How to Write a Pub Business Plan Before You Apply

The whole idea behind writing a business plan is to showcase your ideas and vision for the pub, while more importantly, showing how those ideas are based on realistic assumptions about the business, its customers and the local community. It should cover everything from your proposed offer and day-to-day operation through to marketing, staffing and financial forecasts. If you’re considering an Admiral pub, you can start building your plan through the Applicant Portal and develop it as you explore individual opportunities.

Why Do You Need a Business Plan to Run a Pub?

Your business plan gives both you and Admiral the opportunity to look properly at what you’re proposing for the pub and whether the assumptions behind it stack up. That means looking at who you expect your customers to be, how you intend to develop the offer and whether your financial forecasts support a sustainable business.

It’s also something you can continue using once you’re actually running your first pub. You can compare performance against your original forecasts, see where things aren’t developing as expected and use that information to make better decisions as the business moves forward.

Start with the Pub and Its Local Community

Before you start deciding what you want to change, spend some time understanding the pub in its current state. The live pub listing is a good place to start, but you’ll learn far more by visiting the pub yourself and having a proper look around the surrounding area while you’re at it.

Think about who already uses the pub, what already works well, where passing trade comes from and how that might change throughout the week or at different times of the year.

The local community should play a big part in your plans as well. A community pub needs to reflect the people who actually live nearby and the reasons they choose to visit it. Your business plan therefore needs to be specific to the pub you’re considering, rather than reading like a generic restaurant plan that could have been written for almost anywhere.

Define the Customer, Offer and Trading Style

Once you’ve got a good understanding of the pub and its surrounding area, you can start thinking more about who you’re actually going to be serving and what you want the pub to offer them.

That might include a strong drinks offer, food, live sport, regular events or private functions. Depending on the pub itself, you may also have outdoor space or letting rooms that form an important part of the business.

Whatever you decide to propose should make sense for the building, its location and the customers you’re trying to attract. If you’re looking at a well-established community pub, for example, completely changing its identity to force through a concept that worked somewhere else may not be the best approach. Your business plan should always show how your ideas build on the opportunity that’s actually in front of you.

Research Local Demand and Competitors

Doing some research goes a long way when creating a business plan, so spending some time looking at what other pubs and hospitality businesses in the area are already doing isn’t a bad idea. The aim isn’t necessarily to copy them, it’s more to understand where customers are currently spending their money and whether there are any obvious gaps your pub could fill.

Look at the type of customers each venue attracts, their pricing, food and drink offer, opening hours and any regular events they run. Online reviews can also give you a reasonable idea of what customers like and where they feel certain venues are falling short.

But don’t base your entire pub market analysis on what you can find online. Physically visit competing pubs yourself, spend some time in the local area and talk to people where you can. You’ll get a much better understanding of local demand from seeing what’s actually happening rather than simply repeating general market claims in your business plan.

Plan the People and Day-to-Day Operation

Even when a pub has a great concept, it still needs people and day-to-day processes in place to actually deliver it. Your business plan should therefore set out the roles you’ll need, expected staffing levels and how rotas will work around your proposed opening hours and busier trading periods.

You’ll also need to think about the less visible parts of running the pub. That includes how you’ll manage stock, work with suppliers, maintain service standards and make sure the relevant licensing, health and safety and other compliance responsibilities are being met.

It’s also worth planning for the times when things don’t go quite as expected. Staff get sick, deliveries can be delayed and busy periods can sometimes catch you by surprise. Having a suitable contingency plan in place means the pub can continue operating properly when you’re short-staffed or when something else doesn’t quite go to plan.

Build a Practical Marketing Plan

Your business plan needs to explain how you’re actually going to attract customers once you take on the pub. Rather than trying to plan a full year’s marketing up front, it’s always best to look at what you can realistically put in place during the first 90 days, and go from there.

That might include building relationships with local community groups and other businesses, planning events, keeping your social media active and making sure the pub is properly represented across local listings. Email can also help you stay in touch with existing customers, while encouraging genuine reviews gives new customers another reason to give the pub a try.

