Pub Mentors: Softs put fizz into business

Although soft drinks were already an important part of the Greets Inn offer, we had a good discussion on how staff could play a greater role to assist Duncan and Natalie’s appetite to grow lunchtime trade and attract more families.

So I was keen to see the changes that had been made and whether or not they were having a positive effect on the pub’s revenue and profit.

Key focus areas agreed: ​

• Right range, right price

• Visibility on tables

• Increasing footfall

Right range, right price​

The Greets Inn stocks a comprehensive choice of soft drinks. During my first visit, however, we identified that Duncan and Natalie had a really great opportunity to increase sales and profit in this category by delivering greater consistency across size of serve and the prices they charge. They reviewed their soft-drinks offer and made a number of positive changes.

Results​

The pub has now switched from serving a 200ml cola mixer as a standard soft drink served in a 10oz glass at £1.45 to a 330ml glass bottle served in branded glassware at a retail price aligned to the rest of their adult soft-drinks range.

This has improved their revenue by 20% on every cola serve they sell and also, due to the larger serving size, increased customers’ value for money by 30%.

Simply by offering a larger 330ml glass bottle, they are increasing customer satisfaction and incremental profit even after the increase in cost per unit for the larger serve size.

They also took the opportunity to move the retail price in line with the small bottles of water at £1.75. This is now delivering greater consistency across the size of serve and the prices they charge.

Visibility on tables​

Food is seen as an important growth engine for the Greets Inn. When eating here, diners receive table service so purchase decisions are typically made at the table and not at the bar.

Couple this with the limited back-bar space and Duncan and Natalie agreed that it was vital the pub makes the most of the other opportunities to inform customers about their range of soft drinks.

This makes sound business sense as soft drinks have the highest incidence of any category with food in pubs. In tests across 250 pubs last year, simply including soft drinks on the menu fuelled a category uplift of between 5% and 9%.

Results​

Duncan and Natalie developed soft-drinks menus for tables inside and outside to be activated at lunchtime, when the incidence of soft drinks with food is highest.

Increasing footfall​

With a very competitive local market, maintaining footfall was a key objective for Duncan and Natalie and that task was picked up with their mentor, Phil Davison.

Phil provided great help and tips on how to market the pub more efficiently and effectively to the village and to a wider catchment area.

For example, the Greets Inn’s January ‘winter warmer’ offer produced incremental footfall at the start of this year.

I was really delighted to hear that the designated driver scheme Duncan and Natalie ran over Christmas brought new footfall into the pub.

The scheme rewarded customers who took the responsibility to ensure their family and friends got home safely with free soft drinks.

Duncan was really pleased with the impact of this promotion and was interested to observe that some customers had found his pub on the campaign’s Pub Finder website.

Offering free soft drinks at key trading periods such as Christmas can encourage more people to visit, stay longer, and puts the pub at the heart of the community.

Giving Duncan and Natalie’s new customers a great experience once inside the pub should now keep them coming back to the Greets Inn all year round.

In summary​

Duncan and Natalie agree that soft drinks play an important for the Greets Inn in generating new footfall, growing their lunch-time trade and attracting more families.

By focusing on offering the right range at the right price, maximising the visibility on tables and looking at ways of increasing footfall, Duncan and Natalie are really helping to drive customer satisfaction and maximise the Greets Inn’s profit potential.

Their trading results for November and December — when compared to the year before — are fabulous and, with Phil’s on-going support and Duncan and Natalie’s determination to succeed, the future looks positive at the Greets Inn.