Service and value are their watchwords
The Jolly Coopers at Flitton has become a place where people love to meet – at any one time its car park might be full of Morgans, Jaguars or cycles, depending on who is in!
Word of its welcoming reputation and great food have spread far and wide and attracted monthly meetings by the Jaguar Drivers Club, the Morgan Car Club and the Over 40’s Cycling Club.
The pub also hosts the lunchtime stop on an annual vintage car rally and monthly meetings of the Lions and Round Table.
Not surprisingly, with all their regular visitors, the lunchtime trade is booming for licensees Ian and Bobbi McInnes, who took on the pub, their first, five and a half years ago. Business overall is building nicely.
They knew something about the pub trade, having previously run a wholesale greengrocery business supplying fresh fruit and veg to hotels, pubs and restaurants.
“Ours is a traditional country pub but what we do is core to the whole service industry: we give good customer service, good value for money and give people a good time,” said Bobbi.
Ian still uses his knowledge of the London vegetable and fish markets to good effect, making weekly visits to buy produce for the Jolly Cooper’s 40 seater a la carte restaurant, which serves traditional home cooked country fayre, with a special line in fish dishes.
At various times you will find mussels, tuna, Cromer crabs, red snapper, sea bass, skate wings, sea bream, red mullet, dogfish and Moby Dick – their name for an exceptionally large cod fillet – on the restaurant menu or the frequently changing specials board.
They do bar meals too, which are often favoured in the winter thanks to the pub’s roaring log fire. “We try to cater for all tastes,” said Bobbi.
The traditional style and nature of the pub is emphasised by its regulars, who include thriving and popular darts, dominoes and cribbage teams.
It’s all proving to be a winning formula, acknowledged by the fact that the pub is included in the Good Beer Guide 2012.
“2011 has not been a bad year for us,” said Bobbi. “We have strived to maintain our standards and our customers have been good to us. The phrase I use most is, ‘we are doing as well as most and better than some.’
“When people are spending less, you have to make sure they have a really good time when they do spend, so that they will come back again.”
When we spoke to them, they were looking forward to a good Christmas, including Christmas Day drinks with regulars, who in addition to the usual warm welcome, could enjoy a drink on the house as the McInnes’s said ‘thanks’ for their support throughout the year. A nice touch.
They’re No.1 across the board
The McInnes’s are delighted that The Jolly Coopers is one of 20 pubs taking part in a new pub company consumer feedback project, which was launched on October 4.
Customers are canvassed on four specific areas and in November, their pub was number one across all categories: overall satisfaction, likelihood of revisiting the pub, likelihood of recommending the pub and good value for money.
“It was a fantastic result for us,” said Bobbi. “Our scores were up by six per cent in three categories and two per cent in the other, over our October results.”
The overall findings and results of the consumer project will help the pub company drive future business support and marketing activity.
Driving trade forward
We asked Bobbi to identify three things that have worked and helped to drive trade.
• Weekly meat raffles, offering up to 10 prizes, are extremely popular. Prizes range from beef, pork and lamb joints to lamb chops and a breakfast pack. Customers can buy as many tickets as they like at £1 each. “I get someone not involved in the raffle to draw the first ticket and it creates great camaraderie in the pub,” said Bobbi.
• A monthly Sunday morning breakfast. It attracts between 15 and 30 customers who enjoy the full hotel style English breakfast, or a fish dish of the weekend, in a relaxed atmosphere.
• A champagne breakfast at 9.30am on Christmas Eve – “a great way to start Christmas”.