Above all else, try to be specific about what you’re planning rather than writing down a bunch of generic marketing fluff. Each activity should have a clear audience, a person actually responsible for doing it, and a result you can measure. That way you’ll be able to see what’s working and where your time and marketing budget could be better spent elsewhere.

Create Evidence-Based Financial Forecasts

Your financial forecasts need to be based on what you genuinely expect the pub to achieve rather than the numbers you hope it might achieve. Basically, you need to be realistic. Start by looking at where sales are expected to come from, whether that’s drinks, food, events, functions, accommodation or any other revenue streams relevant to the particular pub.

From there, you’ll need to consider gross margins alongside staffing, utilities, rent and the other costs involved in running the business. Your forecasts should also account for working capital and cash flow, as well as presenting a realistic idea of where the business needs to be in order to break even.

It’s also worth testing what happens if some of your original assumptions turn out to be wrong, and that can happen. Sales might come in lower than expected or certain costs could increase, and knowing in advance what that might do to your numbers gives you a much better picture of how sustainable your plan actually is.

Use the pub-specific information supplied during the process rather than relying on generic figures you’ve found elsewhere. This article is intended as general guidance rather than financial or legal advice, so always take independent professional advice before making any commitments.

Record Risks and Fallback Plans

No matter how much planning you do, things aren’t always going to go exactly as expected. Quieter trading periods, rising costs, staff shortages or equipment problems can all affect the business, while pubs with gardens or other outdoor areas may also find that poor weather has a noticeable impact on expected trade.

While it’s impossible to factor in everything, your business plan should consider some of these possibilities and what you’d do if they happened. For example, what happens if sales take longer to build than you’ve forecast, or your staffing costs end up higher than expected?

Including different scenarios doesn’t make your business plan unnecessarily pessimistic. It simply shows that you’ve thought beyond the best-case scenario and have some idea of how you’d respond if certain parts of the plan don’t quite work out as expected.

Common Pub Business-Plan Mistakes

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when writing a business plan is starting off with a generic template and simply changing a few details. Your plan needs to be specific and should reflect the actual pub, its customers and the local market rather than making assumptions that could apply to almost any business.

Be realistic with your forecasts, properly research the local area and make sure you’ve thought through staffing and cash flow. Most importantly, explain how you’re actually going to deliver your ideas rather than simply making a list of stuff you’d like to achieve.

Use the Admiral Applicant Portal to Build and Manage Your Plan

The Admiral Applicant Portal gives you somewhere to build your narrative business plan online while you explore available opportunities. You can save your progress and return to it later, upload supporting documents and keep track of your application status and notifications in one place.

The Portal can also provide tailored pub matches based on what you’re looking for, while your dedicated Recruitment Executive is there to support you through the process.

When you’re ready to get started, create an Admiral Taverns Applicant Portal account and begin building your plan. You can also browse current pubs to run if you’re still looking for the right opportunity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a business plan before I apply to run a pub?

The business plan is an important part of the application because it shows what you’re proposing for the pub and the thinking behind it. You’ll develop this as you work through the process.

Should my business plan be written for one specific pub?

Ideally, yes. A plan for a busy town-centre pub could look very different to one for a smaller community local. The customers, competition and existing business all need to feed into what you’re proposing.

What financial forecasts should a pub business plan include?

This will depend on the pub, but you’ll be looking at where sales are expected to come from and what it will cost to run the business. You’ll also need to think about cash flow, working capital and what happens if your original forecasts aren’t quite met.

Can I save my Admiral application and return to it later?

Yes, there’s no need to get everything finished at once. You can save what you’ve done in the Applicant Portal and come back to it.

Can Admiral help me develop my business plan?

Yes. You’ll have a Recruitment Executive to work with during the application, so you’re not expected to work through the entire process on your own.

Do I still need independent professional advice?

You do. The support you receive from Admiral doesn’t replace getting your own financial and legal advice before you take on a pub.