Going the extra mile

26-Mar-2012 - Last updated on 12-Mar-2017 at 00:52 GMT

Steve Haslam, co-founder of TLC Inns

Obviously the budget will take centre stage over the next couple of weeks so apart from a brief mention I thought I’d steer well clear. Yes it’s going to be another kick in the teeth but we have to dust ourselves down and get on with what we do best, running our businesses. So the budget mentioned, let’s talk business or in this case, the Bentley, babysitting and the Burns.

The Queen once used the immortal words Anus Horriblis and for the first six weeks of this year, I’ll echo that. The hangover from Christmas for us was tedious to say the least with a chink of light at Valentines.

Five weeks later, trade now on the up, still soft but on the up. Mother’s Day weekend, the first big event of the year hopefully will have put a smile on lots of publicans’ faces as the tills rang a merry tune. A difficult day that takes lots of pre-planning for multi-site operators such as ourselves, it’s a question of splitting yourselves in many pieces.

At TLC, two directors, one area manager, six sites and two children to look after led to a boardroom meeting to discuss the plan. Three straws later the high level decision was made, area manager drew kitchen support to one of our village sites, Jo drew the walk-in support role for four sites, not sure if I drew the short straw, I got the kids.

Fish finger sandwiches, chocolate and FIFA 12 seems like a plan, also the dreaded to-do list appeared. Despite remonstrating, it was non-negotiable. I would man the phone whilst doing the recycling of the bins and the dishwasher whilst taking care of the kids for the day. Jo hit the road for the day choosing to my surprise to take the Bentley, first call The White Horse, all set, organised and ready to rumble, the first of five sittings underway.

The first call in, Grand Central have run out of kids menus. Hot Foot Haslam, or Jo to us, duly delivered in the Bentley at the blink of an eye. A thousand pound breakfast under their belt, could our new American Bar and Grill possibly challenge the more traditional venues on Mother’s Day? All running well, Hot Foot hit the road and headed to Ely, but what of the Area Manager? Two and a half hours in and several fryer burns, the news is good. “He’s an expert at cooking the onion rings.” the manager exclaimed with a rye chuckle coming from his voice.

At base camp, the news is also good, Spurs have beaten Man Utd 8 – 0 (FIFA 12) the fish finger sandwiches have hit the spot and the chocolate is going down a treat. One hour 15 minutes later, Hot Foot calls in, just arrived at Ely but is it normal for smoke to be coming off the brake pads of the car?

Basildon to Ely in one hour 15 minutes – I guess it’s bloody obvious why. Running like a well-oiled machine, some customer interaction, Sudbury was next on the list. Having moved to football in the garden, Russell now a combi-oven king with the veggies, Hot Foot hits Sudbury, again with an element of smoking tyres.

The day slowing down it’s time to start taking stock. The news is great, a few thousand happy diners, hundreds of kilos of meat devoured, Hot Foot heads for base camp. So you think it’s all over!! NOPE. Pack the kids into the car and we all head to Grand Central to monitor the last couple of hours and grab a bite to eat.

There is an ulterior motive, leading at this point and eventually finished at top the American Bar & Grill wins the day £11k taken, all is well. What of the onion ring pro? He’s done good, half a tube of burn cream he is at home cooking the wife’s dinner. Roll on Easter.