Make time to boost business

With the Morning Advertiser's Pub Business show less than two weeks away,

we look at how you can benefit from spending just a couple of hours at the show

When was the last time you took a look at your pub or bar and thought about what you could do to improve your customers' experience, your offer and, of course, your profits? It is often the case that most hosts spend more time serving behind the bar than looking at the books.

The Morning Advertiser's Pub Business show is a two-day event that gives you the opportunity to step out of your "office" and take stock of your business.

Taking place on 20 and 21 May at Birmingham's NEC, the exhibition provides a platform for fresh thinking — just where do you want your business to be 12 months from now?

"The pub industry is under huge pressure at the moment," says show manager Ross Piggott. "There's no escaping reports suggesting tough trading conditions, but I believe that Pub Business can help licensees develop their businesses.

If your business is not doing as well as it should be and the pub in the next village is roaring with trade, what are they doing that you're not? It's possible that you may have missed a simple trick.

Having the chance to talk to other licensees who are in the same boat is a good reason to jump in the car or take the train to the show — exchanging tips and ideas with fellow professionals and getting an opportunity to sit and listen to a range of experts on staff training, menu development and customer service can benefit a business greatly.

Everything under one roof

"It's a good opportunity for licensees to take an hour or two of their day and spend some time at the show," says Piggott. More than 130 exhibitors will be there, offering a great range of products and services — everything from food and furniture to entertainment and kitchen equipment. Basically, everything you need to run a pub, you will find under the roof of the NEC's hall 18."

This year's show is the second under the banner of the Morning Advertiser. And it's even bigger and better than last year's inaugural exhibition. There are 50 more companies exhibiting at the show than last year and more than 3,000 licensed-trade decision-makers are expected to attend.

Suzanne Halpin, founder of Crafti's, is taking the plunge and exhibiting at the show for the first time. It will launch Bizzi Bag — a recyclable paper activity bag that children can draw on. Bizzi Bag is the brainchild of Halpin, a busy mother of two, who conceived the idea following too many meals out with bored children. Each bag is packed full of paper and card activities.

Halpin adds: "Speaking as a mother of two, my family love to eat out, but the need to remember crayons and colouring books before we left home became a chore. I found that we were doing this far more since the smoking ban, but pubs and restaurants were missing something for the kids to do while we were dining.

This is where the idea for the Bizzi Bag started. "I wanted a product that the kids can have fun with, but at the same time was educational and kept them occupied while waiting for meals to arrive.

"I am far more relaxed and we tend to spend more on food and beverages as a result of this, so these bags can only be a huge hit with families in pubs and restaurants."

Since the smoking ban was introduced, there has been a renewed focus on targeting new business. But how do you promote any new initiatives to passing trade? Also launching its services to licensees, Snowball Promotions is exhibiting at the show and revealing its innovative online marketing service to the licensed trade for the first time.

Profit-raising promotions

"We design and produce cost-effective and eye-catching PoS and advertising material such as banners and posters, which are suitable for publicising quiz nights, sporting events and promotions both inside and outside your pub," says Vicki Oliver, account manager at Snowball Promotions.

"With Father's Day coming up, Euro 2008 and I'm sure a number of summer food promotions, the banners, posters and PoS material, such as table talkers, allow licensees to market events and promotions taking place within their pub cost effectively. Plus with hundreds of great ideas for promotions and material being delivered within four days of ordering online, a quiet week can very quickly be turned into a profitable one. Pub Business provides us with a great platform to show licensees what we can do."

Over the course of two days, visitors can learn from their peers in a series of 10 short and informative seminars that will give you great advice on how to increase turnover, as well as the number of happy customers leaving your establishment.

Carl May, Catered4thekids founder, the child-friendly mark for children's food and family-friendly dining,

will be hosting a talk in the Pub

Business seminar theatre. He also runs Catered4, the business development company that helps licensees develop their business. His session, Profit through People, looks at the importance of staff and their retention and how they add value to the success of a business.

May says: "Staff development and management are crucial in making businesses succeed. Your staff are your internal customers. You must train them and get them involved and let them play a part to help you develop a successful business.

"In a time of tough trading be positive and talk things up, not down. If the pub down the road is busy, ask why. Do you bother re-addressing your business plan? You have to fight for business and to do that you have to stay one step ahead of your competitors.

"Look at the family market. Don't be reticent about family business. Look at the 'can't be bothered to go out once I'm home' brigade and the 'I can't be bothered to cook tonight' bunch. You have to motivate your staff to keep customers in your pub and to do that you have to be positive. The industry is going through a period of evolution and I am confident the strong and forward-thinking licensee will survive."

The exhibition is designed to educate and inform, and actively encourages visitors to participate and learn brand new skills first-hand. Since its inception, the show has focused on business, not drinking. And the show continues in this vein. "Simple Things Done Well" is a seminar that takes place on day one of the show and is a seminar presented by Guy Arnold, founder of Crooked Stick, Greatorpoor.com and a long-serving pub industry professional.

"Apart from my other businesses, I am a partner in a pub in Somerset: in under a year we have increased turnover by more than 900%, using the simple things done well principles," says Guy. "I am a passionate advocate of the British pub trade — it is the lifeblood of our communities.

"I am deeply concerned about the current negative publicity and pointless in-fighting in the industry: we need to stop moaning, get out of dysfunctional mindsets, focus on the customers' needs and work together for future success. It's a criminal indictment of our industry that, in a booming leisure and eating-out market, pubs continue to suffer and lose trade. This must change."

Arnold's seminar addresses the importance of having a very clear plan, focused on doing a few generally simple things really well (rather than a lot of things averagely), combined with key customer-service skills and consistent delivery. Arnold will show how licensees can buck the trend and avoid the mindset that is prevalently doom and gloom. His seminar sits alongside that of Steve Howe, director of membership at the BII, and his talk entitled "Better Business Tips and Ideas with BII".

Joining the line-up of speakers is Oliver Madge, chief executive officer of the British Pest Control Association (BPCA), who will be talking to licensees about how much of a pest a pest can be to a business. Looking at problems such as mice and even bed bugs, which will be of particular interest to licensees who also offer accommodation, Madge wishes to raise awarenes