Punch unveils new help plan

Punch Taverns has unveiled a new discount scheme to help tenants fight back against cheap drinks deals from managed houses.

The new support scheme, Bar Top, is already in place at around 300 Punch leased pubs and allows tenants to slash the price of drinks across the board.

Punch offers lessees a further 25% to 30% discount on products, but sets retail prices at £1.99 for a pint of lager, cider, RTDs and a 175ml glass of house wine, £1.89 for a pint of ale, £2.29 for a 50ml spirit and mixer, soft drinks at £1.29 and a bottle of house wine for £6.49. The move is designed to drive volumes rather than increase the tenants' margin.

"We know managed houses are focused on pricing and value and we will support our customers where it is relevant," said operations director Kevin Georgel.

The offer can be permanent or temporary and is an evolution of a previous scheme, Price Fighter, running for the last two years. Punch also helps provide quality PoS and promotional materials.

Customers are starting to see we are making a genuine attempt to help them and they have started to trust us more.​Kevin Georgel, Punch Taverns

Georgel added: "It is not appropriate for the vast majority of our customers who focus on quality of experience rather than price and value."

Pro-active support​

The Bar Top offer is part of a package of support Punch has developed to help its tenants through the current tough trading times, and Georgel urged tenants to get in touch as soon as they think they may be in trouble.

"The key thing is that support has to be targeted at the right people at the right time and timing is very important," he said. "We try to be proactive and pre-emptive.

Georgel said there was no set criteria for help, with each case judged on its individual merits. "But customers have to be willing to work with us, and be honest and transparent. Sometimes it is too late. We need to get in early."

The company is currently offering rent concessions worth around £6m, which is around 3% of the company's entire rent roll, and is not seeking to recoup the lost rent from tenants in the vast majority of cases. "We generally see it is an investment in the business," said Georgel. "Every rent concession comes with a very robust business recovery plan."

Trust​

Punch is also repeating its series of nine roadshows, where suppliers will offer business advice, and hailed its food development scheme as "trailblazing". It has helped more than 700 tenants develop a food offer in the last year, free of charge.

Its Flying Start scheme for new lessees also effectively doubles the contact with business relationship managers in the first 18 months.

Georgel added: "Customers are starting to see we are making a genuine attempt to help them and they have started to trust us more."