The news of the managed site was first broken in PMA in July last year, when trading director Chris Jowsey said the site would be a 'one off' and wasn't the start of developing a portfolio of managed sites.
The chosen pub, the Horse & Jockey in Arnold, Nottingham, has now undergone a £336,000 investment to become The Eagles Corner.
The format includes a freshly made pizza offer, which has already been rolled out to a number of pubs in the leased estate.
The high street pub will trial new technology, services and products with the aim that Star can provide licensees with first-hand insight before making them more widely available.
It is already trialling promotional technology in the form of smart fridges and smart TVs. Once established, it will also be used to provide on-site training for Star personnel and prospective licensees.
Star The Eagles Corner was selected because it was a mainstream high street pub in need of investment, which wasn’t performing to its full potential. Since opening trade has more than doubled and is continuing to build.
Chris Jowsey, Star’s trading director said: “We deliberately didn’t pick one of our most desirable, best located pubs. We picked an ordinary high-street pub in a Nottingham suburb, which we could learn from.”
The pub is open from breakfast, serving Kimbo coffee and snacks all-day as well as lunch, transitioning through to evening cocktails and drinks.
The pub has been designed to cater for different customer groups and for different occasions with booth and freestanding seating, separate locals bar, function room and outdoor alfresco eating and drinking area. The pub has a pizza kitchen front-of-house and also offers a choice of platters, fresh salads, burgers and flatbreads.
Drinks include a range of premium ales, lagers and ciders as well as cocktails, mocktails and sharing pitchers. SmartDispense technology has been installed at the pub.
Jowsey added: “Two years ago I promised licensees that Star would take on and run a pub to get closer to the business and gain firsthand experience of the issues faced by licensees and the opportunities available to them. We’ve now done it, having been thwarted on a number of occasions by licensees wanting to take on the pubs we were interested in.
“We’ve got off to a good start with trade building all the time and have had a great Christmas and New Year. The Eagles Corner has gone from a pub with no food offer to serving 3000 pizzas in three months. However, given the role of the Eagles Corner, it is and will always continue to be work in progress.”
On the popularity of the pizza concept, a Star spokeswoman said: “Freshly made pizzas are popular with many consumers including those at the Eagle’s Corner. We’ve already incorporated front-of-house pizza kitchens in a number of refurbishments where we think it is appropriate to do so. We don’t take a uniform approach to food offers. Our BDMs look at each of our pubs on a case by case basis and consider the demographics of the area when discussing menu options, service style and kitchen design with licensees.”