This week MCA takes five minutes with Keith Marsden, the current BII Licensee of the Year and founder of Birmingham-based Humble Pub Company. He talks about his passion for cigars, coffee house gripes and the best rum tasting experience of his life.
What’s your main business priority for the coming year?
Finding great general managers and chefs is always a challenge. If you’re running bars, pubs and restaurants you have to differentiate yourself. One way is by your culture; ours is very strong. The operator down the road can copy a cocktail or a recipe for a dish but culture is impossible to copy, if you’re got a strong sense of service and hospitality. You can find people who run bars and restaurants but whether they do it your standards [is another matter]. We’re also setting up a micro-brewery on the site of the British Oak in Birmingham, which we recently acquired. We’ll be brewing cask ale and craft keg from 1 October most probably.
What is the best marketing campaign you have seen in the past 12 months?
BrewDog continues to amaze me on an ongoing basis. Their presence as an alternative brand is very impressive. I think they continue to make headlines in an interesting way. The guys at Purity Brewing have done a great job with the Longhorn IPA. The brand identity is very good, there’s strong communication and the way they get involved with music, festivals and events is great.
Where did you have your best meal over the past year?
The Intercontinental Managua in Nicaragua. I sell cigars in one of my bars and Nicaragua makes more cigars than Cuba. I was a guest of the chairman of a Nicaraguan cigar company and we had a fantastic surf and turf meal, steak and very large prawns. The reason the meal was so good was because it started off with a rum tasting of Flor de Cana, which translates as flour of the sugar cane. The tasting was beautiful and used all five senses. There were 20 of us and at the end we were invited to pour a little bit of the rum into our hands. The rum smelt beautiful and there was no residue whatsoever due to its purity. After the meal, we had some great cigars.
Which business in the sector provides the best experience?
Restaurant-wise I like D&D and in bars Revolution – they’ve got running fairly mainstream bars nailed. Locally, I love Carters of Mosely, a little independent restaurant in the suburbs, for their passion, fanatical attention to detail, impeccable service. And the food is to die for.
What are your main concerns for the sector?
Margins on beer. Also, the expansion of coffee houses selling alcohol. I think they’ll steal more customers from the licensed trade. It’s a real threat and I think people need to be aware of it.
Which other business (any sector) would you most like to run and why?
Drew Estates make fantastic cigars. It’s another challenger brand that is interesting, unconventional, quirky and has great fun with the product. That’s the sort of business I like.
