Barracuda manager Maxine Blake tells Ewan Turney how good training helped smash targets at the Cutting Room in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
How I got here
I've worked in bars since I was a student - it's a great job. Three months before my finals in applied chemistry I was offered the assistant manager's job at the Regent Inns-owned Qudos snooker hall. I finished my degree and started working in pathology but couldn't resist getting back to pubs. I've managed pubs for a few companies, such as Whitbread and Regent, but have always admired Barracuda. I applied three years ago and was given the Cutting Room. When I arrived it was a building site - it was converted from a cinema, which is still above us.
My market
My main concern when taking over was about just who my target market would be. Melton Mowbray is over-pubbed with about 30 in and around the town. So I did a lot of market research and realised that there were more than a few groups I could attract.
I have a really broad range of customers that keep us busy throughout the day - that's something I set out to do. Where there were gaps in our trading, I thought about who is around at this time of day and what they want.
We open at 9am and serve food through to 10pm before closing at 11pm. Our day goes something like this:
9am: Early shoppers and retired people come in for coffee. We offer a coffee-and-pastry deal for £1.95.
10-11am: We get the young mums coming in with their babies.
12pm: The pub attracts a lunch crowd of office workers and shoppers.
Early afternoon: Our group of cask-ale boys come in.
Late afternoon: The suits come in for a drink.
So, it is a pretty full day. Fridays are predominantly the over-30s and Saturdays are mainly the 19 to 25-year-olds.
My staff
It's as simple as this: without the right team your business will go nowhere. You can't be everywhere and do everything.
When I joined Barracuda, staff got the initial training but not much followed that until the assistant managers' assessment day. I realised there was a big gap to fill so I wrote my own staff-training books.
One of the key issues that emerges is conflict between personnel. When a member of staff is promoted, they may never have had to deal with that side of things before and it is important that they learn how to cope.
The other thing is to really consider skills. Just because someone is going great guns at one job, it's not simply a question of promoting them. You have to fit the skills to the job.
My staff do NVQs which, although they're a bit outdated, still get them focusing on business-related issues. Being rewarded with a qualification means they are getting something back.
My business has grown between 10% and 16% year-on-year and at least half of that is down to the team.
How I ensure high standards
Once every three months we hand out customer comment cards when people are eating. This not only allows us to capture data but also gives us valuable feedback on the service we offer. At a staff meeting, we discuss the points raised. It would be easy for me to tell them they should do it like this or that, but it works a lot better if it comes from them. So they design and implement a development plan for themselves as a team. That way it is their baby and they own it.
My e-marketing strategy
Over the next few months I am really concentrating on e-marketing. Here are some of the things we do:
1. Birthdays: from the customer comment cards, we can find out dates of birthdays and drop customers an email inviting them in. If they come they get a free bottle of fizzy wine; bringing four friends means they get a 10% discount, and if they bring 25, we offer them a complimentary buffet.
2. Facebook: we have pages on Facebook, MySpace and other websites. It's really good as it's free and you can really target your marketing, rather than using a mailshot which can be expensive and ineffective.
We can also do deals on those sites and encourage people to sign up as our friends by offering a free pitcher of beer to the first 20 who come in and mention Facebook. I can also use it to advertise vacancies.
3. Feedback: Websites such as beerintheevening.com are great as they allow customers to comment on their experience. When I received comments about ale being served too cold, I asked my area manager to come in and we inspected the cellar together.
Adding butchers' flaps to help separate the cask ales from the coolers helped solve the problem. Without that feedback, you can end up walking around wearing blinkers.
My bright ideas
1. Roast chicken platter: This serves three or more and provides great theatre. It's a whole roast chicken on a huge 18-inch platter surrounded by all the trimmings: for just £21 a family can enjoy their weekly roast without any hassle or worrying about washing up.
2. Sports events: For £15, customers can reserve a table for the matches and get a bucket meal and pitcher of John Smiths or Carling.
3. Cask ale: My group of cask-ale drinkers really know what they like and don't like - in fact, they're adamant about it. So when a list of ales comes through, we sit together and discuss which ones I should get on. They go through the list and rate them from one to three.
They like Old Speckled Hen and London Pride, but there are some others that they just won't tolerate. It's a really good system as it enables me to talk to my customers and means I am not going to buy in beer that doesn't sell.
My idea that didn't work
Strangely enough, a two steaks and a bottle of wine deal for £12 on a Monday never took off because people were so suspicious. As no-one else around here was doing a similar offer at the time, customers would ask us what was wrong with the steak or the wine. It's important to assess this kind of offer closely and know when to call it a day. We decided to change it to two pizzas and eventually to any two items from the grill.
My events
We closed recently for a few days to have a bit of a refurb. We had a dance floor added and now we have a DJ every Saturday night. On the Sunday before we closed we held a game-show marathon night with a variety of games such as bingo, Connect Four and quizzes. When we organise a quiz, the prize is a £20 voucher to spend here.
The bingo was a bit of a disaster as the machine I bought for £5.99 went wrong and I kept drawing out the same numbers again and again. It felt like the game went on for hours as I was up there in the spotlight, but all the customers saw the funny side and they want another bingo night.
At the end of the evening, I gave everyone a VIP ticket to the reopening where we had a complimentary buffet, half of which was chocolate to please the groups of ladies.
My Pub
Tenure: Barracuda managed
Turnover target 2005: £12,000 a week
Turnover achieved 2005: £14,000
Turnover now: £17,000
Wet:dry split: 60:40
GP food: 55%
GP drink: 73%
Average spend per head: £10
Staff: Between nine and 15. Seven full-time
Awards: BII National Industry Training Awards Licensee Trainer of the Year 2006;
BII Licensee of the Year finalist 2007