Pub Mentors: Soft sell pays dividends

Glassy operation: catering for families and soft-drinks visibility were some of the areas the pub focused on

Martin Sampson, out of home shopper marketing controller at Coca-Cola Enterprises, keeps tabs on his protégés’ progress at the College Arms. Stratford.

A charming pub in a beautiful village setting with enormous potential, the College Arms has two very passionate and capable tenants in Jo Arevalo and Marilyn Herdman.

On the first visit, it was clear the pub layout was split into two areas — a pub restaurant and a community bar — to accommodate their customer base; however, the layout was not proving effective.

The mentor, Jay, advised the tenants on several areas that would help them to get some of the business basics right. Jay also suggested making a few cosmetic changes to the pub and improving the layout in order to maximise the footfall opportunity this great building has to offer.

The difference in the look and feel of the pub on my second visit was a huge step-change, and a real achievement to have turned it around in such a short period — just over two months.

Similarly, it was vital that Jo and Marilyn ensured their soft-drinks offer was fit for purpose in order to generate more revenue for the pub. On my initial visit we looked at three key focus areas:

Quality of serve

Catering for families

Range & visibility

Quality of serve

It was important to ensure quality was incorporated in every part of the business, from cellar to glass — for example, utilising quality glassware across all drinks categories is a great way for any outlet to communicate to customers the quality message of stocked brands.

The action plan: Jo and Marilyn agreed to review the pub’s branded glass range and started using branded glasses for all the beer and soft-drink brands they stock. In addition to the 16oz serve, they also added a 22oz cola serve to their offering to maximise the upselling opportunity from the high volume of sports teams visiting the pub. Jo and Marilyn also trialled cola in a 330ml glass bottle, in addition to post-mix, and were surprised by the number of customers actively choosing it ahead of draught, even at a higher retail price.

The result: A third of all cola serves are now in 22oz glasses, increasing their cash revenue.

Catering for families

With the lay-out changes that were implemented, the College Arms now offers even more space for families to enjoy a great meal in comfortable surroundings.

The tenants were keen to encourage more families to visit, so a suitable soft-drinks range was essential. While having adult soft drinks in their offering was important, they recognised that, to maximise sales, a wide range of family-friendly soft drinks was required.

The action plan: They also started stocking a soft-drinks brand for younger family members, and the supplier supported the listing with activity kits to keep the children occupied during their visit.

The result: The College Arms now sells up to 40 units of the new listing a week, highlighting how important it is to stock the right range of soft drinks.

Range & visibility

The College Arms already stocked a wide range of soft drinks including more than 15 different adult soft drinks choices. However, visibility was inconsistent.

Jo and Marilyn agreed to consolidate their range in line with their best-sellers and to focus on a simple and consistent visibility plan at key points of purchase, most importantly the bar and table areas.

The action plan: The back-bar was essentially a retail area and it was important for the licensees to make the most of it in order to maximise sales.

The result: Jo and Marilyn improved visibility of the soft-drinks range in this area by:

Installing two new chillers behind the bar, increasing chilled space and merchandising their range in line with sales volumes.
Installing extra soft-drinks fonts in both bars to highlight the brands that are available and to improve speed of serve.
Implementing a new soft-drinks table menu, designed in keeping with the College Arms brand, for use at lunchtime

Overall results

As a result of the changes Jo and Marilyn have made, their soft-drinks sales have increased by around 13%, which is a great achievement.

Jo and Marilyn now stock the right brands for their customer base. They have the selection visible in the right places and now offer a quality, “better than home” serve. Overall, a real value-for-money experience.

I am delighted with their progress and how promising the future looks for their business as a result of their commitment and Jay’s expert business mentorship.