Taming the dragon
When Michael and Andrea Mortimer went for a quiet evening meal at Bel and the Dragon in Cookham, Berkshire, they had no idea they would emerge having practically bought the place. Still less, that only two years later a second outlet would be open, with number three in the pipeline.
"This used to be one of the top five pub-restaurants in the Thames Valley, run by a Swiss family with very formal service and conservative clientele," Michael says of the Cookham pub. "But a few years ago it really started to go downhill, and when we came here it was an embarrassing experience - the atmosphere was stuffy and the food was awful."
Chatting to the owner, the Mortimers discovered that though the pub had been bought only two years earlier, circumstances had changed and she was now desperate to find a buyer.
"All sorts of people had looked at it and rejected it, partly because there was no car park," Michael says. "We thought that if we started again from scratch we could breathe new life into it, so by the time we got to liqueurs I batted a price to her and virtually agreed to buy it."
The couple paid £630,000 for the freehold and invested £250,000 in converting it, the capital coming from a long-term sleeping partner. In September 1997 the Mortimers moved in and began a major refurbishment.
Unfortunately, three weeks after opening, sparks from inferior charcoal in the new chargrill caused a major fire and abruptly terminated what had been a promising start, resulting in the write-off of £70,000 worth of Christmas and New Year bookings.
Thankfully, the fire was contained and Bel and the Dragon was back in business less than two months later. "We chose Friday 13 February to reopen, just to show people I do have a sense of humour," says Michael.
Trading in the first week was £11,000, but by the third week it had more than doubled. Since then the weekly take has never dropped below £23,000. The first full-year turnover topped £1m and is expected to reach £1.5m by the end of the financial year next February.
The main dining room seats 100, a number that doubles with the use of the bar, a second dining room at the back and the garden. On a Saturday the restaurant is doing up to 200 covers, with 175 on Sunday lunch and 60 to 100 on other nights.
The back dining room is also used for weddings, although the registrar takes a dim view of the somewhat risqué cartoon paintings on the walls, so they are covered up during the ceremony.
Once the pub was up and running the Mortimers noticed that many of their customers were coming from Slough and Windsor. Suspecting the area might be poorly served for good food, they looked there for a possible new outlet and found a run-down 400-year-old pub on a corner of Thames Street, right on the tourist pedestrian route.
The leasehold cost £125,000 and the Mortimers spent £225,000 installing decor to create a friendly and informal feel, similar to the Cookham site. Seating 90, the new Bel and the Dragon opened just before Easter this year and is averaging £15,000 per week at 100 covers a day. Michael has a bet with his partner that turnover will reach £25,000 per week in three months or he will pay £1,000 to the NSPCC.
At first, business at Cookham fell by up to £4,000 per week as customers took up the Mortimers' suggestion that they try out the Windsor pub, but levels soon recovered.
In the first year at Cookham the Mortimers expected to break even, but in fact made a substantial net profit. Gross profits were 68% on food and 64% on wet. At Windsor the forecast is for 66.5% on food and 61% on wet, slightly lower because the outlet is tied to leaseholder Inntrepreneur for beer.
Following the success at Cookham the Mortimers were surprised to find the pub being visited by big companies and celebrity chefs wielding notebooks. One was a local brewery which, fearing the effect of competition on its others establishments, refused to lease the Mortimers two of its outlets, yet copied their menu and other details right down to the cartoon paintings.
The food at Cookham, which Andrea describes as modern European, is cooked by chefs of different nationalities, with a regular à la carte and a specials board that changes once or twice a day. "The commis chefs can also contribute their own dishes, which helps to keep them interested," she says.
The Mortimers take their food seriously, but winning awards is not part of the plan. "The main emphasis is on quality food in a lively, informal atmosphere," says Michael.
"We are rather brash," he adds. "If someone rings up wanting an intimate table for two, I recommend they go somewhere else."
Several of the front of house staff are from New Zealand and Australia, who Michael believes are good at creating a friendly and informal atmosphere. In difficult times he has also managed to hold on to many of his staff by the training and promotional opportunities the expansions provide.
Keen to exploit what is clearly a winning concept, the Mortimers are negotiating for the freehold of a site in Surrey and have identified a further location in the Canary Wharf development, which they expect to hear about in September. They are also looking for somewhere in Oxford and have their eye on the unfashionable end of London's King's Road, which they think has great possibilities.
The Surrey location is a disused church, and Michael is excited by the opportunities it offers for some spectacular design. In the middle, facing the entrance, will be a bar, with a charcoal grill and suspended chimney on the other side facing the dining room.
The upper dining section is a gallery, with natural booths and stained glass windows. "It's the nearest I'll ever get to heaven," Michael says. n
