Toad conversion by October: EP

by The PMA Team

Eldridge Pope, now called EP and owned by serial entrepreneur Michael Cannon's SDA Limited, will have converted its Toad high-street estate to the Que Pasa brand by October.

EP, taken over by Cannon in October last year, has already converted six Toads to Que Pasa, with nine more to follow.

The 15 Que Pasas converted from Toads will join an existing group of five Que Pasas that Cannon retained after the sale of Morrells of Oxford to createa 20-strong estate.

Swansea, opened a fortnight ago as a Que Pasa, has seen weekly takings rise from £8,000 to £18,000.

Operations director Tim Bird said: "We are prioritising the bars that are in heavy decline."

"We are converting Toads to Que Pasas in nine days." Toad sites in Southampton and Chelmsford are still "doing big money" according to Bird.

"But we will develop them because we know they will start to plateau," he said. "Let's not dismiss Toad completely, but the good performing Toads were paying for the demise of the rest of them."

Eldridge Pope's ill-fated Bongogo nightclub in Plymouth has been closed, saving £400,000 per annum.

In addition, EP is reviewing the future of a small number of high-street bars. "If something is being leased for £200,000 and is losing £300,000 per annum operationally, that's £500,000 a year," said Bird.

EP is to spend £14m on its estate in the first two years of ownership, with a target of a 25% return on capital. A total of 26 pubs have already been refurbished.

"We've got two teams of workers who've done one pub a week and one Que Pasa every two weeks," said Bird.

The introduction of new food menus at 40 refurbished and non-refurbished sites has seen like-for-like sales increase by 75% ­ worth an extra £45,000 a week. The company has also invested in 46 espresso machines. "The plan at EP is to substantially increase profitability ­ we aim to deliver as much as we can," added Bird.