Spirit slashes staff turnover in half

06-Oct-2011 - Last updated on 07-Oct-2011 at 07:55 GMT

Tye: staff are happier

Spirit, the managed operator of 800 pubs, has cut staff turnover by 50% as workers take increasing pride in working for a company with a strong brands portfolio, deputy chief executive Mike Tye told the UK Pub Retail Summit.

He singled out Flaming Grill, a new Spirit brand that offers many points of difference.

It had been expanded to 50 sites and would now move to double in size “very quickly”.

Tye added: “I love this thing — it’s going like a train.”

He also explained how Chef & Brewer has been revived, adding: “When I worked at Whitbread, we were seriously worried because this brand was outstanding, it was executed well, it was in some fantastic locations.

“The sad thing is that the brand became unloved and the standards were not very good. It lost its way.

“We had a choice: we could have dumped the brand and started again or we could, as we did decide, say there are people who still love this brand so we can revitalise it.

“They have gone back and rewritten the operating standards, they have made people proud of the food because we have a got a decent menu now, and decent drinks.

“And once all of that was in place, and we had changed a huge proportion of the general managers and area managers, we could then start again.

“What we’ve been able to do is take it from being something old-fashioned to something contemporary that people seem to like.”
Tye also said that Spirit’s ‘Two-for-One’ brand was to be phased out. “Our decision is that we will not keep the Two-for One brand. I think we did go down a cul-de-sac with it.”