Kent brewer Shepherd Neame has gone beyond its roots and is now positively blooming, says MD Jonathan Neame. Caroline Nodder reports
If you were to sum up what Kent brewer Shepherd Neame is all about, you need look no further than the chandelier at one of its newest outlets.
This dramatic centrepiece, recently unveiled at the Manor Farm Barn in Southfleet, Kent, has the shape and feel of a traditional chandelier but with a very unique modern twist - it is actually made using interwoven fibre optic threads.
Combining the traditional with the cutting edge is what the company is all about and from its traditional roots as a small regional brewer it has become one of the leaders in the modern pub and beer market.
In short, Shepherd Neame is not what you might expect.
So successful has it been in its high profile campaign for a cut in beer duty - citing losses in its own pubs caused by an increase in bootlegging - that a large chunk of the industry and even the general public believed for a long time that the company was in bad shape.
This couldn't be further from the truth.
In fact, the traditional Faversham brewer has advanced well beyond its local roots and is, according to its managing director Jonathan Neame, positively blooming.
This success, says Jonathan, is due to being able to focus on all aspects of the business and drive them forward together. As he puts it, the company manages to have "many balls in the air at once".
"We see the basic (vertically integrated) model continuing," he said. "But in most areas we see ways of improving quality which very much forms the focus of what we are doing."
A prime example of the progress so far is the advertising campaign built around the company's flagship ale brand Spitfire. Controversial undoubtedly - one of the infamous strap-lines, a reference to the football, reads "Germany defeated. Now on to Japan. Sound familiar?" - but love them or loathe them there is no doubt that they have given what is a very traditionally brewed cask ale the kind of presence and image that you might expect from a contemporary lager brand.
And all, according to Jonathan, on a shoe-string budget. In fact, complaints from a handful of German tourists about a series of the adverts that appeared on the London Underground last year actually led to them being taken down and the brewer receiving a full refund.
But with the transport system being what it is, Jonathan points out with a smile, there was a delay in removing the posters and the series ended up running for the agreed two weeks anyway - for free!
"We are concentrating on building brand value," said Jonathan. "We do believe there is increasing value in our rarity status. The fact we are a good brewer is becoming increasingly important."
This presence in the market has inevitably led to growth in demand from consumers and the brand is now a must-stock with most of the large pubcos and major supermarket chains.
This is reflected in the fact that Shepherd Neame has moved on from a position where 80 per cent of its beer is being sold through its tied estate to the current situation where only 40 per cent is channelled through brewery-owned pubs.
The growth now, as Jonathan points out, lies in increasing the number of occasions on which consumers choose to drink the beer. And this, as marketing director Mark McJennett reveals, is one of the main focuses of the company's marketing strategy.
For example, Shepherd Neame has produced new 25cl bottles of Spitfire for the off trade, aimed at encouraging Spitfire converts to pick the brand even when they are away from the pub.
It is also brewing a number of new products including Whitstable Bay organic ale. Underlying this is a drive for quality wherever the brewer's beer is being consumed and to this end the "Shepglass" initiative was launched last year with the intention of educating licensees on the perfect serve as well as encouraging the use of branded glassware.
"We have tried to increase the level of quality of the beer the customer swallows - it is all about quality and presentation," said Jonathan.
The compact brewery site in historic Faversham has obviously been put under pressure by this growth to expand, but squashed as it is between the river and the high street this has always been a problem.
When the new brewhouse was added onto the back of the brewery last year, cranes had to be brought in to drop the new vessels into place because the site is almost completely surrounded by other buildings.
The new addition represents very well what Shepherd Neame is all about - it combines a very traditional stained glass window, made by local craftsmen and depicting scenes from the history of the brewery, with state-of-the-art computer technology that controls the whole brewing process.
The development represented a two-year investment of £2.5m and boosted production to more than 200,000 barrels - although, as production director Ian Dixon points out, the company is already using most of that extra capacity.
The brewer hopes to take this expansion further, space permitting, and has acquired an old warehouse site that became available last year at the back of the brewery.
Planning is already underway to maximise use of the space, which could eventually provide up to a further 50 per cent increase in capacity. There is a budget of £2.4m to be spent on the brewery in the next 12 months with plans to increase production by 10 per cent by the end of the year.
Last year also marked another major milestone in the brewer's development when it became the first UK brewer to achieve the ISO 14001 environmental management standard.
For those not familiar with this rather technical-sounding standard, it means that everything from raw materials to transport and dispense of the beers in pubs is monitored to ensure there is no waste in terms of energy and fuel use and that everything is done to make the process as environmentally-friendly as possible.
In effect, Shepherd Neame is a "green" brewer.
Ian Dixon explains: "We are demonstrating our commitment to excellence by operating in a manner which safeguards the environment as well as the health and safety of our employees, customers and suppliers."
And so on to the other main part of the business, the pub estate, and, more specifically, that chandelier.
In the last year, Shepherd Neame has been investing heavily in its new Mulberry Inns concept which combines a country inn feel with a more modern style of decor aimed at the younger customer.
Alongside this development - there are now seven Mulberrys with two more in the pipeline - the brewer has also been looking at new builds like the Manor Farm Barn and the Spitfire in the brand new town of West Malling.
It is the attention to detail that really strikes the first time visitor to these sites.
The chandelier, for example, can be seen for some distance from the road outside the pub through a well-placed and extra large picture window.
Shepherd Neame remains tight-lipped about the exact cost of this dramatic centrepiece but admits it did not come cheap, although the pub's manager claims that it actually acts as a beacon for the pub, attracting inquisitive customers into the unusual outlet.
The Manor Farm Barn is, as the name suggests, built on the site of a barn next to a farm shop and also includes a full thatched roof - fashioned by local craftsman during a project that took the best part of six months to complete.
It opened in January and has already proved popular with locals, building links with the community through its association with the owners of the farm shop - many locals pop in for a pint on a Sunday on their way to pick up vegetables for Sunday lunch.
In contrast, the Spitfire in West Malling is having to create its own local custo