Magnify Marketing

NEWS

British Pub Week 2010 has been launched. Previously known as National Pub Week, the event will take place between the 30th October and 6th November 2010.The week aims to promote and celebrate all that is good about the Great British Pub.

Figures released by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) reveals that the market is showing small signs of recovery. Its Quarterly Beer Barometer shows that while sales are still declining, the rate of fall has dropped. For the last three months of 2009 sales were down 3.6 per cent – the lowest fourth quarter fall since 2006. The Publican

Marco Pierre White opened his second pub last week. The Swan Inn, in Aughton, Lancashire, is the first venue to open under the partnership of White and Sanguine Hospitality. morningadvertiser.co.uk

Jamie Oliver is expanding his high street restaurant chain, Jamie’s Italian, with four new sites set to open in as many months. caterersearch.com

Marston’s has announced that it is on track to fulfill its target of building and opening 15 new food-led pubs in the current financial year. The Publican

According to the latest HotStats survey from TRI Hospitality Consulting, London hotels enjoyed a strong boost to profitability during December 2009. The gross operating profit per available room (GOPpar) grew by 23% as a result of cost-cutting strategies, combined with a growth in revenue. caterersearch.com

Whitbread has told investors and City analysts that it plans to open 60 pub restaurants and expand its room stock by 13,300 rooms to 55,000 rooms in the next four years. M&C Report

and finally…we thank the Morning Advertiser for this week’s gem, as they reported on JD Wetherspoon founder, Tim Martin’s take on the issue of under-age drinking. He argues that “our nation’s pubs are the instruments of imperial hypocrisy.” Adding: “For example, at a round table on binge drinking at the Guardian newspaper last year, all the participants agreed that they started using pubs before 18, at an average age of about 15, with the ‘winner’ being the Government minister at 13, beating Mrs Hazel Blears by a narrow margin.”

Site of the week

Whilst up in Leeds last week I visited a great neighbourhood bar called Kobe in Horsforth.

If I did not have a window seat I could well imagine this quality of venue would be in a prime location in a leading city.

Attention to detail every every area and staff that serve you because they are passionate about their jobs and clearly enjoy being at work (unlike Cafe Nero – please see blog at the Magnify Marketing website)

Bars this good are a rare fine and for a neigbourhood venue it sets new levels

http://www.arcinspirations.com/kobe/

Customers like to know what is going on, especially if there is a deal to be had, but more often than not we miss an opportunity to tell them. It happens for a variety of reasons, but costs you money which would be much better served in your till!

Customers like to have regular changes and offers rotating to keep them interested – can you imagine shops on the high street never changing their windows!

Quite often we put the failure of an offer down to poor artwork or lack of customer interest but did they really know it was on? We all see on average between 2-3000 adverts a day, so how do you make sure they see yours?

The rough rule of thumb is that your customer needs to see your offer 3 times to be aware of it. So how do we make sure that happens?

Best place to start is standing outside your venue and seeing what your customer sees, what are they told when they walk past? If they are in a car is your signage big enough to read as you go past at 30 mph?

Messages also need where possible to be relevant to the time of day – most people do not change their A-boards but how can you want to send the same message to someone at lunchtime as you do in the evening? I know of a site in Covent Garden that changes its a-boards regularly throughout the day to make sure they are adjusting to the weather and the moods of the tourists! This might seem a bit excessive but think as your customer and what do they want to be told about and when (lunch and evening messages).

As you walk through your venue see how many messages you see and how often. The customer corridor as it is called in marketing terms shows what people see on their way to the bar to order.

Try to shoe horn in too many messages on your posters and the impact gets really diluted – Ideally the few the better so it’s clear what you want to offer.

Are your poster frames where people can see them or convinient spaces to put them? If they are tucked away you might as well not bother.

Also try not to conflict your offers – make sure you have a beer, spirits and wine one where applicable, four beer offers is only appealing to one segment of customer base.

As food becomes more and more increasingly important shout out to customers if you use local produce or if it’s organic as these are the sort of things your customer wants to know about.

Also think about the type of customers you have and what they want and aim the product mix around them. It’s not always about aggressive discounting, value for money is just as important.

If you have a large venue move your posters around – in bigger venues some people may never see offers if they stand in the same spot. It costs nothing but makes another impact to your communication efforts.

Table clutter is not only expensive at the printers but often ends up wet and on the floor. Your customers need information on the table but make sure you limit the amount of information – to much is ignored as is too little.

Ideally give some thought to the size of your menus so that they ideally can fit together minimizing space and looking neater.

