Smashed it.............

February is generally a pretty bad month for the food and beverage industry so I'm told but that didn't stop us exceeding our target, in fact it didn't stop us exceeding our final turnover target figure! By that I mean the figure we'd ourselves by the end of March. Massive pats on the backs all round and personally I feel relieved that all the hours I've out in have proved that in our business plan we have a product that works, even under difficult circumstances.

I fear however that it still may have come too late. Lets hope this performance urges the brewery to think long term rather than short for the sake of all involved, it'd be a shame to have made this progress only to be stopped in our tracks by the lack of decent business management prior to our involvement. It became pretty obvious only a week or two into the project that the situation was pretty grave but we'd made a choice and a commitment to achieve certain things which we've been successful at.

Currently we've had to close the kitchen while maintenance work is carried out. With business picking up we need it in a condition where we can have full confidence in it's layout and equipment, when we have our full time chef in place he or she needs to be reliant on that to be able to offer a consistently good offering. If we delay this essential work now it'll come back to bite us later so I think it's a good decision on our part. Not sure others think the same way but again short term loss for long term gain is necessary here.

The whole situation is a bit frustrating for me because readers of the blog will know that we've been looking at a few pubs in recent times and what has really baffled us is the valuation some people put on their (all of them) failing business. People want to claw back what they've put in using your skill set and enthusiasm as a benchmark for projected takings, they don't see it as them failing and you willing to offer what the business is actually worth so us being unwilling to pay out money held us back then and now it's money coming the other way that's holding back this venture.

It's certainly a lifestyle running a pub, you need to put a lot in and the financial rewards are not great considering that effort but the job satisfaction is the gain and I'm more than satisfied with the job we've done so far :-)

Step away....

About time for another post I reckon.

Starting to see some real positive movement at the pub although there is still a lot more hard work to put in to get where we want to be leading up to summer which given our huge garden and facilities should really be our peak season.

Going by the amount of meals served on Sundays you'd think world domination cannot be too far away. Week one we did 5 meals, week two we did 10 and week three we did 30 (and also a buffet for 35 heads) so with my limited mathematical expertise I reckon next Sunday we should be doing....ERM.....10 is double 5, 30 is treble 10 so next in sequence would be quadruple that so 120 meals right ?!!? ....OK maybe not but if we hit 30 again I'd be chuffed to bits.

Like I mentioned in the last post it would have been entirely conceivable that the pub would not have been trading this summer but our plan has boosted the belief that we can make it there, inevitably there is still some need for caution, nothing is certain in this business.

The staff I have in the kitchen for evenings and weekends (not all I am still very much in there) have made a real difference to my ability to take some time away and relax as well as concentrate on other necessary aspects of the job such as nailing down the paperwork for our food safety requirements. I'm getting ever more confident that we can not only meet the requirements but actually go that one step further showing our commitment to food safety and hygiene. Five stars or bust!

The two new recruits have had very little actual professional cooking experience but have shown a great willingness to learn and to take on extra tasks which is essential and just what I was looking for. I'm also pleased that my menu and recipes are proving to be as easy to serve as I have designed them to be but at the same getting some wonderful feedback from customers regarding value and quality.

We have a live in manager in place now too which is going to allow us to again take more time to concentrate on our business plan and is also adding stability to the pubs offering. He's a smiley chap with an appetite for fun and loves a good chat too.

All three were known to me prior to taking on this project so I have complete trust in all of them which is something that I might not have had time to build with a completely new person. Lets hope we have the time (and the backing) to achieve our goals so that the working relationship can last for a long time and even flourish as we take on more and more venues.

We also had a young girl come in to work with us to gain experience before she goes off to catering college in September. She's very shy but we tried to make her feel as comfortable as possible and she grew in confidence as the shift progressed. I even had her peeling quails eggs which is a very tricky task even for steady experienced hands but after a few breakages she got there. As we take on more places I really think this is something we should encourage more, the great chefs of the future all need to start somewhere and getting that little bit of experience at our humble venues might prove invaluable. Lets hope that in a few years time we'll be able to welcome them back to  our less humble venues with a kitchen all of their own to run. It all seems so very Jamie Oliver doesn't it? :-)

Cricket training for me also started yesterday, I was actually quite pleased with my bowling and I think that is going to be my focus this season alongside my fielding. I'm really struggling with technique with the bat (which is nothing new) and that was highlighted when I caught a quick delivery full on the forearm which I reckon is going to bruise the entire length of my arm within a few days. It just wouldn't be right for me not to start off the season with some kind of ridiculous injury. Having said that it was great to get back in the nets and to catch up with all the chaps.

