Firstly, if you have never worked in hospitality, please take off those rose-tinted glasses. It’s a huge financial risk and you need AT LEAST tens of thousands of quids to get through your first year.
Do not take on a pub until you have worked for at least a year as a manager in one. Learn the ropes before you steer your own ship. There are plenty of storms and doldrums and it is NEVER plain sailing.
10 very important rules that new tenants often fail to observe.
If you take on a tenanted pub, LISTEN to your BDM, take all support that is available to you, and go on every course and workshop that the company provides.
Put your VAT aside. It’s NOT YOUR MONEY!
Count every penny, every gram of cheese, and very ml of beer. Get stock-takers. They may seem expensive, but losses can disappear faster than quicksand.
Do not drink your stock and if your friends come into your pub, charge them. It’s a business, not a dinner party.
Do not use your pub as a pub! Drinking and socializing in your pub looks unprofessional and blurs the boundaries.
YOU MUST do social media and marketing. If you ‘don’t do marketing’ do not take on a pub.
Do plant-based meals and cater for special dietary requirements. Why would you exclude these customers or their guests?
Follow all due diligence practices to the letter.
Support your staff and give them autonomy to support you back.
Get unbiased feedback, listen to it, and act on it. Just because you think your pub is the bees’ knees doesn’t mean that the people NOT coming in, think the same!
Check out this article from the Morning Advertiser with comments from some of the bigger pub companies.
New year is a busy period for applications to run a pub (morningadvertiser.co.uk)
