Light on the horizon
It could only happen in hospitality. Two weeks into the job, the Novar Arms' newly appointed head chef walked out without even completing a week's notice. The job, it seems, wasn't what he thought it would be, he was driving long distances from home, and moving to the village was no longer a possibility.
That was in April. Those two weeks had been the only break in three months for Stan Egan and second chef Jesmin Stephen, who held the fort in the kitchen, but it was a struggle, and consistency was difficult to maintain. Fortunately, a new chef started in May and this time - touch wood - he seems just right for the job.
Steve Eaglesham, a local man, approached directors Egan and Robin Murray regarding the vacancy. He had been working as a sous chef in Inverness, but the job at the Novar Arms allows him to be in charge of his own kitchen and is close to his home in the village.
"He's very organised, unflappable and his food looks lovely on the plate," says Murray. "It's a huge relief." As a senior member of staff, Eaglesham has been offered a salary and paid holiday. Should he want it, he may also get some help with his mortgage in place of a pay rise.
Investors in people
The chef debacle has reinforced the importance of retaining key staff with incentives and benefits. Chefs excepted, staff retention has been one of the Novar Arms' successes in its first year, and Murray and Egan are hoping to see some evidence of this in the hotel's forthcoming assessment for the Investors In People (IIP) training award.
An assessor will investigate how well the business plan is conveyed to the staff and how effectively the management infrastructure is working. Gaining IIP is necessary for the business to continue receiving grants from the local enterprise company, but Egan and Murray also hope to see some tangible benefits - namely, better-motivated staff who understand why good service is key to the business.
All staff have enjoyed a pay rise of 4.7% recently. This takes the minimum wage paid to £3.35 an hour - some way off the potential statutory minimum wage of £3.60 an hour suggested by the Low Pay Commission at the end of May. Heads of department receive about £3.55 an hour. Egan and Murray are committed to giving a pay rise each year.
Business in April and May has continued to be good, with almost 10 bedrooms permanently sold to local enterprises. Conference business has also been strong and the hotel's first wedding went smoothly. The hotel made £3,009 on the day - as anticipated in the business plan.
Having decided to delay building the next phase of bedrooms until January next year, Egan and Murray are concentrating on putting £30,000 by to pay the difference between the cost and the bank's loan. In May, the hotel took more than £30,000, which means that Egan and Murray were able to put by £10,000. They are now confident that they will have the sum needed by August.
In the meantime, the hotel is changing from the Clydesdale bank to the Royal Bank of Scotland. Although both banks finally agreed to a loan for the next phase of building, the Royal Bank of Scotland immediately offered a better rate of interest on the business's term loan. The move potentially saves the Novar Arms tens of thousands of pounds - albeit over 15 years.
As predicted in the directors' initial business plan, the hotel has survived the winter by serving the local community. "Most of the functions are generated locally," says Murray. "Tourism for us is definitely the icing on the cake." Although Discover Britain is providing a regular influx of foreign tourists, mostly couples, Murray suspects that the tourism business in Scotland is down by as much as 10% this year. "Some people are much quieter than we are," he says.
June, always a difficult month, looks worrying, with just a few forward bookings. Despite the best efforts of the Scottish Tourist Board (STB) to extend the season, Scotland is still highly dependent on the six weeks of the English school holidays. With some steel fixers scheduled to stay at the hotel until at least September, Murray is confident of a good high summer, but would still like to pick up a few more bookings this month.
Still to come before the end of June is the return visit of the STB's inspector for the 1999 guidebook. The first visit was an unmitigated disaster, but the board is aware that a lot of work has been completed since last year. The inspector could turn up any day now. But the change in the Scottish grading system makes it difficult for Egan and Murray to predict the outcome.
One problem the directors have finally sorted out was a dispute with an equipment supplier, Allied Wholesale, over second-hand kitchen equipment, for which the Novar Arms paid a £2,000 deposit. Despite the cheque being cashed at the beginning of April, the hotel had still not taken delivery of the goods towards the end of May.
Murray made calls to Allied Wholesale at least once a day, taking up a great deal of time, but without success. When Caterer contacted the company, buyer Nick Wattiez said the equipment would be delivered on 29 or 30 May and that the delay was caused by not having the goods in stock to deliver to the Novar Arms.
The equipment was in fact delivered on 31 May and, now it's there, Murray and Egan are pleased with it.
Although financial constraints have forced the directors to upgrade the hotel in a piecemeal fashion, the jigsaw is now starting to fit together. The villagers have nothing but praise for the rejuvenated hotel - so encouraging is this that Murray and Egan are being tempted by another hotel 30 miles away that has just come on the market. "It would make a perfect coaching hotel," Murray says. "It's just a dream at the moment, but so was the Novar Arms 18 months ago."
