Star Pubs & Bars is to invest in a further series of free retail skills workshops for its licensees and their key staff in 2016. This follows the successful launch in 2015. Around 50% of its pubs will have benefitted from attending the workshops by the end of the year.
As well as helping licensees improve standards and sales in their pubs, the workshops are intended to meet multiple operators’ requirement for staff training and development.
In a new move for the leased sector, multiple operators who have at least one pub with Star will be invited to include senior staff across all their pubs on the Star workshops.
Four workshops will focus on social media, merchandising and retail standards, customer service and drinks quality. Star is taking a different approach to course programming in 2016 with course topics, times and locations based on demand from its licensees.
99% of attendees of the 2015 workshops said they would recommend the workshops to other licensees. All materials have been created by Star Pubs & Bars to ensure their relevance to leased pub operators. The workshops are delivered by ABV using experienced trainers selected by Star, all of whom have also run their own pubs and restaurants.
Lawson Mountstevens, managing director of Star Pubs & Bars said: “We know from talking to licensees that getting good quality staff training is a major issue, particularly for multiple operators wanting to provide consistency.
“Staff increasingly expect employers to invest in their development not just pay them a wage. We hope that as well as helping our licensees deliver outstanding service, this initiative will also play a part in helping them recruit and retain great people.”