Your back bars is the last point your customer has to make a decision so make sure that they are uncluttered and focused on the brands you have been making them aware of . This is your prime retail space that needs to deliver from an operational perspective as well as a marketing one. This is your final chance to remind your customers of what offers are available before they make a final decision on a purchase.

By having fewer offers it’s easier for your staff to both remember them and make your customers aware of them. Being realistic if you run a busy venue on a Friday night your staff are not in a position to upsell so easily as often it’s about speed of service during these critical hours, however if a customer has been in earlier in the week and has been told of an offer they are much more likely to be aware of it.

Your staff is your best sales tool and is often under used. Again it costs nothing to do, although quite often an incentive will help!

All of the above are great but in today’s market your have to go beyond your own front door to get your messages out their.

The web is an essential business tool for every pub and bar these days. You would be amazed at how many people now go online to find out about your venue. Put your own business into Google and see what comes up, is what you want them to see? Better still put your competitors in and see what the response is for them.

Websites do not have to be all singing and dancing, but clean and practical so people can see what you are like, what they can get and how do they find you. If you have a website also make sure your site is easy to change so that you do not have Christmas showing in February which makes you look unprofessional.

Databases work in tandem with your website and allow you to remind your customers what you have coming up and what is available. Once a month is usually enough to keep your venue at the forefront of your customers mind and ensure repeat visit.

To build your databases contact local businesses and get their email addresses, your not selling double glazing so most people are genuinely quite interested in what you have to say.

Business card draws as well remain a simple and effective way to get your customers information.

Finally the chances are your customer also uses other local businesses to you, shops, hairdressers and gyms and are often up for partnership deals. It gets your information in the hands of people who may not know what you are all about!

Good communication is key to any business so make sure you are doing all you can.

Fit for business
1) Make sure your signage is clear to read – either from a distant or in darker areas.
2) Keep your offers simple and not conflicting with each other
3) Make sure you can see your messages at least 3 times
4) Where possible change your messages at the time where they are most in demand
5) Offers is not about being cheap, added value like local produce can drive as much sales
6) Make sure your presence on the web is what you would want to see
7) Work with local businesses and share exposure to get better awareness and value out of your marketing efforts.

Magnify Marketing
Magnify Marketing is run by Paul Filler, a marketing communications company that specializes in the hospitality industry.

For more details visit www.magnifymarketing.com

NEWS

Owner of the FishWorks restaurant chain, Ranjit Boparan, has acquired fish and chip shop business Harry Ramsden’s and plans to expand the chain by opening up to 100 new sites over the next five years. caterersearch.com

CAMRA has opened up nominations for Club of the Year 2011. Any club with open membership and serves top quality real ale is open to the competition. Nominations complete with name and address can be submitted at www.camra.org.uk/coty

According to the M&C Report, the new Jamie Oliver restaurant announced this week is to be a barbecue concept called Barbacoa and will be used as a launch pad for a roll-out

Bob Cotton has been has been named the chair of the newly-created London Business Tourism Group. caterersearch.com

Equifax’s latest Business Services Report shows that failures within the services sector, which includes hotels, restaurants and bars, dropped 10.4% year-on-year in the final quarter of the year

McDonald’s will create 5,000 new jobs in the UK this year after seeing an 11% rise in sales over 2009. Daily Telegraph

According to a report from umbrella group Co-operatives UK, ‘community co-operatives’ may be the answer to stopping pub closures. Pub co-ops involve local people buying the venue between them and running the pub democratically for the benefit of the community. morningadvertiser.co.uk
A government U-turn will see the DCMS “clarify” rules meaning licensees can let customers play instruments to “entertain themselves”. Licensees will be allowed to let customers play a musical instrument to “entertain themselves” without the risk of prosecution. The Licensing Act currently states it is illegal to let a customer play an instrument, such as a piano, if the pub does not have an entertainment licence. thepublican.com

Mitchells & Butlers, the pub and restaurant operator, has unveiled plans to double six key brands within its business. The company plans to drive organic site growth through Crown Carveries, Harvester, Premium Country Dining, Sizzling Pub Company, Toby Carvery and Vintage Inns. The six growth-driving formats, which currently account for 900 of M&B零 2,000 outlets, would be grown by at least 50%, if not 100%. M&C Report

and finally…The most popular application downloaded to Britain’s iPhones is Carling’s Virtual pint. The on screen glass of beer which moves as you move the phone, and can be ‘drunk’ by tipping the phone. The Evening Standard

Site of the week

I had one of those moments last week where I finally ate in somewhere that I have walked past a hundred times before – and every time thought I must go in their soon!

