Case Study
Operations Audit for a village Pub near Oxford
About the Client
A village Pub near Oxford, under new ownership (under 12 months), priding themselves on elevated pub food and warm hospitality.
They wanted to attract the Foodies from Oxford, not just the locals that had already grown trust in their brand. And beyond that, they were looking to grow, they wanted another pub, and maybe even a brewery. But they needed things to stabilise before they took on another contract.
The hurdles & the brief
The Pub expressed a need to drive more brand awareness, to increase footfall beyond the locals with whom their reputation was already established; but they also expressed worry over hiring, staff costs, and the need to assess ‘right people in right places’ for the ongoing jobs that drive business growth (marketing and events especially).
At the time, those jobs were being split between the Owner and the General Manager, with no expert support or strategy.
Why did they come to us?
The Client recognised that they’re stuck in a time-wasting rut of inherited assets, and constrained by the typical limitations of hospitality businesses - staffing vs costs.
They wanted to attract customers from further afield without losing the loyal local community they'd already built.
They wanted to improve their digital presence to achieve this, and to help their events and functions to become a more profitable part of the business.
Ideally they were looking to also improve staff retention. Most importantly, they wanted this done quickly, without being tied into long-term cost.
Services offered:
Operations Audit + 3 day on-site delivery
Project timeline: 2 weeks
Summary of deliverables:
Website was rebuilt in Squarespace, with domain and asset transfer.
Consolidating and updating brand presence - logo files, all brand graphic assets, fonts files with correct license.
“Brand Bible” PDF guidelines created
Editable food Menu designs created for repeat use (including a seasonal ‘festive’ design)
Rolling rota template
Events SOP - workflow and roles clarified, ease of booking new business, ease of handover
Our process
We spent a day on site with the owner, General Manager and Head Chef, digging into all aspects of the business. We looked at the whole operation, from systems and staffing to marketing, customer experience and commercial performance.
From that work, we produced a detailed Operations Audit with practical recommendations prioritised around the owner's key points. Together, we identified three top priorities that would have the biggest impact.
From that 14 point audit, we identified 3 top bottleneck priorities, which the Pub asked us to take action on immediately:
Restricted customer reach - weak digital presence, low brand consistency and outdated online presence
High staff turnover in a restricted market with competition on each corner
Weak ROI for events and functions
-
strengthened the Pub's digital presence, rebuilt their website on a platform the team could actually manage themselves (saving hundreds of £££ and hours of waiting time)
Improved their branding and made better use of technology (Open Table) they already owned to attract customers from further afield.
-
We redesigned staff rotas to create a more sustainable working pattern
Improved management cover and created clearer progression opportunities for the team, reducing pressure on senior staff while supporting retention.
-
We introduced standardised workflows, clearer processes and stronger marketing assets, making events easier to manage
We simplified hand over between staff and made the process significantly more commercially focused.
We also strengthened digital and print collateral, with unified brand guidelines, and templates for in-house reuse (content marketing, menu printing) for ease.
Impact of the project & client results
Overall, the business has moved towards a more structured, scalable operating model; strong underlying processes in staff management, event delivery, and digital presence collectively indicate a stronger foundation for sustainable growth, leaving less to chance as they branch out and develop.
-
Moving the Pub’s website to Squarespace, a more user-friendly platform, allowed them to shed the ongoing costs of a retained agency Website Designer, as they could now easily update the website in-house.
-
Expedited time and improved efficiency for any website updates. Ooutsourcing them used to take 2-3 weeks before the support tickets were actioned.
-
Improving brand reputation and in turn new and repeat business. They have a more commercially focused department, allowing for personability in line with profit, and paving way for more impactful marketing and recognition from audience.
-
Much easier to secure new business for in-house events (high priority, due to superior profit margin), ease of handover while maintaining the right standard (all correct information on the form, has to be filled out while booking new business). Ease of handover and cross-dept communication for the event needs (food, staffing).
-
Rota management is streamlined, predictable, and contributing to a more balanced and sustainable working environment for everyone.
Burnout is no longer in the top worries. They now have better staff consistency, suggesting early progress in staff retention, and better appeal for recruitment.
-
Without introducing new tech and new costs, they now have a larger external customer base, using an advertisement platform where the only cost comes once the revenue is secured.
There is direct data analysis to understand the full reach of the business in its before state and comparables to measure success in the future.
-
The standardised work-flow system has dropped the overwhelm in the event team, they can now include others with the more transparent process.
It’s produced consistency for the team delivering the event as well as clients enjoying it.
-
Something about the brand assets and giving standards to follow for showing up online?
“This makes so much more sense, and lets me forecast and increase my revenue much easier!”