A Southern state of mind

“The plan was only ever to do one,” John Welsh, managing director at Hickory’s admits, but its first site in Chester was so popular the business decided to open a second restaurant. It’s now up to nine and showing no signs of slowing down – in fact he’s keen that the pace picks up.

The Piper-backed American barbecue and smokehouse concept has just secured its 10th site – The former Vernon Arms pub in Poynton, south Manchester, and is about to sign on another site south of the city. A third location is also lined up in Staffordshire, which is due to be the first to open under its new-build template, with a target opening of next May; something Hickory’s has been keen to try for several years. It had previously secured a plot of land in Telford, but a change of decision by the council saw it given over to a major supermarket chain, who have done nothing with it for two years, says Welsh in frustration.

To date, its strategy of acquiring “unloved, underinvested-in boozers that have a heritage”, seems to have been working well, says Welsh, who adds that the business seems to thrive in areas no one else wants to be in. “Everybody around here (Gresty Green) remembers The Cheshire Cheese, and people in West Kirby remember The Moby Dick, they remember their parents drinking in there,” he says. That community aspect, and the presence of chimney pots nearby is something he believes will ensure the site is successful.

The majority of the venues it has acquired have either ceased trading or been on the verge of it. The rents are much lower than competing on the high street, and because the sites are often in a bad state, Hickory’s can do a lot with them. “We generally gain the support of the local community really quickly as they want to see their local back up and running,” he explains. “We never wanted to sit on the high street, for us the most important thing is to be embedded in a community.”

And Hickory’s has been proactive in how it does it. At its Gresty Green site in Crewe there are new housing developments being built within striking distance of the restaurant, so the general manager took it upon himself to visit the sales and marketing suite with 90 welcome packs to be distributed to the new owners, including BBQ sauce, a jar of coffee, and, of course, a menu.

But finding the right sites to acquire has not necessarily been easy, so a new-build template would add another string to its bow, as well as being more efficient from an operational perspective – as the site would flow better and there will no challenges to overcome such as walls that can’t be knocked down, he says.

And while the internal design is largely set, the new-build template will see the restaurant slightly raised up off the ground, in keeping with its southern US inspiration, and a stretching veranda. It wants to push the focus on family space really hard, with a kids’ play area, bigger garden area than normal – perhaps with a nature trail running through it – as well as including its standard features like firepits and a cinema inside.

Food is king

Although having a good relationship with the locals is important for Hickory’s success, it is seen as a destination restaurant, with the average drive time to one of its sites around 25 minutes.

Welsh believes the key driver of this is the food. The concept was born 10 years ago after founder Neil McDonnell travelled to the US and discovered American barbecue. He had two businesses at the time: Bar Lounge, an over-21s cocktail bar; and Upstairs at the Grill, an upmarket steakhouse. “We knew that we were missing something from a family perspective,” says Welsh.

At the time Welsh admits none of the team really had a clue what American barbecue was all about, but a few research trips later and they were sold on the idea. “When we first opened Hickory’s Chester, people probably didn’t understand the concept, but television programmes like Man vs. Food and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives has meant people are a lot more educated than they were 10 years ago. I think we really got the timing right,” he says.

The menu has traditionally had a lot of influence from Texas, as Welsh says they found Austin to be a great base in terms of research trips as there were lots of great barbecue restaurants in the area, with a focus on beef and brisket. However, it has also touched down in Memphis to look specifically at ribs, discovered Korean-inspired barbecue food in Brooklyn, and recently took a group to Georgia and the Carolinas, to sample the dishes of those regions, which included a big focus on seafood.

Hickory’s organises an annual trip to the US to keep up to date with the latest developments, and Welsh says that for its area managers, GMs, and chefs those trips to experience not just the southern food and to meet with pit masters, but the hospitality, form a key part of their development. “For us the pit masters in each of the venues are key, so the training of those guys has to be bang on,” he adds.

Its menu is refreshed every six months, and Welsh says the latest iteration has taken in customers’ requests for a greater selection of vegetarian and vegan options. “While we are an American smokehouse, it’s important there are options for everyone,” he says. Hickory’s has also looked at adding some lighter fresh options to the menu, but at the end of the day its biggest sellers are still its smokehouse platter – a selection of all the different pit items, beef brisket, and, frustratingly for Welsh, as he wants the focus to be on the barbecued items, the burgers. “In the last menu change we put on a ‘bird and beast’ burger, made with chicken breast and a beef patty. I was sceptical, but we put it on the menu and now it’s one of our biggest sellers,” he explains.

