Steve Mallon, managing director of Scottish pubco Maclay Inns, is in a buoyant mood. Following a major investment programme across the group's 26-strong estate in the past 18 months the operation has announced bumper results.
The Alloa-based family-owned firm declared operating profits of £462,000 to the end of September 2007, double the previous year's figure, on turnover down four to six per cent at £10.5m, the decline being the result of a series of disposals.
Pre-tax losses were reduced from £523,000 to £205,000. Mallon is predicting steady and careful expansion from now on, rather than meteoric growth.
In recent years the pub operator and one-time brewer - Maclay owns beer brands including Oat Malt Stout, Maclay Export Ale 80/- and Gold Scotch Ale, all brewed and bottled by Belhaven/Greene King at Dunbar - has steadily repositioned its estate, concentrating on distinctive upper mid-market ventures in areas including Glasgow's West End and well-heeled St Andrew's in Fife.
Mallon happily concedes the smoking ban has been a factor in overall company strategy, asserting Maclay was one of the first operators to recognise the growing importance of quality dining.
Quality dining
At the same time one of its outlets, the Inn at Bearsden, has recently covered all exits by launching a food offer which includes everything from a full Spanish tapas menu to fresh fish, and also traditional pub favourites.
"Food is definitely hugely important in many of our 26 venues," says Mallon. "I would say it accounts for around 30 per cent of trade overall. However, at the same time it also drives sales of wine, so that figure should probably start to look more like 50 per cent.
"The energy we have put into developing some really special places is very definitely paying off - we're getting the return - and helping to offset the effects of Licensing Act costs and the smoking ban, which are factors for the whole trade.
"But for the future I see us chipping steadily away, rather than going for a particular number of units," he adds. "We'll add to the estate as and when we find the right pub in the right place."
Mallon says Maclay may expand beyond its traditional West and Central Scotland heartland to somewhere such as Inverness in the Highlands - the sort of place which has the upwardly-mobile customer base to support the sort of venues it likes to create.
At the same time the group is content to keep its multi-award winning single-room Glasgow cask ale pub, the Three Judges.
Reaping the rewards
It is weathering the latest legislative storm and the smoking ban - introduced in Scotland in March 2006 - by lavishing cash on imaginative ventures, and reaping the reward.
Selling off non-core sites has helped the process. While Bert's Bar in Edinburgh's Stockbridge district has been put on the market inviting offers over £750,000, Mallon concedes that the very sort of place Maclay would like to buy is also in hot demand from leasing pubcos. A competitive task, then.
Acquisitions have featured recently, however. Last year Maclay buys included the Gin House in St Andrews, relaunched after a major redesign as the Rule, and cask ale mecca the Clockwork Beer Co in Glasgow - one of a tiny handful of true specialist beer bars in the city. Several more acquisitions have been targeted for this financial year.
So what's the key to Maclay's success? "I think it's a great thing to have local knowledge," Mallon says. "We've a very solid and established presence in central Scotland, and we know how these markets work: it helps us develop superb places that people can really enjoy."
Bespoke, in other words, is the key to success - not corporate uniformity. And to do bespoke you have to gain an intimate knowledge of the customers you're designing for, Mallon believes. He promises - but gradually - a lot more of the same.