This year marks 20 years since the creation of the ALMR’s Ops Awards. James Wallin speaks to its creator Nick Bish and the inaugural winner – Stonegate chief executive Simon Longbottom – about the evolving role of both the awards and of the operations manager
Twenty years ago Simon Longbottom, later to take the helm at Stonegate, was unveiled as the inaugural winner of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers’ (ALMR) Ops Awards.
Back then he was working with Bob Williams at Mill House Inns where he had the “rather grand” title of operations executive.
Longbottom is modest about his early success in the competition saying: “I’m sure they wouldn’t admit it, but I have a sneaking suspicion that, in the first year, I wasn’t up against that many people.”
He added: “The great thing that sticks in my memory was that my father was there for the ALMR lunch, which was at Chis-well Street at that point. He had spent 35 years at Allied and was in semi-retirement but helping Bob out at Mill House Inns. It’s a really fond moment having him there when my name was read out.”
Two decades later and the awards have evolved but retained their core role of celebrating a job title that is too often overlooked in evaluating the success of a company.
Longbottom remembers the paper application form and interview process followed by a trade day. These days, the focus is increasingly on personal development of candidates as much as identifying a winner. All 20 finalists are asked to complete a psychometric profile on work attitude and motivation, and are given the opportunity to take part in a masterclass.
He says: “It has become a lot more professional. When I won, a big part of the attraction was the prize. It was sponsored by Anheuser-Busch and I was flown to America for a week to visit breweries and see some concepts in Florida and St Louis.
“Now, the focus is much more on the opportunity to learn from your peers and through access to some of the most experienced people in the industry. The opportunities to step back and think about the way you operate are few and far between.”
On how the operations role has changed during the years, Longbottom said: “The biggest change is the amount of data that colleagues have to deal with. When I started out my average pub took £4,500 and was 90% wet-led. There were still umpteen challenges and it still felt very fast-moving at the time but there’s a lot more complexity to wrestle with now in terms of the different revenue streams in the business.
“But, so much of the role remains the same. Area managers still need terrific energy to be able to do the role. Execution has always been key – the ability to get things done right, on time and in time.
“But the big difference is what I call ‘edge’. What you might see as personal effectiveness, taking in talent spotting, team motivation and just making things happen. That’s what separates the great from the good.”
Nick Bish, former ALMR chief executive has been the driving force of the awards for the past two decades, and Longbottom believes he identified a key niche in the market.
He said: “For such a large population who are so crucial in the delivery of great service, it was a sizeable omission and it was absolutely right to recognise the value of that role.
“It’s something that I have continued to support throughout my career. We had a lot of success in it during my time at Greene King and I would love to see a winner from Stonegate. We think a lot about how we develop our area managers and it’s a good way to gauge that.”
Longbottom is not the only familiar name to have participated in the awards. Former finalists include Toby Brett, founder of Banwell House; and Alex Dawson, now with Soho House. Wayne Billyeald was a finalist during his time with Punch Taverns. Now, as a director at Admiral Taverns, he celebrated one of his own protégé , Caren Geering, being named BDM of the year.
He said: “Even filling out the application form was an education because it really makes you think about how your actions affect the wider company.
“We had two finalists last year in Caren and Edwin (Pope) and I imagine it was a very hard job to choose between the two of them. Caren was a very worthy winner because she is someone who really listens and empathises with the tenants.”
Asked how he thought the role would change in the years to come, Billyeald said: “Social media is becoming ever more important to the success of a pub and a key area where you can support the licensee. The other area that is ever-changing is legislation and I can’t see any let up in the need to be keyed up in that area, as we go forward.”
Kris Gumbrell, the chairman of Brewhouse & Kitchen, has seen the process through the eyes of a judge.
Asked what key qualities he was looking for in a candidate, he said: “It’s a multi-talented skill but for me there are certain fundamentals such as the ability to manage one’s time, set clear objectives and achieve those in a way that meets the requirements of the company and the manager or tenant.
“It’s also about that quality, which is quite hard to pin down, to take people with you – in a business meeting and throughout a relationship.”
Bish praised the operations manager role as the “crucial link between the individual premises and the company that owns and operates it”.
He added: “The company will have the resources, the support functions and the strategic plan but it’s the individual pub, club, bar or restaurant that delivers the sales and generates the profit.
“The ops manager is the gearbox between the different parts of this machine and must add value by leadership, direction, support and advice. The particular role inevitably reflects the types of ownership and the varying intensity of branding, but the personal skill sets are broadly similar and the individuals doing this relatively isolated job must be energetic, insightful, independent, sympathetic and knowledgeable – and a sense of humour helps!
“The Ops Awards were created to highlight this important level of management and to promote its own reputation in a world where individual sites are rightly celebrated and where successful bosses are rewarded. To do this, the awards have a rigorous competition with a narrative entry paper, a day being judged on routine business visits and two panel scrutinies – all elements are scored and the highest marks annually reveal the winners of the area manager and BDM categories.”
Bish praised the quality of entrants over the years with last year’s winners of Geering, M&B’s Martha Ingham and rising star David Bigio the latest to be inducted into this exclusive club.
He said the three-day MasterClass from Ashridge Business School was a key benefit for entrants, offering the opportunity to explore leadership, communication and strategic thinking with industry leaders.
He added: “This is the development investment that the industry makes in a fantastic cohort of skilled individuals who make their great contribution now and even more will do so into the future.”