Until next time my wonderful readers :-)

It's tough out there.....

"Wow" is all I can say. Some insanely hard work going into making this pub work and I can only hope that it pays off because we are definitely on the right track.


I think we severely underestimated just how poorly managed the place was before we came in. There are so many questions that I find myself asking in my head -


Did the call for help come too late?
Do we even have 8 weeks to get where we expect to be?
How are we going to recoup our costs and effort?
Are we getting the support we need?
Why can I not find anybody to work the kitchen during the day?


These are all genuine concerns especially the first and last ones.


A few things I am certain of though -


Takings are up.
The final menu is still yet to be decided but the food going out is a vast improvement and compliments are coming back with every meal served. Especially the Sunday roasts and steaks. So much so that I'm starting to doubt if I have ordered enough for this Sunday alone!
The pub has a real buzz of energy building up.
Villagers are returning and not only that but they are telling us how much better it feels in there.
The health and safety/food hygiene program is almost complete and I'm confident we can gain at least 4 "Scores on the doors" stars if not the full 5.
Our event ideas have been approved by all the local authority departments.


It's very easy to understand why so many pubs are failing. You either need to be a well established, well run venue with the right reputation or you need to diversify and offer people more than just beer and food.


Being only one of two pubs in the village with the other falling into the former category we need to be aiming for the latter and we have so many things in the pipeline but it's uncertain if we can have the time to get them going. It's a very tough business anyway but taking it from where it is to where it needs to be can only take hard work, patience, perseverance and definitely means having the right people involved.


From our pub consultancy business plan point of view we are doing well. We are on target to achieve the goals we set and most likely exceed them. We are well ahead with getting the villagers reputation improved and if I say so myself the food compared to just a couple of weeks ago is excellent quality and excellent value.


I have to be honest and say I'm impressed that the pub is still even trading given it's mismanagement by the previous person in charge. If it wasn't for the dedication of the key staff and the absolute passion and will to succeed of the leaseholder then this venue would have been boarded up months ago....I wish we'd have got hold of it much sooner....much much sooner!


"So how's the menu looking now?" I hear you beg upon thine ear. Well take a look at what we are serving up tonight and please do let me know what you think -

Starters

Prawn cocktail                                                                                                                                 £4.25

King prawns cooked in olive oil and cooled onsite combined with crisp iceberg lettuce and traditional Marie Rose dressing. To make this our own we’ve introduced chargrilled peppers into the cocktail and added a sliver of spicy Tabasco laced pepper purée on the side.

Scotch quails eggs                                                                                                                          £4.25

Two soft boiled quails eggs encased in succulent Berkshire pork sausagemeat then coated in seasoned breadcrumbs. The teriyaki sauce adds some sweetness to this otherwise savoury and exquisite signature dish.

Mushrooms on toast (v)                                                                                                               £4.15

Cup mushrooms pan fried in butter and garlic then enriched with double cream, served on toasted white or brown bread with a salad garnish.

Breaded brie(v)                                                                                                                                  £4.25

Four wedges of oozing brie coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried until golden and crunchy. Served on a bed of salad with a generous spoonful of award winning real ale relish from a local producer.

Spiced potted pork                                                                                                                           £4.50

Slow cooked pork shoulder shredded and mixed with Cajun spiced butter packed into a ramekin, sealed with melted butter sprinkled with paprika, served with brown or white toast and a salad garnish.

Main courses

Leek and potato tarte (v)                                                                                                               £7.25

Homemade shortcrust pastry tart case filled with sautéed leeks mixed with mashed potato, Cheddar cheese and free range egg. Served with a salad garnish and three slices of parsley and garlic bread.

Beef and Henry’s topcrust pie                                                                                                      £7.25

A packed bowlful of 28 day matured beef from our local independent butcher in gravy made with our Henry’s India pale ale and topped with puff pastry. Served with mashed potatoes, peas and wonderful red onion gravy                                                                                                                                                               

 Beer battered cod                                                                                                                            £7.25

               

                Crunchy coated cod with chips and peas served with a lemon wedge and a pot                   of tartare sauce.

