The generation game
Lisa Saddler's bluff has been called. The 24-year-old's parents, Tom and Kathleen, have given her a challenge most of her peers in the industry hanker after - to take on the running of a hotel and restaurant business. It's a remarkable opportunity, not just because of Lisa's youth, but because she has no formal industry training. Until last October she was a hairdresser.
However, it's not what it seems. Tom and Kathleen are not foolhardy, and Lisa is not a novice. The couple have owned the Golf Inn hotel in Gullane in the East Lothian golfing belt since 1979, and Lisa, like her brother and sister, started helping out when she was 10 years old and has tackled everything from washing-up to bar work.
Tom and Kathleen value Lisa's experience of working with the public as a hairdresser, but what they prize most is the fact that she's in tune with modern trends. Her job is to bring the business up to date; they will provide the financial and technical support.
"We are ‘too old'. It's time for new, young ideas," says Kathleen.
She's only too aware that it's time for a radical change. The hotel was particularly badly hit last year by the downturn in tourism in Scotland, and room occupancy hit an all-time low of 65% compared with the high of 85% in 1990. Similarly, the restaurant had fallen into disuse through a combination of kitchen staff problems and a lack of direction.
Times have changed
"Chefs won't cook scampi in the basket any more. As they get more recognition, getting quality staff has got more difficult," says Kathleen, reflecting on how times have changed in the 20 years since she and her husband took over what was then a pub with rooms.
What's needed now is an overhaul of the hotel bedrooms and the restaurant to meet the demands of potential customers. These are golfers, tourists and local professional people, who are more widely travelled and have higher expectations of food and service.
Financing the overhaul isn't a problem. The couple have sold off a chunk of land they owned, which, as luck would have it, was next to the Edinburgh site chosen for the Scottish Parliament. Some £30,000 of the proceeds has been earmarked for general decorations and minor alterations over the next six months.
But why all the hard work? Why not just sell the business and retire? As Kathleen explains, there are two sound reasons why they would benefit from waiting a few years. First, the Scottish Parliament itself could be a fillip. The resulting influx of MPs and businessmen to the capital may mean more potential golfers and weekenders making the 40-minute drive up the coast. Second, and more importantly, the Saddlers are determined to be in a prime position to cash in on golf's Open Championship, which is being held in the area in 2002.
Lisa is undaunted by the challenge to turn the business around and beat the clock. She's aware the 16 bedrooms are in urgent need of refurbishment, from the decor down to the linen, but she's going to hold off on that until the coming spate of golf tournaments has passed. With summer and the promise of tourists around the corner, that could mean waiting until October.
Local customer base
Her priority now, during the quiet winter months, is winning loyalty from the wealthy local customer base of farmers and professionals. So Kathleen will continue to run the hotel side while Lisa concentrates on resurrecting and revamping the restaurant, which has already been given a coat of paint.
The problem of finding a good chef has been neatly solved by hiring Lisa's boyfriend, Dan Hall, also 24. Besides having trained and and worked with big names such as Nick Nairn at Braeval and Nairns, Paul Rankin at Roscoff, and Gordon Ramsay at Aubergine, Hall also worked in Sydney during an extended trip to Australia with Lisa last year.
Together, they want to create an affordable restaurant with an innovative menu and a good wine list. At the moment they open only for dinner, with lunches being covered by the menu in the Carriage Bar, also overseen by Hall. His menu offers three courses for £15 and two for £11.50.
Needless to say, Hall's cooking style is a revelation at the Golf Inn.
"Changing local perceptions will be a challenge," he says. "I don't know whether the locals will go for my pan-fried squid with soba noodles and sweet chilli sauce."
But he's sensitive to the fact that a lot of potential customers will be older locals and golfers, so he isn't ignoring traditional delicacies. Champ creeps on to the menu, served with Italian pancetta and a port and thyme jus, while black pudding mash appears with fillet of pork, red onion confit and grain mustard jus. Similarly, he makes full use of local ingredients such as venison and beef.
Even so, it's a period of change, and this means losing some customers. About 150 covers were served in the restaurant in December, which saw turnover of £1,629. The figures were expected to be low, partly because in the winter the restaurant opens only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and partly because the new menu is unfamiliar.
At Hogmanay, for instance, some regular customers were put off because there were no old favourites such as steak pie on the menu.
For Kathleen, incidents such as these mean some soul-searching, as she and her husband spent many years attracting the clients they might now be losing. But for every day of misgivings, she has a day of encouragement and positive feedback from guests.
There are plenty of other problems to worry about anyway, such as getting the mix of customers right. As well as the hotel and restaurant, the business includes two bars, and Kathleen fears that high-spirited drinkers in the Carriage Bar could put off diners. The problem is more acute in the public bar, however, although this has a separate entrance.
There's also the conundrum of how to get the most out of the Bridle Room, which can accommodate 130 people for weddings and functions, but tends to be underused.
As Kathleen muses, the next few months at the Golf Inn hotel will be interesting. n
Next visit to the Golf Inn hotel: 18 February