Southern hospitality

“The food has always been king for us, then we back it up with really solid service,” he says. “Our mantra is to make everybody feel special, so we have always tried to over deliver on the experience compared to what their expectations might be,” explains Welsh. Its typical customers are families with young or older children and couples, but they cater from everyone from “no teeth to false teeth”, he says.

Welsh says they have tried to take as much of the service style from the US as possible. “The skill is to try and do it in that really natural American way, so it’s not forced,” he says. He believes its biggest marketing tool is to give people a great experience. Rather than offering 50% off promotions, it’s about looking after the customers. “It’s an area where we see ourselves as different when we compare ourselves to other brands – and I think it’s one we stand out in,” he adds.

It should perhaps come as no surprise that the business invests heavily in training and development. There is also a big focus on the softer side of personal development, he explains. “How do we talk to people? How do we make people feel special? It’s about bottling the Hickory’s magic,” he says.

It is soon to launch a conceptual ‘academy’, where everything from functional training and personal development to employees’ career journeys and its rising star programme – which sees two employees peer nominated at each site to receive enhanced training – are housed under one umbrella. It also has a mentor programme, whereby each GM is mentored by one of the directors. And it carries out what it calls a roadshow every year where three or four people from the senior team travel round all the venues and speak to every staff member for 15 minutes each. “You end up speaking to about 30 people a day, but what you find out is absolutely priceless in terms of thinking about our direction and focus for the next 12 months,” he says.

For Welsh, it’s about keeping that connection with its teams as it grows. He acknowledges that now Hickory’s is up to 800 staff, filtering the right messages down to everyone has got harder, so he is keen to explore different ways to keep everyone informed and engaged. It has also learned that with scale an increasing amount of control needs to be passed down to the GM, which Welsh says has been a big change in mindset but has worked well over the past 12 months.

Recruitment has never really been an issue for the business, and the majority of its staff are British so the fallout from Brexit hasn’t been an issue. Retention on the other hand is something the business knows it’s important to work hard to improve, and Welsh believes that offering structured training and the opportunity for progression has a hugely beneficial effect on retention. “A lot of people have worked with us for a number of years. If they are ambitious we need to make sure we are constantly giving them a glimpse of progress,” he says.

Work-life balance is also something that comes up a lot on surveys it runs and at the roadshows, he explains, so the business is working to put a cap on working more than a set number of hours a week. “In my day working 65–70 hours was just the norm, but times have changed and you have to get on board with it,” he says. “The outcome will be better for us all – a more motivated team, greater retention and better standards.”

Strengthening the brand

Piper’s £6m investment back in October 2014 certainly gave the business some firepower to expand, but they have also been very protective over the brand, ensuring the concept is spot on and making sure the company structure is right in terms of taking it forward, explains Welsh. They have also pushed Hickory’s on the benefits and use of guest feedback. “By looking after people, we know we will grow our profits,” he says.

Hickory’s has recently signed up with Yumpingo, which he says has made a big difference to how it approaches its menu development. The ability to track its NPS score has also been key. “Other than looking at any complaints that came through or talking to guests in the restaurants we had no real objective measure of how we were performing,” he explains. Now there is even a competition between venues to get the best NPS score. “It’s been really enlightening – we might think something works, but the customer don’t always think so.”

Piper’s pressure has been in the form of getting the brand right and making sure it has a solid foundation to work from, rather than pushing out to every town in the UK, he says. Hickory’s is on track with its plan with Piper, but when the time comes for an exit he believes the business could be taken on by another private equity group or could even be appealing to large brewers and pub operators that have suitable sites to offer.

“We are happy with our rate of around three openings a year, but I think we could start moving it to four. We have always been very considered in our growth – some people might say we have been slow, but I’d like to think we get it right each time, which means more to us than growing quickly,” he explains. In terms of how far Hickory’s could go one day, Welsh says there is no reason why they couldn’t get to 100.

For the time being Welsh says the business would be foolish not to try and fill in the gaps between the north-west and the Midlands. They used to have a rule that they wouldn’t open a restaurant more than two hours’ drive from its base in Chester, but that has been ditched. “South Manchester is an area we have been looking to open in for a while, and we’d love to go further down past Worcester and look at areas like Cheltenham, as we think some of the outlying suburbs there hold lots of opportunities,” he explains. Hickory’s may well be coming soon to an old boozer near you.