How many times have you thought, ‘wouldn’t it be cool to run a bar’. Today we talk to someone who’s done exactly that…. And owned a brewery too. As you might expect it’s not as easy as you might think….

He also drops a few truth bombs like ‘As a start up business owner you do roles that you a) haven’t been trained for, b) don’t like and c) aren’t very good at.' Hear also the great free item that will boost your customer satisfaction levels every time.

INTRODUCING JOHN GYNGELL

As the co-founder of North Bar, John has played a pivotal role in defining the craft beer landscape in the United Kingdom.

Starting with North Bar in Leeds in 1997 - the UK’s original craft beer bar to becoming the driving force in the craft beer revolution after co-founding North Brewing Co.

The brewery was born in 2015 and fast became a major player in the craft beer scene, winning numerous awards for its beers, team, design and marketing. Following the headwinds of Covid, the brewery was passed on to another local brewery in a pre-pack administration process.

John is now building out the North Bar group from its current eight sites.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

[00:01:00] From Town & Country to opening the first North Bar

[00:07:00] The hard graft of the early days

[00:11:00] Expanding the business and the ‘hard parts’

[00:16:00] The North Brewing story

[00:26:00] The effects of Covid on the bars and the brewery

[00:36:00] How to build a hospitality brand

[00:41:00] The North Bar pub crawl as a promotion?

3 KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS

• Youth helps – because you are so clueless, nothing is a problem

• As a start-up business owner you do roles that you a) haven’t been trained for, b) don’t like and c) aren’t very good at

• Go the extra step – it really does make a difference to how your customers feel

4 MOMENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR

“When we talk about KPIs and appraisals and such, it’s real turn off for me”

“The stats say that the huge majority of businesses fail”

“Everything we did during that process we did what we thought was right at the time”

“Being nice is free”

VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU

Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/leeds-business-podcast/

Work with Phil - www.philfraser.co.uk

Website: https://northbar.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gyngell-3b565b144/

Shout out: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-slimming-698a4a3/

Buy the book - Unreasonable Hospitality.

DON'T FORGET THE LEEDS BUSINESS PODCAST ‘FAIR DEAL’

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YOU MAY ALSO LIKE THE FOLLOWING BAR & BREWING RELATED EPISODES

https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/martin-wolstencroft/

https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/mark-costello/

https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/russell-bisset/

https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/jane-slimming/ (as mentioned in the shout out)

https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/phil-fraser/

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Phil Fraser went from an accidental kitchen table start up, with no investment, all the way to multi-million pound sale to a PLC 18 years later. He’s travelled the full SME business journey of launch, growth, scale and exit.

As well as hosting the Leeds Business Podcast, Phil now works with ambitious SME-owners as a Business Sounding Board (think somewhere between Business Coach and Business Mentor). In simple terms, he’s ‘a pair of ears and an extra pair eyes’ for SME Owners helping them to be better at what they do. Phil’s mantra is It doesn’t need to be ‘lonely at the top’. He helps Business Owners to be better business owners, by helping with their clarity and focus.

As a Business Sounding Board, he gives SME Owners the time & space to regularly discuss their challenges and opportunities, with no sense of judgement or bias, and in complete confidence. This allows them to explore their options in full, culminating with a list of issues to address/clarify, a clear target in mind, a roadmap to success, and a renewed enthusiasm and confidence for the challenges ahead.

Want to work with Phil to help you? See www.philfraser.co.uk.

LEEDS BUSINESS PODCAST

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Email: [email protected]