ON-TRADE: A Boujis night out

With an already impressive portfolio of top London bars, clubs and restaurants, the Ignite Group now has its sights set on further acquisitions, both at home and overseas. By Clinton Cawood

The past ten years have been formative for the UK on-trade, particularly when it comes to cocktail culture. Celebrating
its tenth anniversary this year, the Eclipse group of bars, part of Ignite Group, has certainly had a role to play.

Steve Manktelow’s career in the UK on-trade spans just over a decade, giving him an insight into how the industry has developed. His eight-year career with Ignite has given him a broad perspective of the industry, given its varied portfolio of bars, clubs and restaurants. As head of operations for the group, the range of venues keeps Manketelow involved in a number of aspects of the trade.

Being from New Zealand, Manktelow’s career as a bartender began there, 15 years ago. On his arrival to London in 1997, he began working at a string of influential bars of the time, such as Pharmacy, and was involved with the opening of venues such as Denim and Bambou. “Pharmacy in 1998 was one of the most exciting times. That’s when everything gelled, and Dick [Bradsell] was becoming quite well known. Everyone was getting excited about cocktails again. There was the image of Cool Brittania.”

Cool cocktail culture
Around this time, according to Manktelow, the prevalent drinks of the time, like Cosmopolitans, gave way to many of the drinks that still dominate lists today, such as Caiprinhas and Mojitos. “Ten years ago, I didn’t really know what a Mojito was.” Specifically talking about the resurgence of the Martini (and all of its variants) at the time, Manktelow says: “We went from ordering naff-sounding drinks to being able to order something sexy.”

All of this undoubtedly played a part in legitimising the bar trade. “Before, almost no one British was working in bars, but over the last few years it’s felt like it’s become an accepted career. Customers are taking it more seriously, and treat you with more respect. There are a lot of young British bartenders getting involved in the scene.” Manktelow also believes that bartending “has become less stuffy. There used to a lot of arrogance in it, eight to ten years ago. A lot of people thought they were God’s gift to drinks, which is self-perpetuating because it’s such an exciting scene”.

If Manktelow has any criticism of the UK bar scene, it is about a lack of priority placed on the service aspects of the industry. “A lot of bars provide service, but it’s really about hospitality. It’s about aiming above guests’ expectations.” This is something that Manktelow has tried to bring to the bars in the Ignite group.

When he started at the group, as a bartender, it was at the time when the Eclipse bars were established. In the time since, Manktelow has seen the addition of a number of bars to the brand, becoming involved in the development of drinks for these sites as well. “Whenever we open a new site, I get the staff trained up, help with drinks, and help with the operations guy in running the bar.”

Boutique clubbing
The group soon opened Boujis, now a well-established name in top-end London nightlife. When Boujis first opened, six years ago, Manktelow explains that “it was before the club industry boom. Clubbing has since gone from massive sites to boutique high-end clubs” – a fortunate thing for Boujis, positioned as it is in just this part of the market. “When we opened Boujis there weren’t a lot like it. When we opened it in South Kensington, no one was drinking in that area after 1am, and we had a 3am licence. So we were trading like a bar – we tried to keep that level of friendly bar service.”

Once the group was sure it had the boutique club/lounge concept wrapped up (proven again with the 2006 opening of Volstead in Mayfair), it diversified yet again with the launch of Cocoon in 2004 – this time into the restaurant business. Commenting on this diversity within the group, Manktelow is candid: “It’s been an absolute headache. As soon as we have one concept down pat, we open a new one. It’s taken us longer to adapt these new sites, and there’s probably been some loss of revenue, but it means our group has stayed fresher.”

Manktelow believes the group was able to “filter what we learnt into our other sites – we’ve tried to learn off Cocoon and the nightclubs, and use the things we’ve developed in those sites. In that respect, it’s kept me entertained”.

Manktelow’s entertainment was not the primary motivation for the group’s move into the food-led industry, however. He admits that the decision was primarily a practical one. “We see a lot of sites on a regular basis, and a lot have opportunity for a club, or a bar, or a restaurant. I know when the directors go out they don’t look specifically for one kind of venue. Cocoon came about because the site they found lent itself best to being a restaurant.”

In spite of this, and of the success that the restaurants have undoubtedly had, Manktelow still confirms that “wet sales are always more profitable. They’re easier to run, easier to staff. They’re the core of where our business develops from. And we’ve got more experience on the wet side”.

That said, when Bumpkin was launched in 2006, with its emphasis on food, it clearly benefited from the group’s expertise. The four-storey west-London restaurant’s “wholesome cooking” concept has been well received. “This was an idea that came to us from outside of the company, and we ran with it,” explains Manktelow. “The idea was to do something a bit more British-focused. A gastropub, but a restaurant gastropub as opposed to a pub gastropub.” That year also saw the opening of Volstead, another club/lounge in the group.

After working on the operations side of Cocoon, Manktelow became head of operations for the group. The Eclipse brand remains an important aspect of this, and one that Manktelow has worked with extensively.

People places
Staff retention is, and has always been, a challenge in the on-trade, and it is one that the Eclipse chain, and Ignite Group, has handled  well. Manktelow – himself an example of the relatively long service of Ignite Group employees, – comments: “The general manager of Eclipse Kensington has been there over five years, for example. We’re very lucky to keep those managers in those places.” This is beneficial both for the group and for the consumers in these bars. “It means those regular customers develop good relationships with our staff,” Manktelow explains. “We’ve had some excellent managers, and it’s really helped along the way.”

The mix of brands within Ignite Group has also been a benefit, each operation with its pros and cons. “For nightclubs you need two people doing marketing per site – it takes more energy to keep it attractive. If something were to go wrong, I see a nightclub struggling and losing more money more easily. Anything trend-based
needs to be constantly reinvented, to a degree.”

For this reason, the Eclipse brand has been a mainstay for the group – a brand that has clearly contributed in its way to the London bar scene as it is today. “We’re not looking to expand Eclipse as much as the restaurants and clubs, but of course if we find the right venues, then we would.” Demonstrating the same flexibility that has undoubtedly contributed to the group’s success over the years, Manktelow explains that a new bar brand would perhaps be useful. “What we’ve noticed in the last couple of years is that what we do in Eclipse works in some locations, but not in others.”

As for other aspects of the business, growth has been steady and significant. Towards the end of 2005, the group opened Volstead, another top-end club offering, this time in London’s Mayfair. By this time, Manktelow was in charge of operations for the group, after his role as head of operations for Cocoon.

As for the future of Ignite, Manktelow suggests that it is likely to be abroad. “We’re looking at overseas expansion – we’ve made trips over the last six months to Spain, Dubai, India and the States, looking at venues.” The emphasis is on the name that Boujis has made for itself around the world. “It’s a brand that it’d be hard for us to open up anywhere else in the UK – it would dilute it.” The club benefits from a high percentage of international clientele: “We get press in the strangest places,” says Manktelow. This is one of the motivations for taking the brand beyond the borders of the UK.

Ignite’s timing, as well as Manktelow’s, has been fortuitous, aligned as it has been with the renaissance of the London bar scene. With the group’s experience over the past decade, it looks likely to still have a mark to make on the on-trade, both in London and further afield.

db © July 2008