Supermarket booze
There are people who are determined to establish a causal link between cheap booze prices in supermarkets and the pace of pub closures. Apparently, if cans of lager and bottles of generic voddy are cheap in Lidl, drinkers will forego the social pleasures of the pub and get tanked up in front of the telly. But if that's true, it would suggest that people only use pubs as a way of getting inebriated, in which case surely the pub wouldn't really be worth saving? So those who make a big noise about this subject play into the hands of those who don't care a fig about our pub culture.
Having said that, a TV ad just caught my eye: right now you can buy a 70cl bottle of Absolut - the pouring vodka in my pub - for just £9.99 in Somerfield. I think that's actually a shade cheaper than the discounted wholesale price I get from my (fairly competitive) spirits supplier. It must be a loss leader. Madness.
"Don't care a fig". Brilliant. I do amuse myself sometimes.
18 comments:
I believe that loss leading is illegal in this country. I think that it means that if supermarkets wanted to start supplying pubs and such with spirits and bottles, then they probably could do so.
Who says the person who purchases cheap beer or vodka from the supermarket wants to get tanked up though?
Perhaps some might choose to drink in pub-quantities at home, but the supermarket prices allow them to do it far more cheaply than they could in a pub.
Pubs close because they're shit.
There really is no other reason.
Any pub anywhere can make a profit if the people who run it make the effort.
It's why you can go to the shittiest part of the biggest shit-hole on earth and still find someone prepared to sell you drink.
And they do it because they're making money.
Fact.
End of.
Showbizguru, your first comment really is total bollocks. Sometimes good pubs do close down. And running a pub is not just about turning over a profit. (Most pubs that are just concerned about making a profit and nothing else are shitholes, in my opinion.)
You don't see many pubs shutting down in Prague at the moment, where a half litre of lager will cost you almost double that of the supermarket in many cases, and in some case up to 4 times more (but that's if you go to a tourist trap).
Velky Al, not all pubs in Prague that are a little more expensive are "tourist traps". A lot of them are patronised mainly by middle class Czechs. Indeed I found most of the truly cheap places have little appeal apart from as a sort of cultural experience of the "I'm Louis Theroux" variety.
On the other hand the prices in expat ghettos like O'Che's and Jama just take the piss, as do those in the true tourist traps around OTS and off Nerudova.
Cornubia - you said running a pub is not just about turning over a profit.
I take it you've never owned a pub - which I have.
Like any business it is ALL about making a profit.
If you also have a decent clientele and you sell a good product and enjoy what you do that's a bonus.
As the saying goes - turnover is vanity;profit is sanity.
Cornubia, my thoughts exactly.
Never been to O'Che's - the name itself is enough to put me right off, along with holes like Caffrey's and George and the Dragon (have never done the expat thing really in ten years in the city).
The average half litre of swill these days in the centre of Prague is about 30kc, of course I am talking of places just off places like Vaclavske Namesti or Staromestske Namesti. On the squares themselves though you are looking at nearer 60kc.
I guess it is a question of value, I don't mind paying 60kc for a Svaty Norbert up at Strahov Monastery, but I would object that paying that for Staropramen or Gamcrap even if it came in a gold rimmed glass served by Vaclav Klaus himself.
Why anyone would bother paying a premium for a branded vodka is beyond me. Vodka is just alcohol, the "brand" brings nothing in terms of taste, so go with the cheapest. I know some people will disagree with me, I guess it´s the same people who keep buying branded flavoured vodkas, which is just water, alcohol and some added chemical. There is no sane explantion for spending money on that.
bengt, have you tried a generic vodka side by side with a good one? There is a difference.
Bengt, I'd have agreed before trying a Vodka bought home from Russia last year. Smelt like paint stripper, tasted warm with a sweet, liquerice after taste.
Showbizguru, I currently run the Cornubia in Bristol. I trying to make it the best pub in the whole world. This may take some time.
If I was just interested in making a profit and nothing else, you know what the first thing that I would do was ? I would take out the real ale and put in keg bitter. No waste, and a standard pint every time. Then I'd probalby take the Russian vodka out, and get the cheapest cooking vodka available in. People don't avoid a pub because of the quality of the vodka. I would certainly lose the vinyl on the Saturday and Sundays. Far too much effort for the staff to keep on turning the record over every half hour. Just get some Jack Johnson on an Ipod. I would have to lose All the Belgian, American and German bottled beers that i currently stock. Far higher GP can be made with Budweiser, Stella and Sol. And there is much better percentage to be made with frozen ready-meals than employing a chaf.
Mmmm, my pub sounds better already.
Cornubia:
Well I'm glad to admit I have egg on my face.
But you've just validated my point that pubs close because they're shit.
You obviously care about what you do and run a pub that definitely isn't shit.
But profit is still the final part of the equation where effort equals reward.
I'm due in the West Country in the next few weeks - I'll drop in and try your beer.
What's the real ale ?
Cornubia:
Ah, I see now. A quick bit of googling reveals it's The Hidden Brewing Company.
That explains a lot - I drink occasionally in the Chough in Salisbury which is a belting pub with a seriously good selection of beer.
They've done a fantastic job of enlivening a really shit boozer.
Respect is due.
I definitely will call in.
Mark, I should've written "cheapest as long as it is safe". Your vodka probably tasted that way because it was full of impurities. If the taste was intentional, then it's not vodka anymore, it's schnapps, aqua vita, or brannvin wathever you want to call it. I'm sure you'll agree that most people (obviously not you and me)never drink their vodka straight but pour something else in there, reducing the vodka to just alcohol making a "brand name" a useless waste of money.
Cornubia, your tongue-in-cheek exposition of how you'd maximise profit by lowering costs does of course ignore the point that no-one would come to your pub if your standards became so low!
Everything should be profit driven in a pub - high quality produce and service included. A good offer might involve lower margins and more effort, but will surely lead to a good atmosphere, loyal, quality customers and therefore higher sales and more profit.
There is no conflict between a good offer you can be proud of and the pursuit of profit.
Showbizguru, thank you. I agree, the profit is the final peice of the jigsaw, and without it the whole exercise is a trifle pointless. But evertone knows there is much easier ways to make money than the pub game. That was the point I was trying to make before I distracted myself. I'm sure both you and Jeffery are familiar with those 14 hr shifts. I oughtn't post afer one of them.
I would love for you to come down and see the progress so far.
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