The venue was Randall & Aubin on Brewer St, just off Wardour st in London. First point is that they do not take reservations which I often take as the owners having real confidence in the venue, and in this one rightly so.

I am no Foodie however what I had was excellent, but the reason to highlight was that the atmosphere was fantastic – buzzy kitchen, staff clearly loving their work and a really broad range of customers all enjoying a real experience.

http://www.randallandaubin.com/

Well I witnessed Christmas in full flow yesterday at the legendary Ronnie scotts. Customers well into a Christmas with a swing!

Their was no way they were heading back to the office after that experience.

Longshot, the former owners of the Groucho Club and London’s first 24-hour restaurant, have raised £30m to buy pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels. M&C Report

Garry Shewan, assistant chief constable of Greater Manchester police has warned that cheap supermarket alcohol and 24-hour drinking is stretching police resources. The Sun

Celebrity chef, Marco Pierre White, has announced that he is to expand his restaurant business with the launch of three new units in the North West of England. The report on caterersearch.com said that he “will launch two restaurants and an events venue in Lancashire, in January 2010″.

JD Wetherspoon has bought five pubs from Punch Taverns. The freehold pubs are expected to receive £4m worth of investment before reopening in January 2010. thepublican.com

Hotel revenue per available room rose by 1.5% in London in the week ending 24 October 2009. The report by hospitality research company STR Global, also revealed that occupancy grew by 3.7 percentage points, to 86.1% Caterersearch.com

Pubs have two years to remove cigarette vending machines from their trading areas, as the government’s Health Bill announced that they will be banned from October 2011. However, pubs will still be allowed to sell cigarettes over the bar. thepublican.com

Barracuda, Caffe Nero and Fuller’s, pub and restaurant customers will soon be able to pay with Oyster-style credit or debit cards, which operate without the need for pin numbers.

New Year’s Eve revellers are set to get an extra six hours of reduced VAT drinking. Treasury minister Stephen Timms announced that the rate which rises back to its normal 17.5% at midnight on 31 December will remain at 15% for pubs, restaurants and clubs until 6am on New Year’s Day. BBC News

Wagamama is to open six new sites in 2010. M&C Report

The former Punch Taverns head Deborah Kemp has been appointed as chief operating officer at the De Vere Group.

The Campaign for Real Ale has begun a campaign to re-open seven Bristol pubs. Operating with the motto ‘Love a Local Pub’, the Bristol and District branch of CAMRA has been contacting breweries, pub chains and operators in a bid to get the pubs re-opened. morningadvertiser.co.uk

Scottish & Newcastle UK has announced that it will print alcohol unit information on all its beer glasses with the aim of promoting responsible drinking. The initiative will start this month with the alcohol unit figures to be included on Foster’s branded glasses.

Speaking at the M&C Report’s Restaurant Conference 2009, Waitrose announced ambition to open 300 foodservice outlets within the next decade.

According to a report on caterersearch.com, the American Embassy in London is poised to become a new luxury hotel, following an agreement by a Qatari real estate investment company to buy the building. While Qatari Diar has not announced what it intends to do with the property in Grosvenor Square, it is thought that it will be turned into a hotel and apartments.

According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), consumer confidence is at its highest level for more than a year. The BRC’s consumer confidence index, put together with market researchers Nielsen, shows a 10-point gain, versus the all-time low reported in April of this year. thepublican.com

London hotel occupancy levels for September rose compared to levels experienced last year. According to figures released by PKF Hotel Consultancy Services, hoteliers enjoyed 85.1% occupancy, 3% higher than in September 2008. caterersearch.com

Costa Coffee has opened its 1,000th store in the UK. The operator reached the landmark last week with the opening of a site at St David’s Shopping Centre in Cardiff. M&C Report

According to a report in the Irish Independent, more than 1,500 pubs, hotels and restaurants have gone to the wall in the country over the past five years.

Heineken has bought the 421-strong Globe Pub Company from receivership for a reported £180m to salvage a beer supply and management contract. Daily Telegraph

Red Carnation Hotels has launched a new online marketing initiative offering exclusive deals to its Twitter and Facebook followers. The initiative, known as “Tweekends”, will, each week, offer limited one-off fixed rates for an unnamed property within its London collection. caterersearch.com

And finally…BT is to reopen its revolving restaurant at the iconic BT Tower in London. According to a report in The Sunday Times, the group has started a search for a top chef for the site