Project Update 9: Food profits up

THE CHAMPIONS' attentions to the food operation at Barcena have really paid dividends this month, with the high street bar achieving record profits from its kitchen.

After a difficult period which saw a change of personnel in the kitchen, the high street representative in the Sell More, Save More project recorded 71 per cent gross profit on food between September 10 and October 10. The latest figure would be "higher than what most big managed houses would be happy with", according to business development expert Carl May of Catered4.A food stocktake was instigated early on in the project, with the first set of results showing a 64 per cent gross profit.

Richard Podesta, licensee of the bar in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, had been seeing an average 67 per cent gross profit before this new peak. As well as improving the quality of the food, progress has been achieved by tightening up on stock control (see box).

Meanwhile, Richard still has an opportunity to put the emphasis on Saving More and cut down on the deficits that are offsetting the strong profits achieved. The Publican reported earlier in the project that a stocktake had highlighted a 14 per cent discrepancy between stock coming in and sales. This figure had been reduced by a number of measures, but is now creeping back up again.

The main reason for this is that around 11 per cent of the stock is being given away in promotions that have been successful in tempting customers through the door. On top of this, further stock is not being accounted for because of the inaccuracies coming through the till and EPoS system.

For example, Barcena's till has a catch-all cocktail button, rather than splitting the category into gin, vodka and rum cocktails.

Crash course required​

Carl says that Barcena's till system needs to be "crashed", a process in which the technology provider resets the system and reorganises how the data is gathered. At the moment, the Brulines draught beer, food and drinks data are three elements collected separately, but they can be collected together, and this can help Richard with accounting for stock.

"They can all work in tandem," Carl explains. "That is something you have to shell out a few hundred pounds for the till company to do, but from then on you can start with a far more helpful set of figures. "It's all very well having good sales, but sometimes trying to stop the leakage from the bottom line is just as important."

Richard also agrees that he needs to cut back on promotions, which have been used well as bait to catch cust-omers, and reel in that particular fish-ing line. "If it is what has brought people in, it has been worth it, but we will have to cut back at some time," he says.

FOOD

New staff in the kitchen prompted a change in the way food was prepared, helping these new chefs to squeeze out the highest profits they can from the products they're working with.

They are using a lot more easily prepared packaged meals, and portion-controlled products - moves which have cut back on wastage. Food champion Brakes has helped Barcena adjust its product ordering too.

Carl says: "It won't suit every pub but, for example, portion controlling rice avoids wastage. It is slightly more expensive but it gives you a consistently high yield."

Flyers have also been developed by Brakes advertising the Christmas offer, and the champions called on Richard to make getting these printed out and distributed a priority.

ENTERTAINMENT

Barcena has held six Wednesday karaoke nights since late September - and they have increased the turnover of the bar on what had been extremely quiet times of the week. In some of these cases, Richard reports, turnover went up by close to 50 per cent.

The licensee also organised a Hallowe'en party which saw revellers arriving in fancy dress and being entertained by a DJ. "We were pleased with it. Some had gone to a lot of effort with the fancy dress!" Richard says.

Richard, though, has not yet instigated charity race nights and themed evenings. Entertainment champion Mediatheme has called on him to do start doing these as soon as possible.

BEER MONITORING

Barcena's draught beer sales were given a huge boost by the relaunch of the bar back in June, and the latest figures from Brulines' draught beer monitoring system shows that consistently higher volumes have been maintained since.

Richard has taken the brave decision to withdraw Peeterman Artois, a product which beer champion InBev introduced.

Brulines brand quality monitoring account manager Peter Cockerill thinks quality has played its part in lifting beer sales. "Richard has delisted a brand but his volume has gone up," he says. "Peeterman's quality could not be guaranteed at the amount he was selling.

"At the same time, our data shows that the temperature of the beer is right and that he regularly cleans the lines. It's a powerful message that quality is important and will drive sales. Taking something out is not necessarily detrimental."

Peter believes Richard should now start to use the till in his battle to cut back on stock deficits. Whenever a pint is poured and the sale is not registered, "he can go in and ask 'what did the till say?' and 'what did Brulines say?'" Peter says. "Then he can pin it down to the time and the person on the bar."

CELLAR

While it has been a long and delayed process, it looks like some minor structural work needed to improve Barcena's cellar will be carried out before Christmas.

More space needs to be created to allow packaged products to be stored in the chilled cellar, rather than in the areas of ambient temperatures where they are currently kept.

Cellar champion Innserve is relieved that this will take place, and that the drinks will be stored and served to a high quality before the crucial trading period of the festive season.