Local heroes at Olde Bull Inn pub

Cheryl Hickman, who owns the Olde Bull Inn in Barton Mills, Suffolk, with her husband, Wayne, tells Gurjit Degun how local sourcing, smiling staff and updating bedrooms help them stay ahead.

How we got here​

We bought the pub in May 2007 from a private operator who owned a few others in the area. He sold it to us as an off-market purchase, so we had to do everything very secretly. When we went to view it, we didn't even get a proper look round and had to pretend to be inspectors. But we ended up taking the risk.

I had never as much as poured a pint before we got here, but my old job, in corporate HR at the local council, gave me some skills such as people management, which have proved useful. Wayne can also turn his hand to anything, so we knew he'd be all right.

Staying out in front​

There are two or three other pubs nearby, but they don't always serve food until 9pm, so we get a good share of that market.

I think we have an advantage in being privately-run, as we're hands-on every day and night — we are the business. When we're here, we know it's running to 110% standards, and when we're not it's at 95%, which is not good enough.

When we hire staff we look for confidence, not necessarily experience, which usually means bad habits. And, of course, they should have a big smile. You can make a lot of mistakes, but they seem a lot worse if you don't smile.

We do a lot of in-house training with the staff. My sister Sonia, who also helps us manage the pub, does the one-to-one inductions with new employees. We help the young chefs with their NVQs, and try to progress them as much as we can. We have pretty good staff retention for this industry.

Some have been here since we opened. The second chef, who helps run the kitchen, started as a waiter and worked his way up — he's only 20. And a couple of the waitresses, who were 16 when they started, are off to university. So when they're back for Christmas and summer holidays, we can fit them around our regular staff. It works well for us as they are always busy periods.

The food​

The idea behind the menu was to keep it local. It makes life harder because we have about 15 to 20 different suppliers, all with separate invoices, but we do it for the quality. And as it's on our doorstep, it supports local businesses and is good for the environment. There's the Denham Estate, about 14 miles from the pub — we get venison, wild boar and pigeon from there. The River Farm Smokery is about 15 miles away, in Bottisham, and this is where we get our smoked fish, meat and game.

When we arrived here the menu consisted of microwave food and we wanted to introduce quality, but there was a substantial increase in cost, which not everyone was happy with. There were people that still wanted us to buy in cheap alternatives — but we stuck to our guns.

We still occasionally have to turn business down as people want to pay £9.99 for three courses, which they can get at the chain pub down the road. It was difficult to turn this business away in the beginning as we didn't know if we would get the trade we wanted, but it has paid off.

Marketing and promotions​

We advertise in local magazines, have had food reviews in a lot of papers and magazines around East Anglia, and we send out a monthly email newsletter to 500 people.

We also update the website every day with any events we're holding, any press coverage we've had, or anything that's going on locally.

But I think the best marketing tool is word of mouth, so we host events such as a 'prisoners of war lunch', which was one of our most successful events. We expected about 15 people to turn up but there were about 60 with their families from around East Anglia. There was one man who was so impressed that he came back, so you do get repeat business from these things and he'll recommend us to friends and family. In the end, I'd rather spend £200 on an event like that than spend £200 on an advert.

Ongoing investment​

Refurbishment of the pub is an ongoing project. We just put everything we have into it — the more profit we make, the more we can put back into the pub. We've managed to do everything so far without closing. We redecorated the 14 bedrooms two at a time instead of closing all of them, for example, and when we were doing the bar, we used the restaurant area as a temporary bar.

So far, we've doubled the size of the kitchen and expect to spend £85,000 in total. It has full-length, double-glazed doors so that customers can see in — and it has pink walls. People are fascinated by a commercial kitchen. When we had our open day in November, we let people look in the kitchen and they loved it.

We're also completely redecorating the bedrooms — again — because you can't get complacent and let things go stale. We've started with the one we like the least, and are stepping it up to the next level. We bought a bath for £2,000, a new carpet and bed, spending £10,000 in total. I'd say it's our biggest spend on one room. Once it's done, we can start charging more for the room in the high season.

Each room is individually decorated, so they are all very different. And because it's an old coaching inn, the rooms are all wonky and quirky. If we have a few rooms spare when people come to stay, we let them choose which room they'd like to stay in. Many people have favourites, and others like to go in a different one each time.

But the most rewarding thing so far was the bar. It was the last public area we did because we just didn't know what to do with it. We didn't want to upset our regular customers as they get very attached to their environment. It was important to us to retain the character of the old inn, so we invested heavily in an old reclaimed oak floor and stripped pine and antique oak furniture.

Future plans​

Next year, we will be introducing a cooks' school. It will allow people to come in and be taught by our award-winning chefs. There will also be the opportunity for people to experience being a chef for the day, then they will be able to invite their friends and family to enjoy the food they have cooked.

Facts 'n' stats​

Pub: The Olde Bull Inn

Terms of lease: Freehold

Turnover 2007: £400,000.

Turnover 2010: Our aim was to have a business that could turn over £1m, and we are nearly there

Gross profit: Wet 68%, food 70%, accommodation 92%

Staff: 30

Wages: £170,000, 2009

Staff wages as % of turnover: 21%

Awards: Newmarket & District Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year, Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, AA rosette

Average spend: Bar — £15-20, restaurant — £25-30, rooms — £85 with breakfast

Best-selling drinks: Bar — Carling (£3.30 a pint), restaurant — wine (from £3.60 for 175ml)

Average prices: Pint (£3.30), wine (£3.60), spirit & mixer (£2.70)

Best-selling dishes: Bar — home-made steak burger in ciabatta with home-made chutney & chunky chips (£10.95); restaurant — prosciutto-wrapped corn-fed chicken breast stuffed with Norfolk Dapple cheese & spinach, fondant potato, wild mushroom fricassée with a Merlot and thyme jus (£14.95)