About us/Our managed business


The Rising Sun, Congleton Road, Macclesfield, SK11 7XD

Managed estate: 835 pubs.

Our goal: to become and remain the best managed pub business in the UK.

Under new leadership and direction, the managed business has focused on putting strong foundations in place to deliver its future potential. Punch Pub Company has made a number of key improvements over the last 12 months and now has a robust strategy in place to drive sales, margin and profit growth, focused around the Circle of Success.

Best for team
 
We firmly believe that a well motivated team will deliver consistently great guest experiences. Over the last 12 months, we have focused on recruiting and retaining the best quality people within the industry, in our pub, operations and support teams. We increased the calibre of our management teams, through the introduction of new blueprint structures in all our pubs and the creation of General Manager, Deputy General Manager and Duty Manager roles. We have also reduced Team Player turnover by an impressive 34% in the year with an ambitious target to reduce turnover even further within the next 12 months. Only a stable team can deliver consistently great results.

Best for guest
 
Satisfied guests create repeat visits and advocacy, which will in turn generate new guests. Activity has focused to date on primarily improving our existing concepts, in terms of service enhancements, menu transformation and capacity management. At the same time we have remapped our concept portfolio to develop exciting new consumer offers for the future. Our guest experience is driven by Operational Excellence, which gives us the foundations to deliver and measure consistently great guest experiences.

Best for investors
 
Delivering strong sales, margins and profit growth will mean that we can reinvest in our teams and our pubs. We undertook a comprehensive estate review and consumer research, to gain detailed information to shape our current estate plan and identify our future concept portfolio. We have developed several new concepts to pilot and successful concepts will be rapidly rolled out.
 
At the same time, we reviewed our investment strategy to ensure that we generate sufficient returns. We halted major capital expenditure projects, spending money only on new concept development, and increased spend on repairs to improve the overall quality of our estate.
 
The business has a renewed focus on costs whilst simultaneously driving a stronger sales growth mentality. Cost control has focused on reducing our cost of goods, especially in relation to food and utilities.
 
Every pub has a dedicated sales plan, supporting central marketing activity including the aggressive promotion of Key Value Items. We have set up an email club for every pub and a new consumer website, www.mypubheaven.com, will allow pubs to communicate directly with their local communities and facilitate online bookings. 

Operational Excellence

At the heart of our Circle of Success, Operational Excellence will deliver further value to our investors by consistently providing what our guests want through releasing the potential of our teams.
 
Launched in March 2009, Operational Excellence is a major change management programme which will transform the mindset of the 17,000 people in our pubs. It is about ensuring our pub teams do the right things in the right way, with the right measures, supported by business leading communication. There are eight Operational Excellence Hardlines which outline the must do activities and ways of working.

Operational Excellence is the driving force behind the Circle of Success, ensuring that we deliver the best for our team, best for our guests and ultimately, the best for our investors.