Recent months have seen Mitchells & Butlers’ All Bar One opening new sites at Birmingham International Airport, Buckingham Gate, Victoria Street in London, at the O2 out in Greenwich, and at London’s Euston station, taking the company to almost 50 sites nationwide. It’s a division, that is being backed and supported by its parent, and investing in prominent, high footfall sites.
H&C News was therefore delighted to have the opportunity to meet Andre Johnstone, Head of Marketing, and learn more about the All Bar One operation.
Design and presentation
As the images that accompany this article clearly demonstrate, All Bar One is not what it was!
Not only are most outlets now located in close proximity to rail, underground or airport hubs, the remainder are located in shopping centres and areas of similarly high concentrations of people and footfall.
At the same time, the five year rolling refurbishment programme, combined with openings, has been very busy transforming the look and style of the estate. Critically, this has carefully avoided any suggestion of ‘style bar’ in seeking a classic and enduring appearance that will not only deliver a quality environment, but will also not ‘date’ within just a year or two.
Key to this type of environment is the lighting: too bright or dark and it affects and reduces the ‘social’ atmosphere, making customer retention more difficult. There’s also the requirement for lighting to enhance specific areas and activities – the back bar (below), Cocktail and Wine stations, and so on.
Target customer profile
The market has moved on from the days of bars catering only for male customers and intensive drinking at lunch-time and in the evenings after work. For a start, it’s an all day offer where breakfast merges into coffee into lunch and on into the evening.
Indeed, the target demographic is more likely to be 25 to 35 year old professional female workers: All Bar One is definitely ‘female friendly’ in its approach and design. The higher bar without a footrail is designed to discourage customers from grouping close to the bar – let alone leaning with their elbow on the bar! – and tables are sited well back from the bar, leaving more circulation space.
Recognising modern usage, tables have sockets for laptops and outlets have free WiFi – essential for coffee drinkers especially!
And, if you haven’t eaten in All Bar One recently, then you should try it – there’s a range of quality dishes that will suit every taste, including good ‘sharing’ platters from tapas to ceviche.
Theatre for that Instagram moment
The social environment that All Bar One seeks to deliver also recognises that the customer is looking not just for good, well-served drinks and food, but also for an ‘experience’ that they may want to share with friends.
This sense of ‘theatre’ is delivered on multiple levels.
The physical design and layout is important: look at the open glass frontage (below) that allows (prospective) customers to see what they’re missing inside; the impressive and attractive back bar display of drinks on offer; the line up of the different beer pumps on the bar; the cocktail stations…
These are all enhanced by activities which help to both attract and keep customers engaged – such as cocktail master classes, wine tasting, or food and wine matches. And staff are trained to ensure that they have a good working knowledge of the drinks and wines on offer, so that they can help customers to make the right choices.
Constant review and analysis
All Bar One has moved on a long way in its offering, and is well aware that it’s very easy for large organisations to lose touch with its customers and their changing tastes – especially in a highly competitive market which has not only seen the major players, including pub groups, raise their game through the recession, but also one where independents are constantly introducing new concepts and styles.
As a result, there is a constant review and analysis process of all the drinks and food dishes on offer. Technology, of course, makes this easier than ever before, supplying instant, ongoing comparative data, identifying what is working well and not so well – inviting further investigation and action.
At the same time as delivering good products, All Bar One understands that effective and friendly communication with customers is more important than ever: staff are briefed and encouraged to share the ‘stories’ behind new drinks on offer, or food dishes, and to demonstrates their skills and knowledge.
The result? From recent visits, the All Bar One brand is stronger than ever, with customers responding to the offer through the day, and visibly enjoying both the environment and products on offer. Locations play an important part in this, but the invariable presence of competition ensures that the offering has to be strong: these days, customers know they have choices, and are not slow make them.