MA 100 Award Winners announced
This year, the Morning Advertiser launched its MA100 club for multiple independent retailers. Four months of intensive research last year produced the first exhaustive picture of those who form this increasingly important group of emerging companies. Research showed that its membership has a combined turnover of about £800m, with members running anywhere between three and 80 pubs. Member companies are among the most innovative in the sector, with expansion tending to be dependent on organic growth by dint of trading success.
They often make a slow start, because their expansion is driven by cash flow produced from out-performance at their first sites. The superior retailing skills of the MA100 membership mean that they are highly-prized lessees of the larger tenanted pubcos. The smaller – and, indeed, many of the larger – members have a very mixed property/occupation profile. They often begin with high-quality tenanted sites and move along the food chain to pick up freeholds and commercial leases. The market opportunity for these sorts of companies has increased as tenanted pubcos have steadily improved the quality of their sites.
The importance of this group of companies – and the innovative nature of the MA100 project – has attracted some of the biggest names in the industry to support it. Scottish & Newcastle, boutique finance house Sapient Corporate Finance, online ordering services barbox, beer-quality monitoring firm Brulines, Punch Taverns cask-ale champion Wells & Young’s, market research firm CGA, outdoor solutions firm Breezefree and Zonal Retail Data Systems are all sponsoring the launch of MA100.
One key segment of the MA100 initiative involves holding two free, high-quality seminars each year for the membership. The content has been designed to address the trading and strategy issues closest to member companies’ hearts. The first took place at Claridge’s in March and the second was at Celtic Manor, near Newport in Wales, in June.
A second key segment is the launch of six awards that seek to recognise the achievements of MA100 member companies. The categories are: Best Food Offer, Best Drinks Offer, Most Impressive Growth, Best Design, Best Newcomer and Best Individual. The quality of entries in the inaugural MA100 awards has been excellent and our judges were impressed by the energy, dedication and passion of our finalists. Congratulations go to our finalists and thank yous to all of our sponsors.
MA 100 winners
Best Drinks Offer Winner: Pleisure Owners: Nick Griffin
Why?: Judges were impressed by Brighton-based Pleisure’s policy of each venue having its own drink speciality. Its Great Eastern pub has 60 bourbons, the Saint James has 70 different rums, while the Speaker, is a cask-ale champion. The company is on its third edition of The Pleisure Bible, a free customer guide to esoteric products. The guide helped Pleisure achieve the highest sales of Zubrowka vodka in the country. Staff training is viewed as paramount.
Finalists: Baa Baa Group, Head of Steam, Market Town Taverns and Orange Tree Group
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19th October 2008
