'Our pubs don't feel restauranty': The Chickpea Group sweeps the south west

Being laughed out of meetings with the bank prompted them to take on the majority of the renovation work themselves. "We got the keys to the Bell & Crown in May 2019 and started smashing it around a bit," says Ethan, describing how him and co-owner Tullis were forced to get their hands dirty.

Tullis chips in: "Around other experienced tradesmen, we just looked like a couple of idiots really."

But the pub had good bones: low ceilings with beams, a huge fireplace and nooks and crannies provided potential for a picture-perfect country pub, which the locals were as excited to see open as Ethan, Jordan and Tullis. As work on the Bell & Crown neared completion, the trio ran out of money, but were heartened when people from the village turned up to lend a helping hand to get the pub ready for opening.

Then a spanner, almost literally, got thrown into the works.

"Money was really tight, but another pub became available," says Ethan. The Grosvenor Arms in Hindon, Salisbury, had great character, he says, with a glint in his eye, which seems to be his tell that he simply can't turn down an opportunity to restore a country boozer.

"We collectively borrowed some more money and turned it around in a couple of weeks, We did everything ourselves, working through the night to sand the floor and paint it."

The Bell & Crown opened swiftly after the Grosvenor Arms, but a few weeks later Covid hit. "We hadn't had the time to build up any cash reserves. Our backs were up against the wall with two businesses that weren't making any money," Ethan recalls.

Like many other hospitality businesses, pivoting became necessary to keep the company afloat, with the Chickpea Group, as it became known in 2021, turning its hand to sourdough pizzas, which became a successful business in its own right (see panel). And once the pubs were finally allowed to reopen, the local community returned in their droves.

"I think people really admired what we were trying to do," says Ethan. "And because of the name we'd made for ourselves during lockdown, we were given lots of opportunities and the business just kind of evolved from there."

Some may assume a bankrolling family member or wealthy investor may be lurking in the wings, but apart from some borrowed cash at the very beginning, the Chickpea Group has grown from the trio's determined attitude and appetite for risk, and perhaps a little bit of good luck and timing along the way.

Covid, in a way, was part of that luck, with bounceback loans providing an easier route to finance. Meanwhile, the closure of a huge number of pubs in the past couple of years has given the group an opportunity to save a couple of village favourites along the way.

Adding up and up

By the time Ethan received The Caterer's Acorn Award in 2022, Chickpea Group had four pubs to its name and the portfolio has since grown to eight sites, with another due to open later this year. And the numbers are adding up. "It was always very tight," admits Ethan. "And it took two years to get the Grosvenor Arms to where we wanted it to be."

It now takes between six and 12 months for a Chickpea pub to become profitable and, despite cost pressures, last year was a "very good year", with 2024 forecast to do just as well with continued month-on-month growth.

The key to this, says Ethan, is flattening out the curve of profitability throughout the year. Alongside the Chickpea sites, the business has four wet-led pubs in the area through a partnership with Stonegate. Although the cashflow is lower, the pubs provide a better conversion at 20%-25% compared to Chickpea's 10%-15%, giving a much-needed seasonal buffer.

The same attitude was taken with one of Chickpea's newest sites, the Market Tavern, its first city centre pub in nearby Salisbury.

"We all grew up in Salisbury, so we know the city and what it lacks – we wanted to create a classic boozer with pints in jugs," explains Jordan, who overseas operations.

The pub, which opened last month, offering "boozer classics" like burgers, pies and bangers and mash, is on the same market square as the group's pizza shop. "It was a no-brainer," says Ethan, explaining how going from 100 outdoor covers in the summer to 40 in the winter was difficult, "so having a pub next door, which is perhaps seasonal but the other time of year means the businesses should be able to support each other and we can maintain the same excellent team throughout the year and take the rough with the smooth a bit better."

A youthful approach

The term "boozer" comes up again and again and its use is a conscious decision, according to Tullis. He looks after the brand and explains how Chickpea Group tries to surprise guests with the juxtaposition of its language and design – such as modern art placed in old buildings, "bangers" describing its classic dishes and even a crisp menu. Alongside blackboards with eclectic menus, Rude Giant Brewing Company provides two local cask ales, a larger and an IPA on tap, while local wine merchant Gardner & Beedle keeps the wine list fresh and supports the team with training.

Ethan says: "We always wanted to have a youthful approach to how we do things. Our core principle is offering value for money, but that doesn't mean cheap."

Pub bangers such as the double beef burger with American cheese, burger sauce, pickles, slaw and fries start at £19.50, while a Sunday roast of Church Farm sirloin or slow-roasted Norton St Phillip lamb shoulder range from £21-£23. But take a closer look at the sides and ‘extra spuds, yorkie or gravy' is charged at £0. "A roast for me should always be plentiful," he insists.

While each of their pubs is food-led, the trio are resolute in the fact that their boozers should first and foremost be "a place to socialise".

"We work very hard to make sure our pubs don't feel ‘restauranty'," explains Ethan. "We want people to have an amazing experience eating really good food with us, but we also want to create places where people can just pop in for a beer.

"We want to create pubs that we all like spending time in, the pub you're sat in with your mates on a Friday night and it can get a bit rowdy, there are laughs, there are howls, there are jokes – the pub needs to be a convivial place full of nice people, where we might bring out a pizza for the locals to soak up the beer – they're pubs, they're certainly not gastropubs."