Star fish pie                                                                                                                                         £7.15

No not actual Starfish but chunks of oven baked white fish in a Cheddar cheese and Gran Padano sauce topped with mashed potato and more cheese, served with three slices of garlic bread and salad garnish. (May contain bones)

Rump steak                                                                                                                                       £12.75

Finest 28 day aged rump steak from our local butcher slow cooking under vacuum makes this humble cut taste like the finest fillet. Cuts like butter, tastes divine and not a hint of pink to be seen, eating is believing. Served with chips, sautéed mushroom, onion rings and peas.

Scampi                                                                                                                                                  £7.25

               
                Wholetail breaded scampi served with a lemon wedge, chips, peas and a pot of                   tartare sauce.                                                                                                                                                              

Three egg omelette (v)                                                                                                               £7.15

Three free range eggs cooked in the pan and finished under the grill. Served with chips and salad garnish. (Fill with cheese, bacon, ham or sautéed mushrooms for an extra 75p each)

Desserts

Iced Baileys parfait with cream                                                                            £3.95

Chocolate truffon with cream                                                                              £3.95

Sticky toffee pudding with custard                                                                       £3.95

Syrup sponge with custard                                                                                 £3.95

Three scoops of ice cream (vanilla, strawberry or chocolate                                     £3.95

Tea or Lavazzi filter coffee                                                                                 £1.80     

Lack of connections...

Please excuse me for the lack of updates. I've been wanting to however I have literally been working all the hours of the day since Monday and it doesn't help that there is almost zero internet connection at the pub. There is a Vodafone dongle available but honestly it's like trying to run through 4 ft of treacle.

I've done every service since Tuesday morning on my own which in itself hasn't been too bad. OK the business is slow but it's not been helped at all by the weather, particularly over the last two snowy days. The main thing however is the toll all the washing up and cold weather has taken on my hands, they are like lizard hands, well not quite but you get what I mean. I should be wearing gloves and given the time I would but it's that time that's lacking.

I've decided to take down the menu boards and print out a different menu sheet everyday, mainly to use up stock but also to introduce new dishes. There is just so much to do in other parts of the kitchen especially where health and safety is concerned, it's not dirty in anyway but the CIEH (Chartered institute for environmental health) require quite a few records and procedures to be written and that just hasn't been kept up. I should have it all re-written and ready to go tomorrow and after that it's just a case of sticking to the basic hygiene tasks, keeping the logs and doing the checks each day. It'll be a huge weight off when done.

Our new till system is being installed on Tuesday which will require staff training, not so much for functionality but more for what to do is mistakes are made. The system is really really good as it links the till system to the accountancy to the stocktaking, it's pretty unique for this kind of smaller venue as it'd probably be considered something that only a big chain pub might employ. It has a set up fee and a flat price each month but for what it actually does it's cost is very low. The area manager of Wadworths looked dumbfounded when we explained it to him because he couldn't believe we'd have a package that does what it does for the amount it costs.

Still absolutely desperate for kitchen staff. It's not like we need anybody massively experienced either, just someone who can follow a few simple recipes and be able to build dishes from pre-prepared ingredients. I still love being in there but I only have one more week off work!!

How many?.......

Food trade in the pub has been slow, very slow, So slow in fact that I volunteered myself to cover both lunchtime and evening shifts in the kitchen yesterday............Hmmmm glad I did cause it went a bit looney tunes.

I hope I was more of a help than a hindrance to our other cook but I think I did OK considering the last time I did any kind of service like that was about 7 years ago with around 8 covers at most at the local boozer. This time we had around 30 covers and even though it probably wasn't the most well run of services with food going out at all different times the quality was good.

The customers don't know the situation the pub is in so we cannot afford to be so un-organised in the future. I hope those who did wait will be able to overlook that and be back next week. Most of them were ramblers and most had pre-ordered which makes it even more frustrating. I think we should greet them next time with a big hot mug of coffee and some bacon butties.

Plenty of drinkers here from around 4:30pm yesterday which added to the busy lunchtime so that made the overall business very good for a midweek day, we really want to be building on it and having every day like this at a minimum and I think that's a tough target to set but it's entirely achievable if we stick to our business plan.

Good thing about having a busy bar between food services is that I get to try out some of my new menu recipes on the punters. Yesterday I knocked up a couple of prawn cocktails which went down very well so they are definitely staying. I'll be doing a couple more today but spending a day in the kitchen has shown me that we only need a few regular dishes, maybe 6 starters, 6 mains and 6 desserts so what I have already will need to be trimmed. Even as simplistic as the current offering seems everything is just too fragmented, there doesn't seem to be any synergies. The specials board can offer a wider range and that way we can source even more locally and seasonally.

