A passion for quality

Having supported Liverpool FC since he was 10 years old, for London-born Rob Gutmann the North West city was the obvious place to study for a degree.

Yet the young undergraduate decided that Liverpool's bar culture wasn't up to much and set out to create a range of bars to cater for those seeking something…different.

"Liverpool was a desert for anything of any quality," he says. "I wanted an emphasis on quality and design, on good service and on good food."

Now, having spent years improving matters through a number of different bar ventures, the 40-year-old Gutmann's new Korova Corporation venture is set to open five new venues this year to add to the five it already runs.

Annual sales of £10m are expected and the company hopes to be employing 300 staff by the year's end. Gutmann's drive was - and remains - a desire to create sophisticated bars that he would want to visit himself.

Small beginnings

After leaving university he dabbled in property development, but remained haunted by Liverpool's dire nightlife.

Over the past 15 years he has bought and transformed rundown buildings into venues that have appealed to Liverpool's glitterati - and then sold them on at a nice profit.

His business grew from small enough beginnings. In 1993, together with his father, Gutmann used bank borrowings and personal funds to buy and open the Lyceum Café Bar, a leasehold property, for £250,000. His frustration at the lack of decent bars in Liverpool was clearly shared by many others. Regularly packed out, the Lyceum soon won a restaurant of the year award.

But he admits it was a steep learning curve. "Turnover doesn't always equal profit. It was quality at a cost. We quickly discovered that you can spend a little less on achieving quality and raise profitability enormously."

Four years later he sold the business for £600,000, and took on a new operation, Blue, a bar in the city's popular Albert Dock, as well as running the Tate gallery's restaurant.

There were still nail-biting moments though, as Gutmann admits. "We've taken commercial risks," he says, adding that taking on high levels of bank borrowing against critics' advice that the project would never turn a decent profit has caused many a sleepless night.

Working with a local architect, Gutmann then opened the Blue Bar and Grill, inspired by London's Butler's Wharf, in 1998. Baby Blue followed in 1999 and Pan American in 2001. The sceptics were being proved wrong.

When leisure group JI Entertain-ment offered £4.8m for the ventures in 2005, Gutmann felt the offer too good to pass up.

"Never miss an opportunity to take a profit," he says. "Plus I believed that the bars were at the peak of their powers and it was time to move on."

Gutmann then joined forces with nightclub entrepreneur James Barton to develop the Cream brand and ploughed funds into what has since become his flagship bar Alma de Cuba, as well as bar/venue Korova, which hosts up-and-coming bands.

Alma de Cuba now has a £3.5m annual turnover and is effectively several businesses in one: the mezzanine restaurant overlooks the busy bar, which doubles as a tapas restaurant by day.

Profits from the venue were quickly re-invested in the launch of Alma de Santiago, a vast and dilapidated pub on Liverpool's Penny Lane, last year.

Yet it is Gutmann's latest venture, Negresco, which is perhaps the closest to his heart, since the rundown Masonic pub in the city's trendy Lark Lane is his own design.

"My architect tells me I'm of the 'Hammer House of Horror' school of design," he says. A jet black exterior with gold Gothic script gives way to a macabre interior filled with taxidermy "like a Parisian brothel."

Developing the brand

On the back of Negresco's success, Gutmann now plans to open five new venues this year, all in former pubs. Using an existing infrastructure of kitchens and bars saves on capital costs, says Gutmann, as he builds on the Negresco and Alma brand.

So what's next? "We're developing the brand, and maybe some day someone will buy them from me [and expand the brand] and there will be Negrescos all over the country."

Gutmann has toyed with the idea of expanding nationally, but for now believes that and the hands-on approach - keeping a personal eye on the businesses - is key to his successes.

And as Liverpool approaches its Capital of Culture year in 2008, he says his strengths lie in the city and knowing the local market in time for next year's projected boom.

Good design, a quality product and constant reinvestment look set to pay off for Gutmann.

Like his beloved Liverpool FC, he has his sights set on significant growth in the years ahead.