Franchises you could take into your pub

Last week I examined the franchised model and how it might apply to pubs. But that was from the wider perspective of leasing out large sections of your building to create a separate franchise business - like a Domino's pizza on the side of a large community pub.

In other words, go into business with some of the types of business that have been slowly taking the leisure pound from pubs. It did not go down well with many commentators on ThePublican.com. I was making the argument for leaseholders to sublet a part of their property off to food and beverage franchises so they could earn some stable income from a part of their pub they might not be making full use of.

I was not suggesting that they sublet sections inside their already operating businesses. No, that's what I'm suggesting this week… instead of bolting a franchise onto your pub you bring a franchise business into your outlet and operate it as part of your pub.

Make the most of your business day

On the surface this sounds completely nuts. After all you are trying to establish your own 'brand', why on earth would you let someone else in and dilute that?

But the key issue here is trying to make the most out of every part of your 'business day'. Do you have a local business trade? If you do then weekdays are even more crucial to your business than late evenings.

You need to have a top-notch coffee offer - offering takeaways for people on their way into the office. You need to get people off the street on their way from the train station to the office and into your pub. Or what about business meetings? Get them out of the Starbucks over the road and sitting in your pub. Is your lunch offer as good as it could be? Are you therefore supplying a take-away sandwich trade?

The question is: are you good enough to provide those offers? Do you offer coffee to standards that people can find elsewhere on the high street? Is your food offer top notch?

You may not want to fork out thousands on a top of the range coffee machine and invest in the training. Similarly you may not want to invest in all the equipment needed to provide an excellent lunch offering. So one solution to this might be to get a well-established, highly recognisable and powerful brand in to do it for you. A high street coffee brand like Costa, or a well known sandwich 'name' like Subway, perhaps. You sell branded drink. Why not branded food and hot beverages?Still not convinced?

Well, let's suppose your busiest time is on weekends. Then a good branded coffee offer might be a big boost to your business - look how full coffee shops are on Saturdays in town centres now compared to pubs. Even if you are a community local you might be able to drive some business towards a new branded coffee offer.

The key point about operating many of these franchises in your pub is that they needn't interfere with your core business. You don't need to run your coffee business all day - it could easily start up at 8am and finish at 6pm. Or not. This is the key to the pub business as we work our way through recession. Flexibility.

Running an O'Brien's Sandwich Bar post-6pm on a weekday in a pub might look a bit odd, but over lunch it could transform your trade in the middle of the day.

This may not be the answer for all. But it might be for some. It is within your rights as a lessee to sub-let space. In the online comments left on last week's feature one poster stated: "Costa in a bookshop may work. But not in a pub." Well why not? Answers on a postcard please. Because I'd really like to know.

• Email Adam Withrington at adamw@thepublican.com​

A franchise on whether operating in a pub is the answer...​

Domino's - Andy Emmerson, business development director​

"In the past we have leased concession sites in Total petrol stations, and that did not go too well. Having it in a pub would be a very tricky sell. People would be tripping over each other - there would be an issue with fresh food space. We would need clear access throughout the building as there needs to be a lot of deliveries of fresh produce.

"If you could find a way of making that work and have it facing the high street then it could work. The big issue is that we would want a takeaway and therefore you would have to have a site that would have the necessary footfall and local size for that to work."