Theme and variations
Shortly after the launch of the Children's Certificate earlier this year, Ansells - the Midlands, Wales and West Country division of Allied Domecq Retailing - announced a £30m investment programme of more than 60 of its managed pubs, giving priority (about 70%) to family-based concepts such as Wacky Warehouse.
Giles Kendall, Ansells' marketing and services director, insists that the decision has nothing to do with the Children's Certificate. Rather, it is the result of Ansells' own market research that indicated demand for supervised facilities for young children, and is a direct response to the success of its nine Wacky Warehouse pubs that have been on trial for the past 18 months.
"They have achieved what we expected and more," says Kendall. He estimates weekly turnover in Wacky Warehouse pubs is triple the average of £6,500 in the managed pubs. He qualifies this by pointing out the family market is more labour- and capital-intensive. Staff in a Wacky Warehouse pub can number up to 70, as opposed to an average of between 12 and 20 in non-family pubs; and setting up a warehouse costs £900,000 against the average of £250,000. "We have to get two to three times the turnover to make the same profit."
Ansells has 36 prospective development sites, but Kendall anticipates at least six will be rejected because of their location in green-belt areas or local opposition. "Not everybody views us as the greatest thing that's ever happened, particularly if they live next door," he says. "We argue the disruption is not as great as residents fear - that has certainly proved to be the case in the ones already open."
A Wacky Warehouse, which is always attached to one of Ansells' Big Steak pub units, is about 3,000sq ft and looks like a large garden shed. Inside are playing areas comprising slides and multi-coloured ball pits. Tables with board games such as snakes and ladders on the tops provide a more sedate alternative.
Parents are requested to supervise their children, although between two and five members of staff will always be present. Staff are trained in first aid, fire drill and operational procedures.
The criteria for developing a unit as a Wacky Warehouse site is size (a minimum trading area of 3,500sq ft with seating for 150-200) and location, which tends to be suburban or edge-of-town areas. Kendall says the five-mile catchment area around a pub is "absolutely key" and has to have a sufficient density of population to justify investment.
Charges to use the Warehouse vary, but are about £1 for an hour. Parties (at £5 a head) have proved particularly successful at both Wacky Warehouses and Jumblies Village sites, smaller versions generally located in urban areas. These are more difficult to make work, says Kendall, because there is less disposable income in their catchment areas. Nevertheless, a proportion of the money will be sunk into these sites.
Kendall estimates that by the end of 1996, Allied Domecq will have invested £42-£43m in Ansells' managed pubs (most within the existing pub estate) - 70% in Wacky Warehouse and Jumblies Village themed pubs, and the rest in developing the young and traditional pub market, including extending Firkin pubs and new concepts such as the Irish-themed Scruffy Murphy's and the experimental Cyberpub.
Yet an investment in excess of £30m over two years, solely in the family sector, is a substantial sum. "The family market is the way forward," says Kendall, "and we want to get into it quickly."
