Deep within the walls of Quebec City, on a stretch of Rue St-Jean lies an average English pub with a not-so-average business.
More than two decades of success make Pub Saint-Alexandre a staple in the community. So much so, local hotels often recommend the pub to their clients based on Pub Saint-Alexandre’s long history in the community and large selection of beer.
Famous for its history – the pub is one of the city’s oldest taverns and used to be reserved for men – the pub is probably best known for purportedly having the largest selection of beer in the province.
With 24 on tap and hundreds more in bottles, this pub is not your ordinary haunt.
The three-storey, traditional English-style pub is cozy. The pub caters to 25- to 45- year-olds and the majority of its business is made Thursdays to Saturdays.
The business of beer
When your pub is known for its beer selection it stands to reason that beer is the most successful and profitable part of your business. And Pub Saint-Alexandre is no exception.
“When we hear people talk about the pub, they absolutely mention the selection of beers,” says Yvan Waddell, director of Pub Saint-Alexandre.
Maintaining tradition and properly pouring each style of beer is essential at Pub Saint-Alexandre, especially when it comes to Guinness, their No. 1 seller on draft.
“What makes us different, compared to other pubs, is that we haven’t signed an exclusive deal with any one brewery,” he says. “So everyone is well represented and our customers have a chance to taste everything – all kinds of beers.”
They’re able to offer a wide variety of Quebec-brewed beers, Canadian beers and imports. In fact, they have a few hundred imports available at any given time. It’s important to Waddell that customers get a chance to “travel through the beers.”
To aide his customers in their travels, so to speak, he offers beer-sampling platters. For $8.50, tax included, customers can try four miniature four-ounce pints of different Belgium beers, Irish beers or microbrews for example.
He chooses new beer based on experimentation and customer preference. He says he’s surprised that Guinness does as well as it does, especially with the ladies. sales-wise with his female customers.
“Through the years we’ve noticed that people like the strong beers, like Belgium beers, that have a lot of taste compared to the average blond beer, or domestic,” he says.
That’s not to say they don’t carry domestic beers. But when they do, they’re likely to be microbrews as opposed to the big names.
“We have Budweiser and Labatt, but we don’t have clientele that would go for that on tap,” he says, adding his customers are generally professionals with a high level of education and travel experience.
Promoting so many beers requires a strategy. Waddell opts for a three-pronged approach.
First, the left-hand page of its six-page everyday beer menu promotes one specific beer a month.
Second, staff recommendations and brand knowledge help to promote the brands.
And finally, the companies themselves often provide giveaways or scratch-and-wins that staff can give to customers as added incentive to try different beers.
Seasonal beers are surprisingly popular. Strong beers like Bock, Christmas beers or strong 10 to 12 per cent alcohol beers are popular in the winter. Of course, wheat beers and apple beers are fixtures on tap as long as it’s warm outside.
They print new beer menus every two to three months to reflect the changes in the menu. If a beer is introduced and doesn’t move, it won’t stay on the menu.
“You can see pretty fast,” says Waddell. “We’ll do a boost, offer a promotion with scratch-and-wins, give staff incentive to sell the most of it, and we really try to do all that we can, and if it still isn’t moving after a few months, then we’ll pull it out,” he says.
Small market for scotch
While beer is the biggest part of his business – his food and beverage split is 40-60 – and it’s what Pub Saint-Alexandre is known for, a nice pub needs a scotch menu, even if it only makes up five per cent of his business, he says.
The popularity of scotch is almost always in tune with the popularity of cigars. So when cigars were popular, Waddell saw the scotch side of his business grow.
But now, it’s fairly minor. Less than 10 per cent of his customer base is scotch drinkers, but the market’s there, as most scotch drinkers are beer drinkers, too.
Scotch appeals to an older (think 45 and up) and less adventurous crowd.
“They pretty much stick to what they know and they know what they’re looking for,” he says. With more than 30 selections of scotch, chances are, they’ll find what they’re looking for at Pub Saint-Alexandre.
