The Future Is At Stake

A key issue for Cardinal Research's Martin Dinkele is the perception of the licensed trade, one that has been hammered by the government's combative attitude to the industry, along with that of the mainstream media.

"There are so many misconceptions about the industry, what with the use of phrases such as '24-hour drinking', which are wrong and are sending out entirely the wrong image," says Dinkele.

So to what extent should the industry go on the front foot in terms of changing such misconceptions? "It won't be easy. There needs to be a big PR offensive to challenge the negative publicity that surrounds the whole industry," Dinkele says. "The red tape; the misinformed press; TV pictures of police throwing drunken youngsters into the back of vans; the lies surrounding mega-pubs and '24-hour drinking'.

"It's like what Midnight Express did to the Turkish tourist industry. Dealing with the misconceptions has to be done before anything else. The reputation of the industry and its future are at stake."

Understanding your customers

At a more micro, local level, pubs have to understand their local market and know their clientele, he believes: "If you do food, don't ape Egon Ronay. Tailor it to the local market and customer tastes. Know what sort of market you're aiming for."

This applies just as much to pubcos and as it does individual licensees, Dinkele says: "Licensees will know what their customers want. Take a good, wet-led boozer that is doing OK even after the smoking ban.

"It doesn't do food because food isn't why the locals come to the place. That pub has identified what its market wants. And it can be successful as a result, even without doing food. It does what it does well.

"A lot of managed pubs are off the pace compared with their leased counterparts, with average food offers which can only damage the reputation of pub food. Some are so bad I won't go into them."

However, far too many pubs, leased or managed, look very unappealing from the outside, says Dinkele: "Not the architecture, but the retail standards - tatty signs, litter in the car park, peeling paintwork, etc. This is important because of the expectation it can set about the service and standards inside."

Meanwhile, brand owners can work with the right sort of pubs for their target market, Dinkele says, and help with things such as staff training around the serve of their product.

"It doesn't have to be branded glassware, although where appropriate this helps," he says. "Driving brand success can stem from the way you serve the product, such as Magners and Corona. Elements such as InBev's Brasserie Artois font and the growth of cask ale should be celebrated by pubs to drive traffic."

Shooting themselves in the foot

Yet some of the industry's problems are self-inflicted, Dinkele argues: "A lot of licensees can't make a living properly from their pubs, so they can't afford to do the things they need to do to turn their business around.

"The life is being strangled out of 30,000 pubs in the UK by virtue of them facing excessively high rents. I feel terribly sorry for the thousands of pubs that are lumbered with these bad rental arrangements, upward-only rents and so on.

"How can some of these large companies complain about anything when they themselves are not helping tenants?"

A view with which many a licensee will no doubt concur.

So what's the answer, realistically? "You're likely to find more professionally attuned people looking at coming into pubs these days. "But such people will look even more closely at the financial model and go 'hang on a minute, I've got no control here', despite the quick access to the industry."

Proper recruitment policies that identify the right person for the pub is a starting point, he argues. Pubcos take note…

Martin Dinkele will be presenting his views in full at 'Driving Footfall', which is being held at Jury's Great Russell Street hotel, London, on May 22. For more details go to www.thepublican.com/footfall​

Cardinal Research

Cardinal Research has carried out specialist research about the licensed trade on behalf of drinks companies, brewers, pub groups and industry suppliers for more than 20 years' experience. Questions it asks include:

• What do your customers think of your pubs?

• What puts off non-users?

• Does your internal segmentation of your estate fit with how customers differentiate between pubs?

• What new ideas and trends can you see in the independent sector?

• How will customers respond to your refurbishment plans?