The BII ups its game

There's no doubt that the BII has entered a new and more vigorous phase in its development.

A while back there was a slightly sluggish feel to the organisation, with reports of membership in decline and finances under pressure.

There is, of course, a massive role in the industry for a body committed to advancing training and professional standards. The past year or so has seen the BII get its hands dirty in its willingness to get involved in thornier issues.

It's rent resolution initiative, the Pubs Independent Rent Review Scheme (PIRRS), is making a big difference in offering an affordable rent dispute resolution avenue — compared to the previous big bucks option of arbitration. The BII is also making tentative steps in the direction of taking on a broader arbitration role between the tenanted pubcos and their tenants and lessees. I hear it successfully brokered an agreement between Enterprise Inns and a tenant in the past fortnight.

Other tenanted pub companies are lining up to avail themselves of the service, knowing a BII-brokered peace is preferable to the sort of full-blown skirmishes that can grab national media and political attention.

This week we report the BII has earned itself £300,000 with a deal to franchise one of its training modules to China. Some will say the move is a distraction for the BII at a time when its hands are fuller than normal in the UK. I believe the industry should take pride in having training of sufficient quality to be exportable. The tie-up has the potential to open up all sorts of avenues for skills cross-fertilisation — and will produce revenue that allows the BII to be even more ambitious.

There was a good example of this on Monday evening. I attended the the BII's first ever induction evening for new entrants at a pub in Guildford. Around 35 people turned up to hear about the challenges of a career in the pub trade.

It's difficult to cover the bases well in two hours, but the BII made an excellent fist of it. There was the basic stuff around qualifications and compliance through to horizon-expanding and inspirational stuff from 2009 BII Licensee of the Year Phil Davison. For those who have run pubs for years and years the evening would have provided a very useful reminder of the approach that's needed to do well.

There was a poignant story from Davison, who runs the Sun in the Wood, three miles outside Newbury. He recalled starting his first restaurant in 1984 and approaching his father, an accountant, for a loan of £7,000. His father agreed on condition that Phil showed him his projected profit & loss and cash-flow for the first 12 months.

Success in the pub trade is akin to climbing a treacherous and demanding mountain path. The BII's induction evening will work well to put off ill-equipped tourists — and remind others of the size of the challenge that faces them.