Patrick’s Restaurant and Bar in Poole has just celebrated its fourth year of operation, an outstanding achievement in the current financial climate. Housed in the premises of an old bank, it retains the high ceilings and many of the original features. The old safe now functions as their beer cellar.

Patrick’s offers a wide range of all-day dining opportunities, a bar-nightclub, live music, special events, meeting facilities and outside catering. It has established itself as a ‘must visit’ venue in the local area.

Patrick Michael, the owner and manager, had already re-negotiated their energy supplies in order to keep the operation as streamlined as possible through the recession.  However, this hands-on approach meant dealing directly with suppliers and daily phone calls from agents and brokers promising to save him money on his overheads.

In early 2010, he bumped into old friend and golfing buddy, Auditel Consultant Andy Horn. Patrick quickly realised that Auditel’s contingency fee proposition meant he had nothing to lose by engaging him as an outsourced cost and purchase management specialist. After all, if no savings were found, there would be nothing to pay. In the meantime, Andy would be fielding these calls, leaving Pat free to focus on the core challenges of running his business.

Initially, Andy analysed the gas, electricity, water, linen and beer line cleaning costs. Much to Pat’s surprise and delight, these investigations have realised significant savings. “I thought I had our gas and electricity costs pretty well nailed down. I didn’t expect Andy to find any savings in these areas, let alone 18% and 20% reductions.

He’s also brought our water costs down by 48%, our linen costs down by 19% and our beer line cleaning costs down by 50%, which is fantastic. In the current climate, every cost saving is significant so I’m very happy with these figures.”

Pat was able to use these savings for important investments in the restaurant – a new 50” TV for the World Cup and a new outside dining area providing space for another 16 diners. The next phase of Andy’s project will be to review the restaurant’s communications and its return to sewer costs. He will also carry out an energy usage audit to look for ways in which energy can be used more efficiently.

As Pat says, “The savings Andy’s found so far have already made a real difference to our operations. They have enabled us to make important investments that will help us maintain our position in the local market and continue to buck the trend for businesses in our industry. Knowing that Andy will be managing our overheads going forward and helping us to spend our money and use our resources more efficiently gives me even more confidence in our ability to ride the recession out successfully.

From a personal point of view, though, it’s the time savings that have made the most impact, because now Andy is fielding all those cold calls from suppliers and brokers I’m free to focus on the core tasks of running my business. In fact, I’m so impressed I’ve already recommended Auditel to two friends.”

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