The group does this by not having a set area for dining and ensuring the first few tables guests see as they walk through the door are not set with cutlery, even if they're booked later in the evening.

"We also give young people lots of responsibility, so it's only natural the style they give off is youthful and chilled out," adds Ethan. "By investing in their development, recruitment is becoming easier for us and we're recruiting a really high calibre of enthused and motivated people."

Credit crunch

Building a brand into a group of pubs that is welcomed by the local community has clearly been the focus these past five years, but cost pressures faced by the entire industry have forced the trio to really crunch the numbers to ensure the viability of the business. Rooms have always been important to the business plan, with 36 available across five of the six pubs currently open and an additional five bedrooms being renovated at the Queen's Head.

"The pub game has elevated so much in the last few years that in order to maintain an edge we need to be thinking on our feet and exceeding guest expectations all of the time, which we do by constantly keeping on top of maintenance," says Ethan.

Along with stylish rooms, and a quality breakfast offer, the group has invested in AI dynamic pricing platform RoomPriceGenie, which suggests prices based on seasonal demand. Rooms are currently priced between £85-£160, with revenue per available room standing at around £71, but this will likely increase as the technology gets better at manipulating prices.

The group has also recently hired a finance director to improve its financial reporting and help it forecast trends and make borrowing easier, while it continues to reinvest into new projects.

While utility costs have been "a killer", the group has hedged its bets by taking on longer fixed energy contracts with some pubs and variable rates on others, meaning if there's a big spike there is a better balance. "We've also been speaking to suppliers to commit to volume for better pricing, buying things like cleaning products in bulk and redistributing ourselves," says Ethan before catching himself and adding, "it's such a deadly boring thing."

Shaking his head in dismay Tullis agrees: "It's not sexy." While Jordan chips in: "No, blue roll is not sexy!"

"So, 2024 is about doing the really unsexy stuff," says Ethan determinedly. "Like looking at pallets of blue roll. We're not reinventing the wheel, but the fact is that we can respond to things in the market quickly and effectively – and that makes a big difference."

The young trio are acutely aware that growing a successful business is not all jokes, pints and pizzas at the bar.

"To take the business to the next level, for us, is going to take lots of financial risk, which we're not afraid of," insists Ethan. "We're young, we've got the energy, none of us are married or have children to support yet – and that's an obvious benefit for everyone.

"There's something so fulfilling and fun about taking custodianship of these pubs and turning them into nice places," he says, that glint of excitement in his eye again. "And as long as that keeps being fun and we're in the financial position to do so, we'll keep doing it."

From pubs to pizzas

The Chickpea trio were not alone in experimenting with sourdough during the murky months of lockdown, but they might be part of the fortunate few that created a successful business. Nole is now a fully-fledged brand that employs 35 people and churns out up to 1,500 pizzas a week across all of its sites.

"We all learned during lockdown and, at the time, some of our pizzas were really ropey," admits Ethan, who named the brand Nole after his whippet. "We were waking up at three in the morning because the starter had over-fermented and it was going everywhere. It was trial and error, but eventually we got pretty good at it."

Pizzas would be available for collection from the Grosvenor Arms on Fridays and Saturdays during lockdown, and now Nole has a permanent site in Salisbury, as well as dedicated wood-fired pizza kitchen in the garden of the Pembroke Arms (Nole in the Barn) and an events trailer that tours the pubs at the weekends.

"When we opened we didn't expect it to be as popular as it was – it was a bounceback loan project that we've turned into a strong brand," says Ethan. "People love our pizzas, and where we offer both pizzas and à la carte, we sell about 50/50 – I think pizzas create a convivial, relaxed atmosphere in the pubs."

Guy Hughes, hospitality director

Guy Hughes started working at Chickpea in 2020 and became general manager of the Grosvenor Arms. He then moved into a role working with Jordan on new openings before taking up the position of hospitality director, supporting the group's 157 employees.

"Hospitality is a fantastic industry because it brings people together from a range of different backgrounds and experiences," he says. "Our ultimate aim at Chickpea Group is to make working in our industry a long, rewarding and positive career choice for ambitious people, which is why we're so hungry for growth and are always buzzing with new ideas.

"I have a collaborative approach to management, which means I'm pretty hands-on and like getting involved during service. I think it's something our teams appreciate – we're a people-focussed business and so I opt for constant communication as opposed to a more distant management style from behind a laptop."

Harry Russell, executive chef

Executive chef Harry Russell joined Chickpea Group in August 2020 as head chef at the Bell & Crown in Zeals. He moved onto the Dog & Gun, where he took on the executive chef position in 2022. He now manages a teamof 70 across eight kitchens.

On staffing "I find our staff turnover extremely low compared to the industry standard at the moment. We find once we get staff in, they stay, and this is something we're really pleased about. We create a pleasant, friendly work environment and allow chefs to flourish. We also collaborate with an excellent training provider, HTP Apprenticeship College, to offer our chefs a formal training programme to undertake alongside their work."

Favourite dishes "Castlemead chicken from the barbecue at the Pembroke Arms, the sticky toffee pudding and the rarebit croquettes, which are becoming a Chickpea staple. But my all-time favourite is stone bass, leek and fennel with a shellfish bisque. Harry Bryson, our chef de partie at the Grosvenor Arms, put this dish on the menu. It oozes class and elegance while delivering on flavour."