Technology: GK introduces Pub Partners Extranet

Greene King has launched a bespoke network for its tenants and lessees.Pub tenants have often been left out in the cold when it comes to new...

Greene King has launched a bespoke network for its tenants and lessees.

Pub tenants have often been left out in the cold when it comes to new technology. Now the launch of a new website for Greene King's tenants and lessees aims to put them at the cutting edge. The Pub Partners Extranet brings together a comprehensive set of tools to help licensees run their businesses, from the latest news and legal advice to information on the brewer's product portfolio and training programmes.

Uniquely, it gives publicans password protected access to sales information specific to their pubs. From October they will also be able to order point-of-sale material and off-the-shelf promotions and to create their own posters using the marketing toolkit system already successfully adopted by Greene King's pub managers. And next year it will be extended to enable licensees to purchase online.

The system - a kind of private internet accessible only to the brewer and its tenants - has taken two years to develop with e-business specialist The Net Company at a cost of more than £150,000.

During that time the number of Greene King tenants with access to the internet has grown from 30 per cent of the estate to more than 50 per cent. It now insists that new licensee recruits install a computer with enough capacity to make use of the site.

Pub Partners strategic director Clive Pettitt believes the extranet "will become part of tenants' daily routines". He adds: "It is largely personalised to users' requirements and is a breakthrough in terms of design, content and functionality."

Licensees on the Pub Partners' tenant development group have trialled the system. Tony Massey at the Bell in Long Hanborough, Oxfordshire, says he already uses it every day. "I'm finding I no longer have to call my sales development manager or head office as all the information I need is on the extranet," he says.

"I can keep track of my sales figures without having to input them myself and have been using it to decide on my new wine list.

"It's great to be able to access the information when you need it rather than relying on others to provide it," he adds.

Lorraine De Silva at the Brewers Arms in Ipswich also finds it useful. "I can access the extranet in the early evening when we're quiet and when head office is closed," she says. "I've found the employment law segment helpful with regards to recruitment as well as information on licensing law."

Extranet features