Historic King Drive, BID #8’s Post

Curate a brand carefully and you can migrate it from A to B. Just look at Audi's long journey to challenge BMW and Mercedes. Cities are no different, except that they're more chaotic. Much more. People buy into them for myriad reasons and myriad purposes. Music, architecture, culture, nightlife, weather, academe, football - and plenty more besides. There's no singular guiding hand, just multiple players following their instincts and making their investments. Taken together, their efforts still don't paint a singular picture, because of a city's sheer diversity, but impressions do change. The dial does move. Reputations do improve. I remember the opening of a small, upmarket sandwich shop on the corner of Castle St and Derby Square (Out to Lunch, it was called) and the impact that had on Liverpool, a city starved of quality after the hollowing-out of its economy in the 70s and 80s. A single sandwich shop. Fast forward, and we find Time Out hailing Liverpool as the UK's best city for food and Which? readers voting it the country's best large city. It was only the other week that Time Out also hailed Liverpool as one of the world's ten best cities. How things change: from basket case to the country's most celebrated city - and in the face of outstanding competition, too. You can't sniff at Glasgow, Bristol, London or Edinburgh, after all. Success has many fathers, and never is that more true than with cities. I doff my cap to everyone who's played their part in Liverpool's renaissance these last thirty years. What a journey. https://lnkd.in/gzwkfASm

Hospitality isn't broken, but the way we approach it definitely is. It's no secret that Sydney's catastrophic rental market, coupled with rising labour and cost of goods has seen operating margins slashed from their heyday. So why are we mostly still opening venues the same way we did 10-15 years ago? Collaborative models like Chinatown Country Club, Famelia or Fabriccia that offer a retail or e-commerce element are starting to shine through. Who doesn't want to go for an afternoon aperitif and walk out with some pasta for dinner, wine for the weekend or even an Isabel Marrant jacket? Whilst we'll mourn seminal places like Cornersmith, we're excited to see the evolution of the food and beverage space as innovative operators find new ways to overcome the big hurdles facing them. Crisis precipitates change; and we're here for it.

Some of my thoughts on the current state of the hospitality sector shared with Place North West in the article below. Its undoubtedly tough out there but opportunities do still exist, and performance remains resilient for the best operators in the best locations. #hospitality #opinions #liverpool #liverpollone #grosvenor https://lnkd.in/evCtYXen

Want to learn more about MRLA Membership? 🍍We could tell you about ALL the ways we provide you with #ValueVisionVoice, but we'd rather let real members and seasoned hospitality professionals like Scott Berman of One North Kitchen & Bar explain why #WearetheMRLA Ready to join? 👉 mrla.org/joinnow

It’s not all shiny restaurants and vibey venues at onepoint2. We take pride in the network that we’ve built, and the knack that we have developed to connect people and places, and to add value very quickly. What seemed like an off-hand comment, a footnote to one conversation with our client Amy Poon Mackenzie actually became the main event of the call. As their business grows, with a restaurant site on the way, Amy mentioned that they’d love to find a small light industrial facility for storage, production and, ideally, somewhere with a group of likeminded independent food businesses, and maybe even a place where tenants rolled up their shutters from time to time to sell to the general public. Amy didn’t suppose that there were many such locations - but it turns out that we had the key to the door of one of them, and I connected the dots immediately. Because we are also proud to represent the iconic Monmouth Coffee Company (have we ever mentioned that we love coffee?), who carefully manage the Spa Terminus estate in Bermondsey. There, they protect the mix of artisans and independent food businesses, opening up the doors now and then, precisely as Amy had described. Almost instantly, we introduced Poon’s to the opportunity and facilitated a speedy deal. Not our biggest deal, but a proud example of how the network and market knowledge that we have developed over years in the business saved our client valuable time trawling the market looking at different light industrial units (come on, not exactly a barrel of laughs) to focus on accelerating the business unimpeded, with delicious, authentic Chinese delights. #property #leisure #hospitality #opportunitiesunlocked #onepoint2

VENUE SHAPES AND THEIR IMPACT A few weeks ago I spoke of an event I attended where the long rectangular venue, with 8 boardroom style table configuration impacted the ability to fully engage with the attendees. Yesterday at a social event, I found the exact same. It was a golden retriever cafe for my dog Colin. There were around 50 pups there, and probably 130 humans. While the event was fun, for the everyone there (and Colin had a brilliant time), the U-shape of the venue made the experience quite chaotic beyond the fact of having 50 golden retrievers charging around. With a U-shape venue, there’s no obvious place for “second gate spend” merchants, like stalls, without creating bottle necks. Additionally, dogs being dogs, they want to explore so you have people and their dogs going back and forth around the U-shape…..creating bottle necks. And guess what happens when people turn the corners at the bottom of the U? More pinch points. So while the hounds were bounding through, you then have their humans knocking into one another. You may then say “ah so what?” And that’s fine. However when the open bar is then not taking any orders….aka revenue, because people just cannot get to the bar….or if they do, are then unable to get their drinks back from the bar due to the squeezes and pinch points, it’s lost revenue. My suggestion would have been for a rectangular/square venue, with tables and chairs pushed to the outside of the venue. A designated spot on each wall to have merchant vendors, thus creating flow as people will move around. Additionally, satellite bars for bottled drinks or popular coffees in each corner providing opportunity for revenue. This allows a larger space for “on your own activities” (feel free to ask more about the Six Activity Types, and how they feature in the Dynamic Planning Tool) I appreciate venues are hard to come by, but choosing wrong can have negative impact on revenue and experience. Choosing right, could seriously improve reputation, and drive more £££ into the purse! #events #entertainment #hospitality

