Bay Horse, Great Broughton
According to Simon and Trudy Howard, the Bay Horse is the archetypal ivy-covered cottage. A Marston's Pub Company leasehold, it's a traditional village pub with flagstones, horse brasses and high-quality food.
Situated in Great Broughton, near Middlesbrough, the pub is just off the Cleveland Way and a popular pit-stop for walkers. Simon and Trudy took over four-and-a-half years ago. Previously, Simon was an area manager for Mitchells & Butlers (M&B). Trudy, also an ex-M&B manager, is a fully-trained chef.
Until late 2005, Simon was still working full-time for M&B and helping Trudy in the pub whenever he could, but a year later decided to give up the day job.
The Bay Horse won Restaurant Pub of The Year 2006 in the Marston's (formerly Union) Pub Company Awards.
Why my food business is a success
Consistency - constantly being here and on top of it. We have a passion for the job and for the people we come across. We really believe in what we do and we live for it. We have a 80-seater dining room and aim to offer good pub food at affordable prices. Part of the success is down to our staff, who are like our extended family. We have young people of 16 working for us who treat us like their mum and dad and we have older staff who are like aunties and uncles. There's a real family atmosphere.
My menu
On offer is a full à la carte and specials board every night. Our à la carte menu ranges from about £8 to £16, but within that we do lunchtime snacks and sandwiches, and dishes such as home-made lasagne, pies and steaks with various sauces. The specials board changes daily and depends on what we receive from local markets and suppliers. Whatever's in season will go on the specials board. During the week we also run a two-course special, which costs £7.45 and is a very popular choice. That menu will change daily, featuring dishes such as haddock and chips, chicken or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. We try to have at least one fish, one meat and one vegetarian option.
Pub facts
Turnover: Has increased fourfold since the Howards took overNumber of staff: 30GP food: 66%GP drink: 55%Covers a week: 1,500Food sales as % of turnover: 70% (wet:dry split is 30:70)Average food spend: £10 across both lunchtime and dinner
My business philosophy
Trudy and I have always told our staff that you can't do this job unless you really enjoy it - it has to be a vocation. We love coming to work every day. Every day is a new day and we start each one with fresh eyes, because there are always different people coming into the pub. We never see it as the same four walls because it changes all the time. Everyone has these cheesy straplines about the customers always being right, but it's more about being aware of what they want.
Marketing and PR
We use the local press to advertise events. Lots of local magazines are delivered to people's doors, and we advertise in those more than bigger papers because we like to support local businesses. Winning the Marston's Pub Company Award for Restaurant Pub of The Year 2006 has been good for business. As soon as the news hit our local press, everyone was desperate to book a table. Weekend tables now have to be booked a week ahead.
Best investment in last year
A steamer oven. It makes the vegetables crisp, not grey and washed-out like the boiled versions. It cost us about £3,000 and it's made an enormous difference.
Our best-selling dishes
Starters:Sesame breaded mushrooms £4.50Local black pudding with red wine and wild mushrooms £4.45King prawns with pesto and garlic bread £6.95
Main courses:Local beef and ale pie £8.95Poacher's chicken (chicken breast, barbecue sauce and bacon, topped with cheese) £8.45Cod loin with Mediterranean vegetables and pesto £10.95
Desserts: Sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce £4.50Crème brûlée £4.50Banoffee pie £4.50
Plans for the future
Include embarking on a refurbishment, decorating inside and out, with twinkly lights on our trees. It's a major investment, and won't increase our number of covers, but it will support our level of quality. We're happy with our current number of covers and we're getting busier all the time. When it's busy, things wear out, but we just want to keep on top of things and never get to the point where we run a threadbare outlet. On the food side, we change our menus all the time. We introduced winter menus recently, featuring plenty of stews and comfort dishes. We're always looking for different ideas.
Tips on delivering customer service
Awareness and prioritisation. Staff should know what needs to be done first and what's the most important thing for the customer. It's essential to pay that attention to detail because that's the one thing that makes a business unique. Anyone can serve up a menu, but it's the way you serve that is really what contributes to a memorable visit for the customer.
My recommended suppliers
Fishmonger: Hodgson's, Hartlepool. They supply all of our excellent-quality fish and source it from Hartlepool and Whitby.
Butcher: J Thompson, Northallerton. All the beef comes from a three-mile radius and the pork comes from within a mile of the butcher's. We know exactly where our meat comes from.
Fruit and veg: WW Potatoes, Darlington. Trudy has known them for 20 years, since she was a head chef in Darlington. They've been great - there's never an issue. They know we want top-quality produce and if there's a problem, they replace or change it.
How I motivate my staff
We have a good team and we're always laughing and joking while we concentrate on getting through the work. Our front and back-of-house staff have a good rapport - there's always plenty of banter between chefs and front-of-house staff about what's selling and how we can sell more of certain things. There are always plenty of questions about what's going on. Our staff believe in the business and that maintains their interest. We have a few students working here and they pester us for more work, even when they're doing their studies. We encourage all our staff to be aware of what's going on and stress the importance of caring about their jobs.
