Robinsons reborn

Rugby player-sized commercial director Oliver Robinson breezes through the main doors of the brewery that bears his surname, joking with reception staff that the tattooist who rents the shop next door has offered him a free Robinsons tattoo in exchange for a car parking space in the brewery's yard.

He declined the offer, apparently, but the exchange is not the sort one might expect in Frederic Robinson, a brewery known across the industry for its formal, one might say 'old school', ways. Yet despite staff still referring to Oliver and his fellow director - and cousin - William as Mr Oliver and Mr William, change is in the air.

Founded in 1850 by George Robinson, the Unicorn Brewery site in Stockport was taken on by Frederic Robinson nine years later. Through five generations of Robinsons it's quietly gone about becoming the UK's largest traditional regional family brewer, since Greene King and Marston's are now all but national in their coverage and Thwaites' estate in some part hotels rather than pubs.

But while Robinsons previously had little time for its national image, with an estate of 385 tenanted pubs stretching from the Lake District to Stoke and North Wales to Derbyshire, a new generation of Robinson family members in the boardroom means things are going to get interesting.

"We have effectively been rebuilding our foundations," explains Oliver. "Rather than shouting about something that's not right we began at the bottom and have worked upwards.

"We've invested £4m in a new state-of-the art brewhouse and a new visitor centre with conference facilities and £2m was spent last year on our packaging centre."

Three-pronged strategy

Robinsons has a three pronged strategy focusing on recruiting and retaining the best people, maximising profitability in the pub estate, and building some strong national beer brands.

The family has brought in new talent to drive the innovation upon which the strategy depends, including marketing manager David Bremner - formerly at Everards brewery in Leicestershire, where he pioneered the Cyclops tasting notes system.

The team has also been bolstered by the arrival of Oliver's brother Paul - a trained chef - to oversee food development alongside a new dedicated pub development chef, and Noel Reid, a former buyer for wine retailer Oddbins, who has brought some key changes to the company's wine offer, including a range of 35 quality wines bottled and labelled specifically for Robinsons.

The trio has hit the ground running. Bremner is already looking at some ground-breaking initiatives to help the pubs market themselves more effectively and has ideas for brand-building within the beer portfolio.

"Help with marketing used to be all about sending out marketing kits to pubs, but only about five per cent use those now," he says. "Pubs want to know how to run databases, they want websites that optimise easily on Google, they want to know how to run e-letter campaigns and when to use Facebook and Twitter - these are the challenges."

Also, where much of the brewing and packaging capacity had been contracted out to other brewers, the Robinsons have challenged Bremner to create a portfolio of nationally recognised beer brands and take back much of the capacity for its own beers.

To this end, 2011 will see the launch of an ambitious series of seasonal beers developed to build on increasing consumer interest in cask and embrace some of the edgier trends in the sector - such as the US-style hoppy beers.

Old Tom has been Robinson's biggest beer success to date - winning World's Best Ale at last year's World Beer Awards - but by his own admission, Oliver says the rest of the portfolio has lacked the national profile of Spitfire or Tribute.

"We have four or five core brands that do consistently well in our estate," he says. "But how attractive are they to the wider market place? We are looking to create something a bit more exciting."

Launches for 2011 will include a cask conditioned stout, Black Beauty - "to rival Guinness in our estate" - which offers licensees 30p per pint more profit potential than the famous brand. Also launching is a red ale called Hannibal's Nectar and variations on the Old Tom brand including Ginger Tom and Young Tom.

Pub over-population

And then of course, there are the 385 pubs. Robinsons exited the managed house business in 2007 and has since churned the estate - with eight acquisitions last year offset by a similar number of sales of bottom-end pubs that had little growth potential.

This has also enabled it to manage problems of over-population in some areas - a symptom of having such a large estate in a limited geographical area. The remaining estate varies from small wet-led pubs to large food-led destination businesses.

"We are not looking to have an estate of a fixed number, it's more important to get the quality right," William explains. The brewer has also been investing significantly in its estate, with between £200,000 and £300,000 going into key sites, with the licensee putting in a further £50,000 to £100,000. These are not quick fixes, but William estimates that after investment within 18 months a good licensee can be taking £100,000 out of a well-run site; "an almost disproportionately big chunk" of the profits, he says.

The brewer has also been doing a lot of work on tenant support. "It is three years since we started seriously investing in this area," William says. "We came out of managed houses and wanted to pass what we learnt from those onto our tenanted estate."

The support includes utility and ratings advice and, most importantly, group purchasing agreements. "We saved one pub £7,000 a year on chips alone," says William, proudly.

Also available to licensees is the online Pub Toolkit - designed by Robinsons along with fellow Independent Family Brewers of Britain (IFBB) members - which gives them access to marketing and menu advice as well as deals from local suppliers.

The investment in support has paid dividends. A recent survey of more than half Robinson's 385 licensees - all of whom are fully tied - revealed that 65 per cent were happy with their rent, given the support they receive (against an average IFBB measure of 51 per cent). This is a figure the family is proud of in a market racked by rows over the beer tie.

"There is always going to be some discussion about the tie in an estate like ours," says William. "But most licensees recognise that the problems are not of the making of companies like Robinson's. The problems have been created by others who weren't necessarily vertically integrated. We operate a very fair rent policy."

The impact of the debate has led Robinson's to focus on recruitment, a key plank in its three-year plan.

"There is a world of benefit from working for a family brewer. This is not about criticising the pubcos," argues Oliver. "But they have given our industry a very bad name and people think if you run a pub you can't make any money. In fact, if you get the right operator in and you get the rent right and the offer right then you can make quite a lot of money."

There are no plans to significantly expand the estate - although if the right site comes along at the right price then the family has the cash to buy. Instead Robinson's will be raising its profile to attract more of the entrepreneurial talent it sees coming through the business. The Robinsons hope their combination of market-leadingly fair rents and top notch tenant support will do just that.

Raising the bar

The challenge - as the Robinsons see it - is keeping customers happy and good operators in place. "While customers may come in less frequently the amount they spend is higher, so the gross spend is maintained across the business," says William.

Oliver adds: "The biggest challenge is keeping the bar high for customer service. Companies like Wetherspoons and Mit