Charitable fund-raising is a must for every pub
So what did Pudsey do for you last weekend? Now in its 31st year, the BBC's Children in Need appeal is one of the great nights of the year and a fantastic opportunity for pubs/bars to encourage existing and potential customers to get involved.
So, if I was able to conduct a poll of the proportion of pubs and bars that supported the event, what do you think it would be — 60%, 70%, 80%, perhaps? Well, based on my visits to just over 30 pubs last week, the number supporting Children in Need was a very disappointing 20%. This is stupid and inexcusable.
You read every day of licensees moaning and groaning about virtually everything and the Children in Need appeal is a fantastic opportunity to put a smile back on a lot of faces.
The BBC makes it so easy with free PoS and a great website to help with fund-raising ideas etc.
So when I enquired as to why there was not much support for Children in Need, I
was given a variety of responses. Leading the way was: "my customers won't support it", closely followed by: "I didn't know it was this week". In third place, and my personal favourite, was: "the brewery didn't send me anything in the post". It will come as no real surprise that the majority of these pubs had very poor marketing externally and internally, menus were poor etc.
To balance my view, I called three pubs who had supported Children in Need, either with an all-day event on the 19th or in one instance a week-long programme of events, encouraging local playgroups and a primary school to get involved.
Well, that particular pub was up by 42% on the week and the others by 15% and 22%.
These pubs had planned the events (very novel idea this planning lark, it might catch on), encouraged customers to help and they all had a great time and raised a lot of cash for a very worthwhile cause.
Charitable fund-raising, for whatever cause, should be at the heart of all pubs and helps to build such strong links with the local community.
Finally, for those who know me, I have been involved in raising funds for a number of charities over the past 25 years and next year I am climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with a number of ex-England rugby players.
Our chosen charity is Help for Heroes. If you are interested in joining us, you can obtain details from Lucy Perry at yhpl@qnivqonearfgrfgvzbavny.pbz.
David Elliott is chairman of Quercus Pub Co
