Whitbread launches drive to boost sales

By Gaby Huddart

Whitbread Inns is pumping millions of pounds into a company-wide customer service training programme in a bid to drive up sales and improve staff retention.

Under the £5m scheme - the company's biggest ever investment in training - more than 27,000 staff across the company's 1,650 managed pubs are being trained to work to consistent standards, from how quickly they greet customers to how often the toilets are checked and cleaned.

All pub managers will attend a two-day course to teach them training methods. They will then carry out one-to-one and group tuition in their pubs. By this summer, everyone from board director to part-time barperson in the company must pass an exam on service standards. New employees are also being put through tougher induction tests.

"It has taken us 18 months to develop this training programme," said Peter Caley, director of retail personnel and training. "We carried out a research project at the beginning of 1995 to find out customers' perceptions of service and where we needed to improve.

"We identified what is unacceptable behaviour for our staff - things like smoking behind the bar, chatting to a colleague while serving, or putting a glass straight into an ice bucket rather than using a scoop," he explained.

In future, staff will be expected to greet a customer within 30 seconds of them entering the pub, thank them when they leave, provide advice on beer and wine, and serve elderly and disabled people at their tables.

"It reflects that we see customer service as a strategic objective for the future," said Mr Caley.

He said he was confident of the outcome of the scheme as it had already been piloted in 120 pubs throughout the end of last year and the beginning of this year. In those pubs, staff turnover had dropped by 11% and sales increased by an average of 1%.

The company would use a system of mystery customer visits to each pub every two to three months to ensure the new service standards were being properly carried out, said Mr Caley.