Take a look in the mirror…. And ask yourself, is your business still relevant? Only asking as I've just done the same. It followed a random and totally unrelated event I went to recently (my goddaughter’s hen do at a newly-opened local food/drink/music venue). The experience, thanks to the establishment (and my goddaughter, of course!) was refreshingly different and totally on point….. 🤜 Vibrant, welcoming (smiling) staff, creating the mood the minute I walked in 🤜 Striking décor and background music to match, adding to the buzzy vibe 🤜 Simple yet trendy menu, so the kitchen team served good food every time 🤜 Drinks geared for today’s diners – cocktails, craft beers, non-alcohol equivalents I stepped off a quiet village street and into what felt like a West End London bar. It was mind-blowingly different, in a 'this is great for Peterborough' way! Something almost disruptive for our city & spot on for today’s culture and what it is looking for. 🎉 A brand that has researched its market and read its audience, creating an offering that fills a gap and meets needs and expectations. 🎉 And a brand that has a clear identity, knows where it sits and what it wants to achieve. It doesn’t matter if you work in the B2C or B2B space, 'getting' your audience, their changing pain points, the competition, the wider triggers (we’ve just had a change of Government, what does this mean for customers/clients’ attitudes, behaviour, buying habits?) - they all need consistently reviewing. Are we still relevant as a business, is a question we should always be asking ourselves, whatever industry we exist in. I know I am. And thanks to the Lancaster Lounge in Yaxley (https://loom.ly/jIk8saQ) for the reminder, for me, of just how important this is 😊 #peterborough #businessrelevancy #knowyouraudience

Very interesting article, informative and detailed.

Many ‘place makers’ have been promoting ‘leisure use’, to replace vacated department stores, to act as alternative anchors and replace footfall lost to trade switching to Retail Parks and ‘online’ Unfortunately, a toxic mix of high business rates, VAT, energy, food & wage inflation, unreliable (strike impacted) expensive public transport, the increase in WFH and town centre parking costs, have left many hospitality operators, ‘teetering on the brink of insolvency’, as more of the public ‘stay at home’ Despite this, rather than supporting existing leisure operators, many councils are still buying ‘empty’ shopping centres, ‘hoping’ that new leisure operators, will encourage trade to return to town centres, which looks to be a high risk strategy, in towns like Fareham, when you consider the impact of the nearby Whiteley Shopping / Leisure Development (where M&S etc relocated) and the experience / plight of other Councils like Croydon https://lnkd.in/dJZGV3qS https://lnkd.in/dCnhUrhK https://lnkd.in/dFEd-t3G https://lnkd.in/dQTqWsz

What’s the one thing you’ll hear every time you tell someone you’re thinking about opening a new venue? 𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, 𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, 𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍. A huge thank you to Cory Falter for recommending this stunning spot in La Jolla! There really is no better view in San Diego than La Jolla Cove on a sunny day. But here’s the thing, guests come here for the view. So, what happens when they book a table and get seated in the nosebleeds? 𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫. Now, what if I told you there’s a reservation system designed to turn that disappointing experience into an opportunity for revenue? A system where guests can pay extra to guarantee the experience they desire. No more hoping they get the best seat in the house — they can guarantee it. Enter Peak Reservations —the future of curated dining experiences, where guests can even bid for premium seating that has already been booked by other guests! #lastminutebooking Your menu is for sale. Don’t believe me? Check out your local Dave & Buster’s menu—it’s full of brand logos and collaborations. Oh, and speaking of nostalgia—anyone else miss bathroom attendants? Back in the day, if you needed gum, deodorant or Tylenol on a date, they had you covered. While attendants may be gone, the need for those little luxuries hasn’t disappeared with them. Stay tuned for the next episode where I’ll dive into the one thing that could be stopping your guests from ordering more. Got any guesses or recommendations? Drop them in the comments—I'd love to hear your thoughts! Just a heads-up: The views shared here are mine alone and not associated with Eddie V's. These are my opinions on where there is room for revenue at this particular location and not a reflection of other locations or the corporations. #roomforrevenue #venues #hospitality #sandiego #losangeles