Since the New Year, Punch licensees have collectively completed 1,485 days of training; specifically tailored to support their individual needs and learning styles.
Punch introduced ‘Your Development Portfolio’ at the end of last year to further enhance the training it offers to licensees, building on the success of the award winning Modern License Retailer (MLR) course.
The programme is the only one of its kind in the industry to link licensee training with the one to one meetings licensees have with their business relationship manager to ensure the training is really relevant to their needs.
Punch operations director Kevin Georgel explains: “We’re extremely pleased with the success of the programme to date. The whole basis is to provide a more bespoke and personalised package for licensees that genuinely adds value; whether they have been in the trade for years or are completely new to the industry. In addition we have built in an incentive for licensees – if they complete their development portfolio within six months they will receive £600 cash back!”
Kevin continues: “As well as the five day Foundation for Success (FFS) programme covering all of the key basics in food hygiene, legislation and finance, the portfolio also includes one to one in-pub training where specialist licensed trade consultants spend time with the licensee in their own pub looking at relevant areas of need such as cellar training, stock management, marketing and staff management. On top of that, licensees can choose practical business workshops in areas such as financial management, chalk boarding, catering and customer service, all designed to help boost profits.”
Punch licensee, Louise Hedges of The Biddestone Arms in Chippenham, comments: “I honestly thought that my knowledge and skills were sufficient to run my business successfully so was sceptical! But I genuinely got a lot out of the sessions like how to display your back bar properly or how to best arrange your fridges.”
Louise continues: “The biggest thing I learnt was the impact that marketing and merchandising can have. I have learnt to look at my pub through my customers’ eyes and teach my team to do the same. I really learned a lot of very interesting stuff and would recommend the programme to anyone!”