Franchised pubs are now challenging not just the tenanted but the managed model, Marston’s chief executive Ralph Findlay has told M&C.
He said the company continued to evolve its franchised offer, with an increasing focus on higher turnover pubs. In this morning’s trading update, the company revealed that its highest turnover franchised pub achieved £30,000 per week over the Christmas period.
He told M&C: “When the model started it was generally applied in lower turnover pubs and mainly pubs that rely less on food. That has changed significantly in the last two years and part of the reason for referring to one of our pubs that did £30k over Christmas was to illustrate that the franchise model can work at levels of turnover that are very high.
“The question will be is franchise pushing not just the tenanted model but the managed model as well.”
Findlay also talked about the company’s recent reshuffle, first revealed by M&C, which saw Iain Jackson move from operations director for Taverns and Leased Partners to the same role within the Destination division and head of marketing Andrew Carlill take on Jackson’s former role.
Findlay said the move was informed by Steve Oliver, who was operations director for Destination, taking on the post of director of retail systems.
Findlay said: “That role includes overseeing the implementation of a completely new EPOS system across the business in 2016 and into 2017. That is a significant project which will give us more opportunities, not just in the day to day operating of the business but our customer knowledge.
“In terms of both Destination and Leased and Taverns, the broad approach will continue to be the same
On trading in the first 16 weeks of the financial year, Findlay said: “The weather helped over the first quarter because although it was very wet it was mild so there was no disruption. Fuel prices helped.”
He said the 3% growth in Destination and Premium had been across the board and said the impact of successful openings within the Revere portfolio were yet to be reflected in like-for-likes.
On the outlook for 2016, he said: “The opportunities will come through implementing the clear plans we have already laid out. The challenges will include the introduction of the Living Wage and the fact the industry is undoubtedly more competitive. NLW wasn’t a surprise and we believe we are well equipped to cope with it. The competition is certainly as aggressive as ever but that is making everyone sharper. The sector overall looks in pretty good shape.”
