Local operator Andrew Pern has had the Star Inn, Harome for three decades while he also has the Star in the City, on the riverside in York and the York Minster Refectory.
He said: “What we do, we do consistently and we do it fairly well and we fly the flag for York and Yorkshire at all times.”
Make It York managing director Sarah Loftus outlined how the organisation promotes the city at home and overseas, showcasing the opportunities in York.
She said: “”Everybody is really jealous when they come to York, to see how fabulous we are and that we do have the most pubs in any city at 365.”
Meanwhile, Pivovar Group director Jamie Hawksworth moved to York more than two decades ago and highlighted the opportunities of operating in the city.
“York’s a brilliant place to trade, it’s so diverse, there’s lots going on. You can trick people a little bit because anything is possible in York because the diversity of the people that come here, the tourists, the students,” he said.
“[For] 365 days a year, the bars are busy. It can fool [you] into thinking, you can do anything you like and take the trend out of York and move it to other cities, where conditions are a lot harder.”
The panel also discussed what trading in York is like, citing tourism and the weather as having beneficial impacts on businesses.
Pern said: “Trade at the moment [is] 4% up this year so far, which is amazing. But, as Jamie said, it can fool you and the weather around here is very dependant.
“We’ve got a lot of alfresco dining areas down by the river, in shadows of the minister. It can double your take if the sun shines. It can make around £20,000/£25,000 difference to a week, which is amazing for your turnover.
“We’re more food-led rather than beer and [it was] Restaurant Week recently (where participating businesses promote offers) and that goes very well for us.
“We’re [in] great locations where we are and a bit of a tourism magnet. The amount of tourists that come to the city is getting ourselves onto that tourist trail.”
However, the ongoing economic headwinds and a raft of cost hikes are also having a toll on operators.
“We’re slap bang in great locations but a lot of the issues within the industry is going to be quite difficult. Overall, within the three restaurants that we run, it’s adding just short of £1m turnover to bills at the end of the end of the year,” Pern said.
“There’s only a certain ceiling of what we can actually charge people. Yes, we’re more top end, especially with having a Michelin star in Harome and the location allows us to charge slightly more, but there’s only a ceiling of where actually people will pay. We’ll see how that all pans out this year.”
Managing flux
As a result of the cost-of-living crisis, customers are looking for a deal, Pern said, which his operations fulfils with the room offer he has at the Star at Harome.
This coincided with Loftus who said the city was seeing higher footfall but less spend in some areas.
“You’ve really got to work hard on your business to convert the footfall and get people into venues, which we try and push all the time with things like Restaurant Week and putting on free events in the city,” she added.
“We know two thirds of spend in the city comes from visitors so it’s really important we do keep marketing York, showcasing how brilliant and different we are.”
Visitors and tourism are key parts of operating in York but it can be a balancing act to keep everyone happy, the panel highlighted.
Hawksworth said: “It’s important to say it’s a love-hate relationship with tourism in the city. When I opened, my first pub 18 years ago in York, it didn’t rely on tourism at all, if I had set my business plan out that, it would fail.
“If we look back, there was the St Nicholas Christmas fair, which was one weekend a year. Now, it’s six weeks and it’s crazy. But that comes at costs because locals don’t come to town.
“If you consider race meetings, like the John Smith’s Cup, [it’s] fantastic [with some] 45,000 to 55,000 people a day coming into the city.
“[But again], it is at a cost because the locals know it’s on and they don’t come to town. You’ve got to wear two hats - you’ve got to look after your residents, the people who keep you busy all year round, the people who work for you, the community, the city then you’ve got the tourism at the same time.
“Managing that flux is a holy grail. Don’t set out just to build the tourism. If they’re here great and they keep the city busy, all the year but you’ve got to embrace the locals.
“You’ve got to offer them something. You can’t charge stupid prices. You’ve got to bring people out of their communities and make sure the city is for the community as much it is for the tourists who arrive on the train and then leave again. That’s not what it’s about.”
Staffing remains to be an issue to operators and the recent hikes in employment costs put even more pressure on operators.
Pern said: “Our main problem is, we’ve got all the ideas under the sun but it’s actually staffing them now. We’ve got great staff, but not enough of them. That caused a lot of issues and slowed, a lot of things down and put paid to any other ideas of expanding even more of what we would want to do.
“That’s the issue and now with minimum wage at its highest level, which is fine, national insurance, everything else that’s going up, it’s making us all think twice.
“There’s only a certain ceiling of where we can actually start going backwards a bit really because you can’t charge any more for what we do.
“It may be as good as we can do or the staff we’ve got can do but it’s the offering where I the nationals and internationals can cut their costs because they’re doing volume worldwide and we’re doing local buying from our local producers.
“We’re right back down to the basics but that’s what sets us apart where we’re braver for doing that.”
Unique venues
Hawksworth echoed Pern’s comments around staffing issues however, he suggested the city was in a prime place to provide a special education facility for the sector.
“Staffing is a problem. You’d have thought that the amount of hospitality in the city, there’d be a wealth of excess staff that you could draw but the reality is if someone leaves, they can start immediately in the pub or restaurant over the road because we all need trained, qualified staff and there just isn’t enough of them,” he said.
“I would suggest and I’m not taking this on myself, but I suggested York really is right for an academic school of hospitality and food because it really would serve the city beautifully and it would work hand in hand but that’s not for me to set up.”
Moreover, he also reiterated Pern’s concerns about costs and how the business was trying to mitigate the ongoing rises.
“While we can’t or we try not to increase the price of our products, they do have to go up but, buying a bit more cleverly, dealing with local breweries, who don’t have the logistical overheads that larger multinationals do, means you can buy better products.
“You can buy more locally, keep your incoming costs down and keep maintaining GPs. Doing that means you end up delivering a better product at the same time.”
The panel also issued advice for other operators considering trading in York with tips including offering something unique and networking.
Loftus advised to join the local destination management organisation. She said: “We’ve got fantastic reach. Talk to other people in the industry, network. Jump on the back of all the free events we do, we’d love to see more people jump on board with Christmas so we can promote you more.
“Things like the ice trail, the food and drink festivals we have in the city, the Irish Festival we had just recently, think about how you can work alongside that to push all these people that are coming to the city into your venue.”
Ensuring your business stands out from the crowd was an area Hawksworth advised on.
He said: “Do something different, be unique, do something that makes me want to go ‘yeah I want to go there tonight’.
“Don’t come and look at everybody else and copy what they do because that’s just boring. York is about unique venues, it’s about something different, it’s not about homogenous styles so be creative, do something fun.”
Not being afraid to ask for advice was one top tip Pern suggested, laying out how York itself had a neighbourhood feel.
He added: “I’d be brave and go for it and go with your heart. It’s hospitality at the end of the day, and saying please, thank you and thank you very much for coming goes a long way in our trade.
“York, despite being a major city, has quite a small neighbourhood feel to it and everybody knows each other within the trade one way or another it’s quite a small, neat network.
“Everybody’s got the time of day to speak to each other because we’re all proud of the city and of the county and that’s where we win. Yorkshire has always been quite a good county for flying the flag and that’s where we’re we’re all at.
“Network, ask your friends, don’t be too proud, don’t be too shy to ask any advice. We’ll all easily have a beer at the bar have a chat so you can always raise a glass to that I dare say.”
