It's a mystery
WHATEVER YOU think of your pub, and the wonderful ideas you have for making it a success, it is the customer who will tell you whether it really is.
As well as the all-important sales figures, more licensees are waking up to the value of using mystery shoppers to let them know what customers really think about their all-round offer.
With our Sell More, Save More project monitoring three pubs over the course of 2007 gathering pace, we have linked up with mystery shopping firm Marketpublic.com. Members of its nationwide army of mystery shoppers will be visiting the three pubs over the course of the year - and we will be finding out what difference the expertise of our 14 category champions is bringing to the customer experiences at the pubs.
Following the first round of visits, carried out before any major changes from our champions, Marketpublic.com managing director Kevin Davies found positives and negatives at each pub.
Food at our rural pub, the Hack & Spade in Whashton, North Yorkshire - where licensee Anne Dowson-Park takes care of the kitchen - was described as "cooked to perfection".
"The highlight of the mystery shopper's visit to the Hack & Spade was the quality of food," says Kevin
"On the downside, 'restricted opening hours', and 'difficult to find' were also mentioned."
Feedback from our high street venue, Barcena in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, was also generally positive, with a couple of areas letting the outlet down.
"These were identified as the toilets and the quality of menus," says Kevin. "On the positive side, the mystery shopper rated the outlet very well for its customer service and general cleanliness."
There were constructive words too for our community pub, the Forester's Arms in Broseley, Shropshire. "From the outside the pub didn't seem to be a 'food venue', and there were too many confusing signs. However, the quality of the meal was good, and the service and cleanliness rated very highly," says Kevin.
An encouraging base to build on, then. It will be interesting to see how the customers' experiences change over the months to come.
For the latest updates on the three pubs from our category champions, visit www.thepublican.com/sellmore
MarketPublic.com has run mystery shopping visits for a range of clients including individual pubs, pub chains and a drinks company. It currently has just under 13,000 UK-based mystery shoppers on its books, with a range of age, gender and socio-economic status.
Kevin Davies is the company's managing director
The mystery visits
High Street Pub: Barcena
Time of visit: 7pm Monday evening.
Identity of mystery shopper: Male, 50 years, managerial/professional occupation, with companion.
ORDER: Coffee, draught lager, bottled lager.
STAFF
Server 1: man, 40s, serving behind bar.
Server 2: girl, 20s, serving behind bar.
EXTERIOR
Pub scored four out of six for parking outside - hardly surprising for a high street venue - and four for its exterior impact, cleanliness and exterior paintwork, signs and plants.
BAR/DINING AREA
Barcena received top marks for its bar display, and four out of six for its tables, chairs and stools. The interior was given a general score of five, but the visitor felt it was let down by the state of the menus.
"Food wasn't available, but we asked to look at the menus. They consisted of rather scruffy folded pieces of paper. We were informed that a new menu was starting soon."
DRINK
The venue saw mixed scores on its drinks ranges, rated highly for soft drinks and spirits, but lower for wines and only two out of six for the selection of beers. Taste and quality of the drinks were also considered relatively poor.
"The draught beer selection could have been improved by the addition of an imported lager."
FOOD
The fact that there was no food available at the time of the visit suggested an obvious area for improvement. "Perhaps 'nibbles' such as olives and hot nuts could be made available at all times."
SERVICE
The venue scored highly for presentation and friendliness from staff, but slightly less for knowledge and working as a team.
GENERAL COMMENTS
"The toilets rather let the place down. As the bar has new management this may be a temporary problem as the front of house operation was very good."
Rural Pub: The Hack & Spade
Time of visit: 9.06pm Monday evening.
Identity of mystery shopper: Male, 48 years, managerial/professional occupation, with companion.
ORDER
Starter: Scottish smoked salmon and prawns.
Main courses: Garlic chicken wrapped in bacon, served with vegetables and chips. Morrocan lamb dish - sweet and spicy - served with salad and couscous
Deserts: Strawberry and raspberry tart.
Coffee.
STAFF
Server 1 barman greeted us and served us drinks. Pleasant.
Server 2 young girl, smart, pleasant, brought menus and took food order.
EXTERIOR
The visitor marked the pub easy to park outside but scored it only three out of six for its exterior impact, with the pub difficult to spot in the dark.
It was marked as clean outside, but external paintwork and signage could have been better.
BAR/DINING AREA
Inside it was rated as well displayed, with the back-bar fully stocked and labels facing the correct way and merchandised well. The visitor also rated the bar itself highly, as well as internal tables, chair and stools.
"I did not particularly like the music that was playing but it was not loud or obtrusive and was pleasant enough as background," he said.
DRINK
The range of soft drinks on offer was deemed 'very good', scoring six out of six, with the range of beers, wines and spirits only just behind.
FOOD
The Hack & Spade scored full marks across its food for presentation, range and value for money.
"I have no complaints about the quality of the food or its presentation. An excellent meal from starter to dessert and coffee."
SERVICE
Scored top marks for presentation, friendliness and knowledge.
"It was difficult to assess how the staff worked as a team as the venue was so quiet. We were alone until the main course when four elderly and one younger, obviously regular, male customers came in for drinks and to play dominos."
GENERAL COMMENTS
"I will definitely visit the venue again. It would be interesting to see it a bit busier. I imagine that Sunday lunch is popular as I noticed this is offered at a very reasonable price," concluded the visitor.
The pub scored top marks for its food range and presentation
The venue could use lighting or better signage at night
Community pub: The Forester Arms
Community Pub
Time of visit: 7.36pm Wednesday evening.
Identity of mystery shopper: Female, 25 years, managerial/professional occupation.
ORDER: one Diet Pepsi, one lasagne.
STAFF
Server 1: young girl behind the bar. She served my first drink, offered the menu and brought the food to my table.
EXTERIOR
Mixed results for the pub, with excellent parking but only a two out of six for the exterior impact of the venue, and paintwork, signs and plants. Higher marks though for the garden and patio.
"This looked very much like a drinkers' pub that did bar food as opposed to anything more. If I'd been looking for somewhere to eat I'd have driven past it, based on the outside. There were lots of signs around but a bit of overkill. The area outside looked nice."
BAR/DINING AREA
Reasonably high scores for the bar and dining area, with the bar receiving top marks for its menus, tables and chairs. The shopper rated it as very comfortable, although marked it down for areas such as decoration.
DRINKS
The Forester Arms scored highly across its drinks ranges, picking up top marks for presentation, taste, cleanliness of glassware and value for money.
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