I'm back in the kitchen today, it's curry day too so I need to whip up a couple of them and I'm doing one of the services too...........WE NEED KITCHEN STAFF !!! HELP :-)

Two days in....

We after just two days at the pub I can safely say we're settled in and have a pretty clear idea on how we need to start off on our quest for 8 week profitdom.

It's pretty obvious to start that a slow measured approach to the food offering will be more beneficial than rushing in and creating a menu which might lead to some initial stock spoilage. The pub already has two successful midweek evenings so it'd be far more sensible to continue and grow these while at the same time introducing the drinkers to our simpler dishes such as the stonebaked pizzas which really are rather tasty. 

Another couple of more food orientated midweek evenings are being arranged and should these prove popular then that would pretty much create a healthy 5 day business which is essential to a venue such as this.

Lunchtimes are still our greatest challenge and getting if we can bring in a steady income from these as well as the evenings then we should not only meet our target but smash it. In a perfect world of course because to achieve this is going to take some seriously hard work and plenty of enthusiasm.

It is a country pub in a small village (Waltham St Lawrence, circa 500 households) so the business model has to reflect that. We want to do cracking pub grub but we don't want to pretend to be chasing Michelin stars because too many places seem to be far too focussed on that these days and lets be honest if you want that then Bray is only a taxi or chauffeur drive away.

That's not to say I don't want other awards! The pub has a good health and safety status and it's kept very clean. Joan the cleaner has been working there every morning for over 50 years, she certainly knows how to keep the public areas clean. The kitchen and bar areas have good cleaning routines in place and the stock is well stored and controlled. For me however the search for cleanliness, food hygiene and safety should never end and I won't be satisfied until we have a 5 star "Scores on the door" rating.

Having said that I have compiled a provisional a la carte lunchtime and evening menu, I'm changing bits on it all the time as I try to tailor it to maximise ingredient usage and portion control. It'd be good to get some feedback. This is it so far so whaddya think?

Starters –

·         Prawn cocktail with roasted red peppers

·         Game terrine

·         Spiced potted Berkshire pork

·         Potted crab

·         Scotch quails eggs with Star sauce

·         Mushrooms on toast

·         Fried halloumi with lemon and caper dressing.

·         Pickled sardines with crostini

Mains –

·         Slow cooked Duck Leg with mashed potato and pancetta peas

·         Rib Steak and triple cooked chips with mushrooms and peas

·         Handmade burger with choice of topping served with triple cooked chips

·         Lambs liver and bacon casserole with mashed potato, spring greens

·         Shepherd’s pie

·         Salt Cod with chorizo and butterbeans

·         Spaghetti with oil and chilli

·         Spenwood cheese sausages with triple cooked chips and peas

·         Battered Fish of the day and triple cooked chips and mushy peas

·         Pan-fried chicken breast with a mushroom and madeira cream sauce served with boiled rice

·         Beef lasagne with green salad

·         Chilli con carne with long grain rice

Desserts –

·         Seasonal fruit fool

·         Eton mess

·         Cheese & biscuits

·         Jam Roly Poly and custard

·         Sherry trifle

·         Lemon meringue pie

·         Ice cream

·         Chocolate tarte

Australia Day.....

I think I have found the best red wine EVER and I've not even had a sip yet.

Quite a coincidence that it's Australia day too because it's from the one place I've been too down under and it's the place on earth where I would love to live the most.

I was sat at work today thinking how much I'd love a nice bottle of red wine from Waitrose while I spend the evening working on the menu for the new venture and this was the very first bottle I went too.

It's a 2008 Pinot Noir from the Stonier winery in the Mornington peninsula in Melbourne. Initially I love Pinot Noir, it's probably my favourite of all grapes because it's so consistent. You'd be very very unlucky to come across a poor quality Pinot Noir, it's responsible for some of the greatest wines produced.

This however a very special meaning. Mornington is the home of one of my best buddies and his new family all of  whom I miss like crazy. I was there last year for their wedding and I fell in love with the place and the people. I crave to live there at some point in my life.

During the time I was there we went off on a wine tour with some of the travelling wedding party and it was such a wonderful day so even looking at the bottle gives me such good memories.

The absolutely wonderfully brilliant best bit about it though is that the back label tells me it's imported from "Merricks" and it was here that the actually wedding reception took place.

I'm so chuffed I found it :-)

Looks like I'm having a better Australia day than Julia Guillard (or however it is you spell it)