Focus on the customer, says off-trade leader

A leading member of the off-trade has warned the pub industry that it must start to focus more on its customers if it is to survive.

Speaking at The Publican Marketing Conference last week, Eoin McGettigan, who is executive chairman of Irish food wholesaler Musgrave, which in the last two years has bought UK convenience store chains Londis and Budgens, said the industry has some serious issues to address.

"I sense very little engagement with the customer in the on-trade," said Mr McGettigan. "At the start of your conference today, you heard two speeches on the new licensing reforms [one from licensing minister Richard Caborn and the other from Nick Bish chief executive of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers].

"The minister's speech made no reference at all to the customer and Mr Bish's only reference was to "the hooligans you see out on a Saturday night".

"If you look at training and qualifications in the industry they are all about efficiency and practicality. Let's say you are qualifying to be a door supervisor, there is nothing in the training literature about hooking in the customer."

Mr McGettigan claimed the way forward for pubs was to differentiate against the competition. "The idea of meeting up at a local is something of an anathema; it doesn't exist anymore because of the breakdown of local communities. The function of a pub is changing - it needs to be more about entertainment now, it is not just about drinking."