​

The butcher’s block concept is giving a twist to our steak offering. We found some amazing local farms, via Preston Family Butchers, and decided that it would be great to offer customers a choice of steak, size, cooking style and accompaniments. The butchers’ block is a great piece of theatre.
Desserts on a stick​

We sold 10,000 take-away ice creams, such as Magnums and Feasts, this summer, making 80p net profit on each one.
Bumptastic ​

Offering pregnancy-friendly dishes is beginning to make us a name locally and with foodie magazines. It came from personal experience. When my partner was pregnant she would look at a menu and say “can’t have that, that or that,” making us realise how little thought is given to pregnant women. Our menus are designed to be inclusive so we decided to create some dishes that could also be enjoyed by the pregnant amongst us.
Yummy Academy ​

We have started a new staff training academy, across the two sites, in partnership with CPL Training. It’s an e-learning system that allows staff to be trained before they even enter the building on areas such as fire safety, customer service and food handling. It gives them access to everything the industry can offer and is beginning to make inroads into educating the whole team.

Cowtastic​

Our promotional team has a concept that is a bit off the wall — the team dress in cow outfits and drive around in a white 4 x 4 handing out flyers and newsletters — but it’s going down a storm. We use QR codes for people to scan and get prizes, stand in fields with billboards and play spot the cow competitions online. The next idea is to ride the trains between Canterbury and St Pancras handing out flyers to the commuters. Last time we did this the website received 10 times the daily traffic.
Stour Valley tourist outpost ​

We are home to one of the first outpost tourist information points in the country; a brand new initiative working with Visit Britain and Tourism South East to promote rural pubs to Europe and foreign visitors. The outpost is located in our outside toilet block (much nicer than it reads!) and Visit Britain have just been granted funding to support the project over the next three years.
River trips​

There used to be a boat taking people up and down the river from the pub. We found it, derelict, on the Isle of Wight, so we teamed up with two retired policemen and bought it, created a new landing station at the pub and now run trips throughout the week for groups of up to 10 people. The boat is an eco-friendly electric launch and a fantastic asset to have.
Great British picnic ​

This was suggested by a member of staff as a great way to cater for the large number of private and corporate bookings we receive. Hampers are laid out on the tables with a selection of savoury scones, mini fish and chip cones, pies and burgers and a selection of British tapas. The concept allows us to cater for much larger parties as most of the food is pre-prepped and, at £19 per head, is going down very well.
Bike hire​

We have invested in a local bike hire company so that, from next summer, we will have 40 bikes available for customers to hire to explore the local countryside. Plus we have people walking our gardens and the local area, drumming up business for both the bike hire and boat trips.

Pub facts​

Tenure: Lease with Shepherd Neame
Website: www.thegroveferry.co.uk
Wet:dry:accommodation split: 37:55:8
GP food: 70%, but we work to cash margin as opposed to GP
GP drink: 55%.
Total covers: Inside, 140; outside, 300
Average weekly covers: Summer: 4,000; winter: 800
Average spend per head: £19.42 excluding VAT