A group of Warwickshire hospitality venues has been able to reach more customers than ever before after advice from a business support service unlocked its marketing potential – and even helped one of its pubs win a major industry award.
Pictured (from left): Annie Johnson (Warwickshire County Council), Cllr Rob Howard (Portfolio Holder for Economy at Warwickshire County Council), Steve Tipson (Business Ready), Matt Crowther (Founder of Beer and Coffee Co), and Ash Maugham (Brand and Marketing Manager at Pug Pubs).
Beer & Coffee Co operates a range of food and drink outlets across Warwickshire, including five pubs under its ‘Pug Pubs’ branding, Greek restaurant Taverna Meraki, and live music venue Tavi.Stock, while its sister company Truck and Trailer runs mobile catering brands The Army Bar and Big Malakas.
Owner Matt Crowther had seen steady growth across his venues in challenging conditions, but was open to advice on how to improve to better overcome the difficulties of the UK hospitality market.
After working with Nina Bale, account manager at the Coventry & Warwickshire Growth Hub, Matt was introduced to Business Ready, a business support programme run by the University of Warwick Science Park on behalf of Warwickshire County Council.
Matt was paired with business support adviser Steve Tipson at Business Ready, who specialises in digital marketing.
Steve was able to help Matt, and tap into some of their existing customer data to better market new events.
Matt said: “There were plenty of quick marketing wins for us that we were missing out on.
“For example, we regularly take customers’ email addresses when they would make a reservation, but we hadn’t actually used their addresses to market new events to them directly. We were sitting on around 45,000 potential repeat customers.
“Steve was able to show us the best way to create a marketing plan around those leads, and we saw results almost instantly in terms of people attending new events.
“We also really appreciated the advice he gave to our marketing manager around website management, which has given him more autonomy and has enabled us to increase visitor numbers to our website.
“Everyone knows about the difficulty of the hospitality sector at the moment, but our work with Business Ready is maximising our chances of not only attracting new customers, but bringing in vital repeat business which is the lifeblood of any hospitality venue.”
Since working with Business Ready, Beer & Coffee Co has seen impressive results, with its Warwick pub The Black Pug taking a record turnover in recent weeks.
The icing on the cake was The Black Pug winning the Star Pub of the Year at the Great British Pub Awards in recognition of its success.
Matt is now working with another Business Ready adviser, Fiona Molloy, to create a more strategic social media plan across its venues and ensure its output is consistent.
Steve added: “When looking to reach more customers, one of the barriers to businesses can be identifying a reliable target market.
“In Beer & Coffee Co’s case, they already had that data, but they did not realise what they could do with it.
“Because of the company’s excellent reputation built over many years, the marketing campaign quickly yielded positive results, which was brilliant to see. And The Black Pug winning Star Pub of the Year at The Great British Pub Awards was a wonderful bonus.
“There are lots of businesses we work with that just need help seeing the wood from the trees, and at Business Ready we have the ability to look at things more objectively and strategically. Often, it’s quite easy to unlock the potential that already exists, and it’s great when there are some easy wins to take advantage of.”
Councillor Rob Howard, Portfolio Holder for Economy at Warwickshire County Council, said: “Business Ready supports local businesses to grow. Local business owner Matt received tailored support helping him to identify new ways to market his business and focus on growing his customer base while encouraging repeat business.
“The business support advisors are able to offer objective advice, helping business owners like Matt to review what is working well and identify potential new strategies, all of which supports the business to develop and grow.”
Business Ready – High Growth and Innovation Business Support Programme forms part of Warwickshire County Council’s Business Growth Warwickshire. It is funded by UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and Warwickshire County Council. Responsibility for the planning and delivery of UKSPF was part of the Level 2 Devolution Deal secured by Warwickshire County Council in 2024. Warwickshire’s allocation of UKSPF is supporting a package of communities & place, business support, and people & skills activities in 2025/26.
Find out what other support is available to your business by calling Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub on 0300 060 3747 or visit the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub website.
