He also said the majority of new site acquisitions would be converted to Revolución de Cuba, Inventive’s offshoot rum-bar brand. McQuater said it’s “perfectly possible” for Inventive to grow from 70 to 100 sites.
He told M&C Report: “We would like to do four new bars per year. I think [Revolución de Cuba] would be the majority. Revolución de Cuba is
doing incredibly well in the female market.
“It fits with the professional young female bar-goer very well. They can combine drinks, food and dancing in one location.”
Evolved sites
Regarding growth potential, McQuater said: “We are in 70 branches at the moment, turning over £111m. It could easily get to 100 branches turning over something close to £200m.”
Inventive, which is backed by Alchemy Partners, would look at acquisitions early next year after the company has finished its current c.£7m revamp programme that will see 28 sites receive investments.
Sales at “evolved” sites have grown by 20%, and profits increased by 30%, McQuater revealed.
“The next step undoubtedly will be to roll out some of the existing brands — Cuba and Revolution — depending on the sites that come up.
“I think this business is capable of being a premium branded UK bar operator, and therefore at the appropriate moment we’d look at acquiring other businesses that are quality brands and developing those.”
While some joint Revolution and Revolución de Cuba do work well, the general plan is to focus on single-brand sites. A few sites will be converted to Revolución de Cubas, including Richmond and Harrogate [North Yorkshire], he added.