Sometimes the best ideas come in small packages. PHIL DIXON explains why a third of a pint is good for business
"OK guru and industry expert, what would you do?"
Normally I am not fazed by such a request, but when it comes from a Premier League operator (Richard Macey FBII, the Fountain at Clent) then I am more than a little bit intimidated.
The discussion took place in July 2004. The issue? what to do on Sunday nights. This is a seriously busy pub, it has a three-month waiting list for tables at weekends and Richard would, ideally, like to close early on a Sunday and give his team a rest, but he knows that a closed pub sends out the wrong retail messages. So what could he offer without the need for a full catering operation?
"Food. A very basic menu that's easy to rustle up," I suggested. Richard then develops a clever "butty" concept using roast meats left over from lunch.
"Fine, but I want to encourage more cask-ale drinkers," he adds.
"How about re-introducing the old third-of-a-pint measure as a bit of a gimmick, but also one that encourages customers to try all your ales and still be able to drive home responsibly," I suggested.
Enlisting the support of Rupert Thompson (Refresh UK and the Beer Academy) third-of-a-pint glasses were possible, however, it would take time to source and comply with the legalities.
Months later, Richard was ready to launch. Amazingly, that week, the BBPA (British Beer & Pub Association) attracted a lot of publicity for the third measure and suddenly there was a debate about women drinkers.
Roger Protz weighed in heavily against the idea. Oh no, he who has made the world a better place is opposed to the concept. Mark Hastings (BBPA communications director) took the brunt of the broadside for simply answering "yes" to the question: Would a one-third measure appeal to females?
Now I have lived with one or two women in my life (alright four) and all of them have enjoyed drinking pints. (Chardonnay and Champagne in particular), but when I ventured this idea of thirds it was not with the "fairer sex" in mind.
The philosophy behind it was to replicate the offer that is made in many an American micro-brewery, for example, the Market Tavern, 2nd Street, Nashville, where all the beers available can be consumed in one purchase in small quantities served on one tasting tray.
Sales initially at the Fountain were slow (I was worried), so Richard then put his BII Diploma of Licensing brain to work. A banner proclaiming New third-of-a-pint measure so you can try more but drink less adorned the pub.
The 3 x 1/3 pint was renamed the Fountain Beer Festival.
You pay a set price and then choose the three beers to make up your pint. Result a 21% increase in cask-ale sales. (The brewery is set to appreciate that, especially as it is rent review time.)
A socially-responsible initiative and one very relieved "guru".
Customers have now renamed their host "Richard the Third", although I am not sure it's because of the glasses or the rent review process that's giving him the hump.
Last round on Kalashnikov
I was somewhat surprised when, within 14 minutes of last month's MA dropping through the letter box it contained my column criticising the Portman Group there was an invite to attend a briefing at its plush offices in London with none other than Lord Condon him-self (the group's Independent Complaints Panel chairman).
While on the train, I did begin to contemplate as to whether police chiefs make good judges? True, there was that chap in Ecuador, but I could not come up with another example. Perhaps my view was also clouded by listening to the former drugs tsar Keith Halliwell, whom I found as enlightening on the subject as an Eveready torch without the batteries.
Lord Condon was honest, open, intelligent and balanced in his views, as reported in full by the Morning Advertiser.
We agreed that the Portman Group had a "Shag problem" its failure to ban Shag lager (10 July 2001) and the subsequent changes to its code so that it could (12 September 2003) has left the group with the conundrum that it is now very difficult not to ban a product.
It was also a semi-surrealist experience to hear a respected police figure referring to the names of "smutty" cocktails from "Hard Screws" to "Screaming Orgasms". (Yorkshire LVA chairmen's wives may now need to reach for a dictionary.)
His suggestion to slightly re-package Kalashnikov Vodka with the word "General" to emphasis to whom it was referring, was a very sensible compromise.
I have though been asked on more than one occasion why I felt so strongly about the matter especially when I don't drink vodka.
Well, it's a day I'll never forget. I was standing by the great statue of the motherland (Mamayev Hill) overlooking what was the city of Stalingrad (now Volga-grad) when my translator said: "Phil, from the summer of 1942 to Von Paulus' surrender of the Sixth army on January 31 1943, in this and the surrounding area, more than two million people were killed."
Add to that the fact that another 20 million or so were killed in the second world war, I simply wanted to ensure that General Mikhail Kalashnikov, the decorated 85-year-old hero of that conflict, was aware that his former ally, Britain, had not forgotten the sacrifices made in the defeat of Hitler.
After I returned home from the meeting with Lord Condon, my beloved one asked: "How was your meeting with Lord Condon?"
"Very enjoyable. I shall have to rethink my attitude towards the Metropolitan Police."
"Oh good, that means we can watch The Bill and not the football tonight."