Profits blossom at national trust

Caterers at the National Trust have raised profits threefold in three years to almost £2m, on turnover up 25%.

The improvements have been achieved by tightening up accounting procedures, reducing labour costs and opening new restaurants.

National Trust Enterprises operates 135 catering outlets at 123 locations. These turned over nearly £13.3m in 1995-96, up from just £10.5m in 1992-93. Net profits stood at £630,000 in 1992-93 (a 6% margin), but soared to £1.8m last year (13.5%).

Deputy national catering manager Lynda Brewer said the introduction of a manual bookkeeping system at each of the trust's properties, in place of the previous centralised system, had allowed catering managers swift access to sales and profit figures.

A key tactic had then been to target those units losing money by sending in regional managers to help reduce waste and raise profitability. Operating losses at these "black holes" were reduced from almost £380,000 in 1992-93 to under £98,000 in 1994-95.

Labour costs have also been cut, by tailoring staff levels more closely to visitor numbers. They fell from 39% of turnover in 1992-93 to 37% in 1995-96 and this year they are on target to drop to 35%.

Further improvements include new counter layouts to speed up customer flow and the creation of more self-service restaurants.

The trust has also opened nine new outlets in the past three years, including the 100-seat Nymans restaurant at Nymans Gardens in West Sussex (pictured) and 90-seat outlets at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire and the Snowshill beauty spot in Worcestershire.

A new 150-seat orangery-style, self-service restaurant is due to open in September in the grounds of Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire.

Many of the new restaurants are being sited on the edge of trust properties, to catch passing trade as well as paying visitors.