The firm's chief executive Kris Gumbrell told The Morning Advertiser's (MA) sister publication MCA while the core business was in good shape and demand for craft beer remains strong, B&K has struggled with the performance of some of its smaller high street locations due to lower footfall and the need to offer a refreshed concept to regain customers’ attention.
In addition, Gumbrell explained their operation as a brewpub involves a rolling cost, with the equipment also taking up a lot of space in the sites.
Craft House will see the microbrewery element removed from the sites, which will free up space for covers, with the sites to be fitted out as modern British pubs in order to appeal to a wider demographic.
Horsham in West Sussex and Bournemouth in Dorset will be the first two pubs to be converted, followed by Hoxton in the new year and one further pub yet to be confirmed. Horsham, for example, will gain around another 15 covers from the removal of the brewing equipment.
Moving forward
“It is really about moving forward from the brewpub model, back to a modern, traditional British pub, but still with a really heavy focus on craft beer because that’s what our customers know our buildings for,” he explained.
With the exception of its brewing experience days, its masterclass academy business will still operate within the new Craft House locations, with the business seeing huge demand for its rum master classes and whisky and beer pairings, for example.
The business will be bringing back the original name of the pub, where appropriate. For example, the Horsham venue will operate as The Rock Craft House, and Bournemouth as The Branksome Craft House.
The new sites will also have a big focus on craft cocktails – part of Brewhouse’s move to tap into a younger market. Its customer demographic has traditionally been 35 to 55 years old, with some younger and some older customers. “We know we have to have a younger more appealing offer, so Craft House is really exciting for us.”
Gumbrell described the business as having been like a one club golfer, and that it needed to add a few more clubs to its bag.
Really exciting
Brewhouse has also been updating its food menus and will introduce a menu more focused on street food to the Craft House venues, with smashburgers, waffles and Korean chicken wings and tenders featuring. It has also partnered with Deliveroo for the first time in order to try and expand the food arm of the business through delivery.
“The model is really exciting. I would anticipate four to six sites within the first 12 months – so about a third of our estate,” Gumbrell added. “It’s quite a diversion for us after so many years of being a brewpub model operator. But we’re not moving away from brewpubs – our core brewpub business is still in rude health. It just gives us a more agile offering.”
Brewhouse & Kitchen is also looking to tap into the demand for artisan coffee and plans to work with local suppliers for each of the new Craft House sites, with Bad Hand Coffee already signed up to supply to their Bournemouth site.
“We’re going to treat coffee in the same way that the industry has traditionally treated craft beer. People are really interested in coffee and want to support local businesses.”
In addition to the introduction of the Craft House concept, Brewhouse & Kitchen is also looking to further develop its pubs with rooms business, following the success of its Worthing site, with the potential for another 24 bedrooms to be added to its estate over the next year.
- Read the original article on MCA here
