The Rose & Crown gets more real

Rose and Crown - Visit 2​

Faversham​

Date of visit 25.11.08​

Time of visit 09.30​

Recommendations from last visit:​

• Have recommended that even if there is no beer being fed to the pump they should always have a pump clip on.

• Eliminate heat pick up in cask ale lines by lagging and the correct use of Ale Python Temp Control Unit (recently fitted)

• Beer and Food matching opportunities

• Range - biggest customer base clearly prefer lighter coloured ales - should stock one of these permanently

Overview​

Trade has been challenging over the last few months. A poor summer combined with the looming credit crunch has hit the Rose and Crown. However, the key thing is that Tim and Vanessa have not cut corners or compromised standards and quality in any way whatsoever. They are savvy in that even if they have only a few customers in, service and quality are paramount to encourage repeat visits. Tim is constantly reviewing suppliers and the support they can give him - clearly his strength, having a retail background. Merchandising of all categories in the pub looked slick, professional and more importantly 'fresh'.

1. Beer temp: insulation has still not been fitted to beer pipes, therefore beer temp is not within Cask Marque spec. InBev have declined to fit lagging therefore Tim is confident he can do it himself - however, has not had time to do it due to various other obstacles (electrical failure in kitchen, staff shortages). Have set Tim a time line to do this - by first week in January when I will return to carry out his first Cask Marque assessment in order to get the pub accredited.

2. Tim has taken the heat generating equipment out of the cellar (ice machine), therefore the cellar temp has now come down. This should ensure a more consistent temp of the cellar and will reduce his utility costs in cooling the cellar

3. Tim has renegotiated his contract with Waverley TBS and has a range of three beers on the bar at quiet trading periods, and four at weekends. Harveys Sussex and Adnams Bitter are permanents - ideal for his customers as both quite light ales with a low ABV - a good mid-week range of session ales

4. Tim has reviewed his range of lagers on the bar. Stella Artois and Eiken are coming off the bar - to be replaced with Kronenbourg and Stella 4%. This was cut down on line cleaning costs and wastage.

5. Rose and Crown has gone through a quiet period in Sept and Oct. However, Tim has done his research and asked other licensees in the area how trade has been. They all identified that when the schools went back in September, trade dropped. However, sales in November YOY are up.

6. Tim is VERY focused on quality across all categories. All beers are hard pegged at the end of each night, and he tastes all cask ales every morning before they go on sale. If he suspects a cask ale has lost some of its condition, he will use the beer in the kitchen rather than serve it as a drink to customers.

7. All cask ales apart from two are being manually tilted. Self tilts used on other ales. This can be time consuming for Tim, but prefers to do it himself rather than let Vanessa or others do it

8. Both Tim and Vanessa have achieved their BII Award in Beer and Cellar Quality certificate, and have added an additional InBev cask ale training course to their portfolio of qualifications.

9. Some great examples of internal staff training; Tim trains all staff on what the Perfect Pint is (how it looks, smells, tastes, head size etc) and has informed them that no beer should go across the bar to a customer if it does not fit the criteria of a perfect pint.

10. Rose and Crown has a grear entry in the 2009 Good Beer Guide - invaluable for an 'off the beaten track' real ale pub. This has encouraged walkers, families to try the place. However, repeat visits are not frequent.

11. Record Keeping: Tim has set up a great record keeping system detailing set up and close down checklists for both the bar and cellar, in addition to line cleaning records.

12. Tim ran his 'summer ale' festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend and after a poor start (rain on the Fri and Sat) it took off on the Sunday. He provided a hog roast. Was complimented by the Canterbury branch of CAMRA for a professionally run festival, and fully intends to repeat.

13. Noticed some speciality bottled cider had been stocked, and Tim has requested Leffe draught from InBev. Big opportunity for some bottled speciality beers, especially more well known labels such as Chimay or Duvel. Would complement menu perfectly.

Recommendations and future actions:​

1. Cask ale lines to be insulated by January

2. Rose and Crown to undergo first Cask Marque assessment in Janaury leading to accreditation by March 09

3. Have agreed to supply Tim with some Cask Ventilators to ensure optimum quality of his cask ale in quieter periods. This piece of equipment 'seals' the cask when the handpull is in an upright position, so the condition of the beer does not deteriorate as quickly.

4.Have agreed to supply Tim with a third auto tilt (supplied by A-Cask) to cut down on the time he has to manually tilt. Biggest recommendation I can make to pubs who do not own this piece of equipment is "go and buy one!". They increase your yields and cut down on your time in the cellar. They are worth their weight in gold!

5. 9 out of 10 customers act on a recommendation - yet only 1 out of 10 has ever experienced this in a pub. Staff need some basic training in flavour profiling, ale recommending, and upselling. A good start is to look on the Cyclops website where beers are categorised in consumer friendly terms.

6. Recommend trialling a couple of speciality bottled beers - preferably a Belgian beer. The beauty of this is that it comes with its own glassware, thereby ensuring customers in the pub look twice at the drink and enquire what the drink is.

Draught Leffe is a great start due to the chalice glass and drip catcher. Good support and training available from InBev also!

7. Presented Cask Ale Week 2009 (to be run from 6th to 13th April 2009) to Tim. A good way of getting customers to sample ale. Generic kit will be provided by Cask Marque to enable Tim to promote the week.

8. Provided a copy of Intelligent Choice Report (by Pete Brown). Some great case studies to anaylse in back of report where pubs have grown their cask ale sales.