The frontline operator

The Hon Henry Cripps admits he’s been lucky. “But you have to take advantage of your luck. That’s how you judge success. If it was easy everyone would be doing it. We’ve worked really hard.”

And the result is three rather classy and successful food-led Greene King leaseholds in Berkshire: the Greene Oak, the White Oak and the Three Oaks.

At one time, though, with the offer of a commission in two regiments, Cripps seemed destined for a career in the army.
“I’d not looked at anything else. Then I met my wife in the last year of university and that changed everything. I went off to play rugby in Japan, moved to London and fell into wine tasting.”

That’s a bit of an understatement. With a couple of friends he set up the Cellar Society. “It was really a corporate entertainment venture. We went all over Europe and the United States doing wine tastings and food matching for businesses and clubs. We didn’t make much money, but it was interesting.”

After two years of that Cripps had the good fortune to run into pub operator Alex Langlands Pearse who offered him a junior manager post at the Salisbury Tavern in Fulham.

“That’s where I learned the ropes. I just fell into pubs, really, and I loved it. It was totally luck.”

He went on to run bars for West End celebrity haunt the Groucho Club and became general manager of his favourite pub, the Admiral Codrington in Fulham. “That was a great place. It was the busiest pub in the country per square foot. It was an amazing machine.”

A new discovery​

Then, after a short career break, he was asked to run another famous London hostelry, the Chelsea Ram, and it was while he was there he discovered a pub that could be his own.

“I found the Greene Oak on the internet,” he says. “We’d been looking for a long time, since I was at the Groucho Club. It was a Hungry Horse called the Nags Head, and a neglected one. It wasn’t pretty.

“We put together a business plan and it’s amazing how close it is now to what we had on paper. It’s a mix of the Admiral Codrington and the Chelsea Ram, a West End food pub and a gastropub boozer.”

The two other Oaks follow a similar pattern, all designed by Katherine Cripps. “She’s got a natural eye,” says Cripps.

And as for the father-in-law, “Terry is incredibly supportive and he knows his food. He lives around here and uses our restaurants. He comes to the openings, but so would any parent really.

“It’s not something we’ve ever made anything of. It can’t be a marketing policy.”

Expansion hasn’t been as rapid as Cripps expected at the beginning.

“We always wanted five pubs in five years, but I don’t think we understood what was involved. Now I think we’ve done well to get three pubs in that time. They’ve all made a profit from their first month, we’ve never made a loss, and it’s been fun.”

It’s noticeable that Cripps frequently slips into calling his pubs “restaurants”, understandable, perhaps, with a 70:30 split in favour of food across the estate. But he’s keen to maintain a “boozer atmosphere”.

“This is a pub, a bistro-pub,” he says, describing his latest, the Three Oaks, formerly the Three Pigeons, Gerrards Cross. “The bar trade gives a buzz, a bit of fun. You’ve got to attract locals.”

All about service​

Shortly after arriving here in the summer, Cripps discovered that he’d sponsored a golf day. “The locals went off and did it without my knowing anything about it. You’re the new licensee and they assume you’ll do it. That’s nice, I think.”

If there’s one thing at the heart of his operation, though, it’s neither food nor drink but service.

“Service comes first. It’s all in the detail. For the customer it’s how at ease you feel in the first 10 seconds. It’s down to the staff to make you relax, to acknowledge you as soon as you arrive.

“I have had that point drilled into me. If the staff are not polite to you it can ruin your enjoyment for the whole evening.

“We’re always being complimented on our staff and they do very well. Nine per cent of our turnover is tips and they get it all — which makes them even happier.

“Finding staff is hard, though, and keeping people is difficult too,” he goes on. “We employ 91 full and part-time staff now and it’s a

cauldron of different nationalities, opinions and understandings. Every day is interesting. Everything changes daily. I just don’t know how the bigger chains manage.”

Between Cripps and three strong managers and chefs at the pubs, he employs two lieutenants — Claire Beckwith as senior manager and executive chef Jack Woolner.

And you’ll often find the boss himself on the frontline.

“I’m acting manager here tonight and I’ll either be behind the bar or on the floor. I still do seven or eight shifts a week and step in when staff are away. I look forward to it.”

Cost concerns​

Next to staffing, rising costs are Cripps’s biggest worry.

“Our food costs are up 14% to 16% and business rates doubled at one site last year. And I thought VAT was supposed to be a tax on luxury! There’s no thought for the small individual operator. I think perhaps we ought to have a menu showing net prices. People would see they’re paying 20% to the Government.

“I feel like a tax collector, which is fine, but it’s easy to understand why people get into financial trouble.”

To avoid that Cripps knows he has to keep expanding.

“We need to grow 12% a year to cover the extra costs, or they’ll impinge on our profitability. We have to grow at the micro level, at each site, and at the macro level. I’d be very happy to be operating five within the next three years. That’s a good number. It means we keep back-of-house the same size so we’ll be improving profitability per site.”

That’s if the customers keep coming, of course. And they are. Although they’re getting a little picky.

“People still want to go out, but they’re spending less,” says Cripps. “Everything we do has to be perceived as value for money. You can’t compromise on quality to make the price cheaper. You’ve got to find that balance. Pitching yourself is the most difficult thing.
“Our covers are up on last year and turnover is up a little, but now we’ve got a reputation people are more analytical, they’re looking for mistakes, and I take it very personally.

“We use customer comment cards, and 99% of the feedback is positive. But when it isn’t I get distraught.

“Everyone seems to know how it should be done. It’s extraordinary, and you just have to take it on the chin and go down to the cellar to cool off.

“Sometimes you can agree wholly with them, and if three or four people make the same complaint you do something about it, but you’ve got to keep believing in what you do.”

My kind of pub​

“Any pub with good friendly service and a good product at a fair price is great by me. I’m quite easy to please. Details are important, though. The loos? Is it clean? Do all the lights work? Can staff answer your questions?

“I’ve loved the pubs I’ve worked in, but the Admiral Codrington will always be in my top three.”

Key dates​

2000​ After graduating Henry Cripps goes into corporate entertainment wine tasting with the Cellar Society

2002​ Appointed junior manager at Salisbury Tavern, Fulham, and runs bars for the Groucho Club

2003​ Becomes general manager at the Admiral Codrington, Chelsea. Marries Katherine Wogan

2005​ Runs the Chelsea Ram

2006​ Opens the Greene Oak near Windsor, on a 21-year Greene King lease

2008​ Second 21-year lease, the White Oak at Cookham

2011​ Acquires the Three Pigeons on assignment and reopens it as the Three Oaks