Extending the night
In the last 10 years, Waddell has been finding a variety of live bands to play at the pub twice a month, especially on long weekends. He says it’s an excellent way to attract customers, create a following, and give something back to his clientele free of charge.
In addition, it allows him to do some direct publicity and has elicited an overwhelming response. The events portion of his website is widely visited, and his customers will often want to book events on the same night as a live gig.
He has some regulars, but tries not to stick with the same style. He prefers Celtic, folk and blues and tries to stay away from bands that are too loud or crazy. It’s not meant to be a concert venue, but to create a lively atmosphere.
Of course, not everyone will enjoy the same tastes in music, that’s why he doesn’t charge a cover admission and suggests customers congregate on the second and third floors if they’d prefer a quieter evening.
The entertainment inevitably turns the pub into a live pub or more of a destination.
“If we don’t have a band, people head more toward the discothèques,” he says. “This allows us to keep people here longer.”
Because the band starts at about 9:30 p.m. and plays three sets of 45 minutes, it creates a longer night, and inevitably pays for itself.
He pays around $500 or $600 a night for the band and says it’s worth every penny.
In the summer, he partners with the Summer Festival – a large tourist draw for the city – and is an official venue for the International Music Festival. During that time, the pub has 11 nights of live music, and a cover charge is collected but goes directly to the festival to cover the cost of the international acts.
He says it’s been a blessing and helped to raise the profile of the pub. Now, it’s not uncommon for bands and artists to do media interviews with the pub as a backdrop.
Recession talk
A pub that’s managed to stand the test of time has a secret to success. Waddell says it’s keeping on track – if what you’re known for is your selection of beer, then work hard at it and do what you set out to do.
Being in business for more than 20 years creates a loyal following in clientele and staff. “Our staff is loyal. The waiters on the floor do an average of three to five years. If they leave our establishment it’s because they’re moving to another city or country or they’re working in the field they studied,” he says, adding the pub has a low annual turnover because of the attention to his employees’ needs and the overall working environment.
So far, the effects of the big, bad recession haven’t been felt by Pub Saint-Alexandre. “Seriously, there’s no sign at all,” he says, adding their nights are just as long, but their lunches might be a little less busy. If anything, high-end restaurants are the ones suffering the most from the economy, he says.
While high-end restaurants may be a luxury, pubs are a safe haven where patrons can forget their worries with a pint or two of beer. Something Waddell doesn’t mind at all.
Tips for running a long-standing business
Maintain relevance: It’s important to run your business, but don’t get stuck on the inside. “You have to go outside of your business to be aware of what the new things are,” says Yvan Waddell, director of Pub Saint-Alexandre. He suggests going to festivals and keeping a close eye on what’s happening internationally to keep relevant to your customers.
Establish relationships with your clientele: Waddell makes an effort to come in on Friday and Saturday nights to meet and greet his customers. “The clientele really appreciates that,” he says. “They like when they recognize you and when you recognize them.” It also gives you a chance to hear what your customers think about the service, atmosphere and menu. Sure, this information can be collected by staff, but it makes a difference to the customer when the person in charge is accessible to them.
Use customer feedback: When Waddell receives feedback from his customers, he takes it seriously. The pub’s beer menu and band choices are largely dependent on customer preference. If they hear their clientele is interested in a particular band or type of beer, they’ll give it a try. In addition, if there’s something on the food menu that isn’t up to par, say, the sauce has changed, Waddell says it’s important to keep track of it. “They’re the ones that pay for it, so when they notice something’s changed, we’ll adjust.”
Get outside the office: It’s a mistake to think you can control a business from your computer. Nor can you expect to put memos up on the wall to do this and do that, says Waddell. “The secret is to stay close to the day-to-day operations. It’s true we have more and more paperwork, but you need to stay close to what’s going on down there – from basic operations to cost to how the beer is poured. You can’t just leave that unattended. It’s the basis of our business.”