Is there still money in booze and food?

Is there still money in booze and food?

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singlecoil

Original Poster:

33,310 posts

245 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Wetherspoons obviously think so

This is the pub across the road from my shop in Bletchley. It was shut down for quite a long time, I figured it was going to be demolished and flats built on the site. But no...



The builders have been in for a few weeks now, the place is a hive of activity, never less than a dozen blokes there, sometimes more, and the place isn't scheduled to open until late October. They must be spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on the place. At least.

One's got to think they know what they are doing, and rumours of the demise of the licensed trade are exaggerated.

AnimalMother

1,294 posts

225 months

Monday 24th July 2017
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I once read that Wetherspoons make an average profit per establishment of between £30k and £40k......

Truly an economy of scale...

droopsnoot

11,809 posts

241 months

Monday 24th July 2017
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There's a couple close to me that are similar, actually owned by the same people. One has been closed for at least two years, fenced off, rumours of either conversion to restaurant or demolished and redeveloped. The other was closed at the start of this year for refurbishment but sat boarded up for months, looking as if it would be left until an eyesore and then improved with new houses. They're advertising for staff for the latter one now, and the former is due to be started once the other is open.

There's a change coming for landlords in tied houses, I must admit I don't really know the details but it allows them a lot more flexibility once they're "free of tie", and presumably more potential to make profit. A guy I know who runs a pub was talking about selling up, but no-one was really interested until they were free, and I think he's decided to stick with it now.

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Monday 24th July 2017
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singlecoil said:
Wetherspoons obviously think so
They are reportedly spending over £1m on refurbishing one in Taunton!



Sheepshanks

32,522 posts

118 months

Monday 24th July 2017
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AnimalMother said:
I once read that Wetherspoons make an average profit per establishment of between £30k and £40k......

Truly an economy of scale...
Quick glance at their numbers and that's about right.

I look at lots of business, pubs and car dealerships particularly, and wonder how they can possibly make money. The pub in our village reportedly cost £800K to refurb a few years ago and it lasted 4 months. A popular country pub nearby apparently cost £2.5M to do up.

Dan_1981

17,351 posts

198 months

Monday 24th July 2017
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randlemarcus

13,507 posts

230 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
Quick glance at their numbers and that's about right.

I look at lots of business, pubs and car dealerships particularly, and wonder how they can possibly make money. The pub in our village reportedly cost £800K to refurb a few years ago and it lasted 4 months. A popular country pub nearby apparently cost £2.5M to do up.
Does Spoons have a refurbishment company, by any chance?

I had always assumed that the underlying property value had quite a lot to do with the odd locations, but honestly, I do actually think that buried in a faceless corporate behemoth, there are folks who actually like pubs, and old buildings.

BlueHave

4,636 posts

107 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
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They bought an old church near me and planned to spend £2million turning it into a massive pub and small hotel.

It's near about 5 or 6 already established and popular hotels and bars so I have no idea how they expect to make any money from it.

Frimley111R

15,535 posts

233 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
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Wetherspoons have a market leading business model. They open many for breakfasts (can you imagine a pub doing that many years ago?) which is dead time for all other pubs. Plus they have huge economies of scale and buy cheaply (I heard) beers just before they go out of date because they know they can sell it through all their outlets.

Plenty of posh pubs near me that are full a lot of the time but the town centre ones are shockingly dead for most of the week.

With beer approaching £5 a pint though I can see that more pubs are on the way out.

rustyuk

4,568 posts

210 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
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A lot of Weatherspoons in the north attract the professional drinkers. The one in my old town is the only pub that is busy all day every day.

You wouldn't take you kids in there.

The Mad Monk

10,474 posts

116 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
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AnimalMother said:
I once read that Wetherspoons make an average profit per establishment of between £30k and £40k......

Truly an economy of scale...
https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/investors-home/reports-results-presentations

Annual turnover £800M.

Annual profit £65M

Number of outlets - look, can we call it 1,000 then I can do the calculation in my head?

Average profit per pub per year - around £65,000.


Edited by The Mad Monk on Tuesday 25th July 21:26

Frimley111R

15,535 posts

233 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
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Err....£65,000 hehe

Frimley111R

15,535 posts

233 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
quotequote all
Also, related to food and drink, my local McDonalds has a T/O of £6m. Not bad on food that is so low cost.

The Mad Monk

10,474 posts

116 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
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Frimley111R said:
Err....£65,000 hehe
Well done. I was waiting to see who would be the first to spot that.

Type R Tom

3,859 posts

148 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
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I think they may have the fast food joints in their sights too, went in to Burger King the other day, a decent meal is now over £7, my mates and I all agreed a Spoons burger is better for the money. Same with breakfast, the quality is better than your local greasy cafe and about the same cost, especially with free refills.

I'm glad they are doing the Ramsgate one, that place has been shut for years.

costsmonkey

164 posts

155 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
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Type R Tom said:
......went in to Burger King the other day, a decent meal is now over £7
Isn't that an oxymoron?

Truckosaurus

11,183 posts

283 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
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Wetherspoons is the best pub in town in a lot of places around the country.

My local ones are always packed at weekend mornings selling breakfasts on top of more traditional lunch and evening trade.

Always have a better range of beer than other chain pubs and many 'free houses'.

I've never understood why none of the other big pub chains have copied their cheap drinks model.

People like my parents will happily go down to their local 'spoons for curry or steak night but wouldn't dream of visiting other pubs unless there was a special event taking place.

RTB

8,273 posts

257 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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I have to admit our local Whetherspoons is always busy when I drive past it.

I go in there with my two sons every Saturday morning. It's a bit of a ritual now. We get up early, go for a swim in the local pool and then go for a fry-up at Whetherspoons. They make a decent breakfast for less than I can make at home, no washing up and I get to sit and drink a couple of cups of passable coffee whilst the boys stuff themselves with fried food and play on their tablets for an hour. There is a cadre of professional drinkers in there who are well into their pints of lager (and occasional whisky/vodka chasers) at 9.30 in the morning, but in our little town they are pretty much harmless and all sit on a couple of tables in one corner.



N.B. With those margins I imagine that managing a Whetherspoons is a pretty stressful job.

thebraketester

14,191 posts

137 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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They've got more property than the catholic church* .... Some of the nicest pubs I have been in are wetherspoons (in terms of the actual building)... also some of them are the worst I have been in

  • possible over exaggeration.

markcoznottz

7,155 posts

223 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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Frimley111R said:
Also, related to food and drink, my local McDonalds has a T/O of £6m. Not bad on food that is so low cost.
As you well know though, turnover ain't profit. Plus franchise fees etc. It's hard to gauge the roi on individual McDonald's, and they must spend money to make it hard to know.