Pub Mentors: Top marks for College girls

'Impressive start': Jo Arevalo and Marilyn Herdman

Jay Smith is upbeat by what he found on a return visit to see Jo Arevalo and Marilyn Herdman at the College Arms in Lower Quinton, Stratford-upon-Avon.

I returned to the College Arms a few weeks after my first visit, excited about the progress I had been told about by Jo and Marilyn. I got the firm impression things were moving in the right direction, but we still had some way to go. I was wrong. Things had moved well beyond that.

The ladies had clearly spent their time in some sort of pub revamp warp drive!

Results so far

The whole atmosphere of this beautiful old pub has been transformed and I found myself standing in a building that could easily be owned and run by highly decorated operators.

The horrible “drinking room” now looks like it belongs to the building and has been transformed into an all purpose dining and drinking area with refreshing decor and a clever mix of furniture.

The old dining room is now zoned in such a way that makes it accessible to all and it feels like the sort of place you would be sad to leave.

Breaking bad habits

When we first met it was clear the ladies had some bad habits and a big part of their action plan would need to involve back-of-house routines, staff management and cash control.

Making the building look and feel as good as they have is one thing, but I was keen to see if we had stopped the cash flow, ordering and scheduling leaks.

Once again I was delighted with what has been achieved. Jo did look a little shy when she told me that using the new cashing-up sheets I had given to her had resulted in the discovery that she had over £1,000 in change in the building that she didn’t know she had.

But she was also delighted that the sheets had brought the finances of the pub into sharp focus and made them much more aware of incomings and outgoings on a daily basis.

Changes in the kitchen

The kitchen hours have been reworked and the chef is no longer allowed to dictate what he may or may not do on any particular day.

A range of new suppliers are coming online which will help to increase bottom line dramatically from what was being achieved by just using the easiest route to stock.

Plans in the pipeline

While customer areas are now in far better shape, that, sadly, is not the case in all parts of the building and we have now drawn up a plan for the reworking of the back bar.

I have also been promised that areas visible to the paying public will no longer be used as dumping grounds. There are also still

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some lingering issues with the relationships with some suppliers.

Festive season hopes

Christmas planning is well under way and a four-course Christmas Day meal is already well subscribed. On the bar there is mulled wine and spiced, warmed cider to add some incremental sales and a number of lunchtime and evening bookings are being taken thanks to some internal marketing discussed at our earlier meeting.

An impressive start

All in all it is impossible to be anything other than impressed with Jo and Marilyn. They are so keen to do well and absolutely willing to put in the hard work required to make a good living from a pub like this.

The changes to the layout, along with the implementation of the action plan, have already started to pay dividends and there is a new energy around the whole team which should drive them through a busy Christmas and provide a great springboard into 2012.

What the licensees think

We were so pleased when we were selected for the Pub Mentors scheme, because although we knew we had a great pub, we thought we had tried everything to make it work, but just might be missing a trick to unlock its full potential.

Jay Smith was selected to be our mentor, again a stroke of luck for us. Jay asked us to send him some figures and a bit of background, then came and stayed over in one of our rooms for the night to get a fuller picture.

He made great suggestions and he really did give us the courage to make a big change that we had thought of before, but not had the confidence to carry through.

He showed us how changing our bar into our restaurant and vice versa would help improve the business all round and importantly encourage more affluent drinkers in the village to come to us. Doing this solved lots of problems, such as the noise problem that had worried us before and the distance from the kitchen to the restaurant.

Jay also worked with us on figures and showed us our correct break-even figure. He showed us how to work with cash sheets, and simply cashing up every day has helped us greatly with keeping control of our cash flow.

Thanks also to Coca-Cola Enterprises for sending Martin Sampson who gave us loads of great ideas about improving soft drink sales and bar displays.

The next step is a big open night in January to show the village and the papers what we have done and to sample some canapés of food dishes and a bit of wine tasting too.