Singing for their supper

Brown trout golf and country inn. Family business dating from 1725. 1976: Shattered overnight when attacked by IRA bombers. With the exception of the restaurant area, nearly everything destroyed.

1990: Bill O'Hara takes over as proprietor from father William.

1993: Extra bedrooms added at a cost of £450,000. Funding and loans from various sources, including £107,230 from the International Fund for Ireland and £50,000 from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

With an end to the troubles in Northern Ireland, occupancy levels have doubled at the inn.

Bill O'Hara and sister Jane have embarked on a staff training programme to improve the consistency of their product. Work has begun on a gymnasium to boost facilities and increase conference and incentive business.

IT IS Saturday night at the Brown Trout Golf and Country Inn and already the bar is packed. Locals and tourists rub shoulders, downing pints of Guinness, exchanging stories and generally enjoying what is known in these parts as "the crack".

Star of the show is a local farmer, John Watt, who sings and plays keyboard in the bar. He is affectionately known among his faithful following as "the singing farmer".

As the evening progresses it's all hands on deck. Staff member Terry Campbell takes a turn at the microphone, later joined by the hotel's green-keeper, Ronnie Engall.

"People flock here for the combination of the singing green-keeper and the singing barman joining in with the singing farmer," confirms proprietor Bill O'Hara.

This unlikely combination may help to pull in the custom, but on a wider scale it's all part of establishing the Brown Trout team, and flattening the management structure.

"Until now we've told people what to do," explains Bill. "Now we want to encourage them to take their own decisions.

"If staff want to join in, they can. If kitchen staff want to try out new dishes, they should be able to."

Giving staff more say in the overall running of the business will be particularly important over the coming months as Bill will not be around as much as he would like. He is trialling for a place in the two-man keel-boat class at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

He will not know until next year whether he has been successful. He has high hopes, having competed in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics where he finished 13th and 21st respectively.

The quality training programme, started last month by Jane, should help staff become confident in taking their own decisions.

Alex Taylor, head chef from the Royal Hotel in Bangor (which is owned by Bill and Jane's father, William, and their brother, Stephen) has recently visited the Brown Trout to talk through ways of expanding the menu.

Until recently, the Brown Trout was in the Taste of Ulster scheme, a good food accolade awarded by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. But unfortunate timing led to its loss earlier this year.

"It was early January and we'd decided to go out on our staff party," recalls Bill. "We weren't anticipating much custom so we brought in staff to cover us who were not our regulars and didn't know that much about the business. We were very unlucky as that evening we were inspected. I didn't complain though. It was a fair cop."

Food is traditionally straightforward fare in these parts, so encouraging staff to develop new ideas may not be easy.

"They're used to producing a simple grill menu," confirms Bill. "Now we'd like to encourage them to produce sauces with dishes. It could just be something easy like serving cauliflower with cheese sauce instead of plain cauliflower."

Working within tighter cost constraints than before will also provide a new challenge for everyone.

Bill and Jane hope to improve the gross profit on food from about 55% at present to at least 60%. One of the problems is that until now, stock-taking has been haphazard.

"Stock-taking has tended to go by the board," admits Bill. "If it seemed about right, I didn't worry about it. We didn't check deliveries or whether we were receiving the weights of food we had ordered."

Now that is set to change. Susan McQuigg, a graduate who is waiting to do her articles in a law firm, has been hired to help cover for Bill when he is away.

One of her tasks will be to carry out a weekly stock-take. Such measures should lead to a 10% saving on food costs overall in the next 12 months and a healthy increase in the bottom line.

Profit sharing

The introduction of profit sharing should help everyone become more aware of the importance of pulling together.

The O'Haras' financial year runs from September to September. This year, full-time staff who have been employed for a full business year will be entitled to share in 10% of the bottom-line profit. This is currently estimated at £30,000 to £40,000, on a projected turnover of £562,000. About 10 staff are expected to qualify for the scheme.

"This should encourage them to work as a team. They don't really believe it can happen at the moment, but once we start to hand over the profits they will," says Bill.

Despite recent troubles in Belfast as a result of the release of Private Lee Clegg, morale is high at the Brown Trout.

After the disturbances, BBC Radio 5 interviewed several business people in the area to gauge their confidence levels. The O'Haras were among them.

"They couldn't believe how confident we were," says Jane, "and even ended up changing their story line as a result.

"Bill wasn't too happy though. The radio presenters thought I was his daughter. He had to have a drink to cheer himself up."

Business from high-profile sporting events is helping to maintain morale levels.

The recent Milk Cup, Northern Ireland's international youth football tournament held in nearby Coleraine, brought guests to the Brown Trout in the shape of the Dundee United team.

And the Senior British Open in nearby Royal Portrush attracted custom from professional golfers and their supporters.

Another welcome piece of news is that the Royal & Ancient Golf Club is considering Royal Portrush as a venue for the Open Championship in 2001.

With such endorsements of the area it is no surprise that the already buoyant O'Haras are feeling bullish about their future.

Next visit to the Brown Trout: 14 September