Cultural creativity at Greene King
Greene King Pub Company's managing director, Mark Angela, has unveiled a radical restructuring of the managed pub division under the strap-line, "The Best of Both Worlds".
The expression, he says, refers to advantages to be gained from merging the strengths of Pub Company with the 432-strong Laurel Neighbourhood estate. The deal has already created the country's third largest managed pub group at 775 houses, though it differs greatly in structure from both Spirit and Mitchells and Butlers, which lead the market with around 2,000 outlets each.
Unlike its major rivals, Greene King favours a soft or non-branded approach with a far higher degree of autonomy for individual managers. It's an entirely different corporate culture which reflects Mr Angela's fresh take on the pub business. He previously worked for US firm Colgate, with his job taking him from New York City to the markets of the Far East. He says he came into the pub industry with few preconceptions as to how it should be done.
"At the end of the day we are selling hospitality," says Mr Angela. "This doesn't come from a manual so each manager has to be given a lot of flexibility to be able to respond to the individual needs of the local business. This is also why we don't believe in hard branding as every outlet has different customers who are increasingly demanding an individual offering.
"It is critical that through restructuring we get a blend of the best of both businesses," he continues. "The term we use at Greene King is flex-management and there has traditionally been a lot more flexibility for Pub Company managers than those in the old Laurel neighbourhood division. However, Laurel has had excellent back-of-house systems and by bringing the best of both together we can have a more efficient business backed by a cultural change."
Mr Angela revealed that Greene King's existing Pub Company houses are to be reorganised into five divisions. Each division has its own semi-autonomous operations director, with appointees drawn from both the old Greene King and Laurel estates.
The new division are: the food-led Hungry Horse chain; Inns, which sees the integration of the Laurel Wayside Inns with Greene King Inns; Town Local, created from the Greene King High Street division and town-based Laurel Neighbourhood Traditional pubs; and the Real Pubs North and Real Pubs South divisions covering community taverns.
In addition, 160 pubs have been transferred from the old Laurel neighbourhood division to Pub Partners, Greene King's leased and tenanted division
The final piece of the integration jigsaw should be in place by August when all the back-of-house systems are in place, unifying both managers access to company resources and streamlining the data gathering operation back at the Bury St Edmunds brewery HQ.
"Greene King may have a slightly old-fashioned image, but coupled with serious systems behind the scenes and excellent management in the pubs themselves, I believe we have an excellent recipe for success," Mr Angela concludes.
