20 top tips to boost your pub business

Lester Pyatt - Business Growth Specialist

1. Imagine your pub outlet is like maintaining your car Do a quick diagnostic check on the engine of your business. Mark yourself out of ten on the following areas:

Finance E.g. have you end of year accounts? Monthly profit and loss? Stocktaking reports?

Marketing E.g. how often are you advertising? How much are you spending? Is it working?

Operations E.g. have you a staff training manual? Is the team upselling? How often do you have operation team meetings? Ask yourself, what needs to be done to improve the weak scores/areas of your pub?

2. Think of your business goals like a sat nav system – getting you from A to B efficiently - who uses a paper map book now? What’s your goal for the business?

• How much money do you want to make? • How long do you want to be a landlord? • What’s stopping you getting your business from A

to B? Any roadblocks? • Your own management style? • Difficulty in getting funding for development? • Erratic staff performance? • An inefficient Advertising and Promotion plan?

3.Your staff are your biggest asset – are they performing on flat tyres? • Do you have a staff training manual? • Staff systems and procedures- think

opening and closing the bar • Do you have up to date job descriptions? • Do you have staff appraisal sessions? • Do some members of staff have

performance lapses?

4. Could you be getting more mpg out your petrol? Are you on top of the financial side of the business? • When was the last time you checked the

food costs and made a comparison against a competitor?

• If you have stocktakes are you making the right gross margin? If not where is the leakage?

• Is the kitchen managing portion control and wastage?

• What net profit do you want to make in the next twelve months? Have you got a profit and loss forecast?

5. Manage your time better…so you

get the important tasks of the business completed Delegate more. Your staff are there for a reason. • Has your team got individual job

descriptions? • Do they understand what you are trying to

achieve? • Have you got a mission statement? • Have you weekly individual action tasks for

your employees? • How often are team meetings?

6. Train your mind or find guidance in taking more calculated risks • Customers want the “Wow” factor. • What’s your big promotion or event? • Stop playing it safe, think of a dream

situation and make it happen! • See failure as something learned.

7. Motivate your team It doesn’t take a lot of effort to get the best out your team. A “well done” today or a pat on the back tomorrow can be appreciated by everyone. • Do you have a staff incentive scheme? • Are your taking staff away on a

“jolly”? • Do you offer a staff discount on food

and drinks?

8. Smile and connect more If you do not have a customer service procedure in place, just smiling at the customer and saying “Hi how you are today?” is a good start. Check out COSAP Staff performance training www.cosap.co.uk

9. Don’t discount! It’s lazy and can give the perception that you’re needy. Look to add value to people’s pub visits – think over delivery - people like presents. • Free pot plant for Mothers Day • Free Easter egg hunt for kids • Free Pint for Fathers Day • Kids menus - free ice creams • Free glass of Prosecco on arrival

10. Audit your competitors. Have a meal and benchmark the • Ambience • Customer service • Customer profile • Menu prices • Promotions against your business. Is there something you could improve on?

11. Through eyes of the customer Get a professional mystery audit on your operations and service, don’t wait for feedback from sites like Trip Advisor. Get ahead of the game and identify your operations’ weaknesses early otherwise you will lose further revenue opportunities!!

12. Think of your marketing like heartbeats Keep it consistent and repetitive and at the forefront of the customer’s attention window. • How many different tactics are you

currently using? • Have you built a 12 month

Advertising and Promotion budget & campaign?

• Are you promoting online and offline?

13. Point your business in front of the right target market Think narrowcasting not broadcasting the smaller the target the bigger the bulls eye!! Think local customers first • Collect the email addresses of current

customers & create an email database • Give customers a flyer of promotions with their

bill • Put promotion offers in the local village news • Send a newsletter through the letterboxes of

local residents

14. Think of your outlet as a brand

• How do customers perceive it? • What emotion does it evoke? • What is it saying to them? • What’s your strapline?

“We strive to over deliver on the customer expectations on each and every visit”

15. Appreciate the customer lifetime value • How can you develop different

entertainment occasions to drive sales to loyal customers?.

• Remember, it costs you 6 times more to get a new customer than servicing an existing client.

16. Think of your website as an information site, fixing an entertainment problem for the customer that ignites a decision • Is the site easy to use? • Are your promotions up to date? • Have you got an enticing product

offer? • Have you got an online booking

system for diners? • Is the site mobile compliant & user

friendly?

17. Stop promoting offers on social media sites like Twitter Selling your products & services should only be 10% of the conversation. • Use images of products & events • Create two way conversations • Share interesting articles • Automating your messages on social

media will save time. Look at a database like Hootsuite to assist you. https://hootsuite.com/

18. Don’t believe your food is so good that your menu prices get inflated, putting off return visits from customers. It happens a lot!! Instead keep costs under control to maintain margins • Have a 3 quote cost system from

suppliers • Portion control your food • Create a stock in/out system • Keep kitchen wastage sheets

19. Entice the customer with the perception of added value food promotions Valentine’s meal £24.95 pp Three course meal with • Free bubbly on arrival • Red rose for the lady • Chocolates on departure

And remember to get your suppliers to pay for the extras!!

20. Ensure you have a weekly sales forecast for the next 12 months that’s automated and quick to update. Here’s a forecast worth £69.95 And its yours for free to download!! @ www.omark.co.uk

And guess what!! This and much more can be done for you via my complete 6-12 month Business Development Package – With a guaranteed return of 3 times your investment. For more information www.omark.co.uk Or phone 07931 238211