The accelerating commodification of irishness

[Slothrop]

Overview | The Irish Pub Concept

irishpubconcept.com

We can trace back the origins of many of the design features to the elegant saloon bars of the Victorian era in the late 19th and early 20th century, but to see where the contemporary Irish Pub comes from, we need look no farther in history than twenty years ago. The contemporary Irish Pub was actually conceived by the company who brewed Guinness stout, Guinness Brewing Worldwide, (now Diageo), and was the result of a robust piece of market research.

 

[Murphy]

Overview | The Irish Pub Concept

irishpubconcept.com

AUTHENTIC IRISH DÉCOR​

The authentic exterior and interior design of the pub is paramount in ensuring success. Bad replicas, or poorly-executed design are a precursor for poor financial performance. Consumers want the real thing and understand when they were getting less.

Our Vendors Page on this site will direct you to our partner consultants and designers whose core expertise is delivering well-designed and successful pubs.

AUTHENTIC IRISH FOOD​

Providing genuinely home-cooked food with locally sourced ingredients is vitally important, as well as integrating the menu with local or regional tastes. Consumers want to try authentic Irish dishes, reflective of Ireland’s place in the world as a leader in farm to table cuisine.

AUTHENTIC IRISH & CRAFT BEVERAGES​

Offering premium import Irish beers along with local crafts and microbrews is core to the success of the concept. However, great attention should be paid to having an extensive list of Irish and Scotch whiskies along with a well-considered wine list, by bottle and glass.

AUTHENTIC IRISH MUSIC​

Doesn’t always have to be traditional Irish music, but carefully choosing your playlists so that traditional Irish music is regularly played along with other suitable music is very important. If you are going to have live music, vet the bands beforehand….a bad band can hurt your business. See if there are local musicians who want to jam on a Sunday afternoon.

KEY EMPLOYEES​

Where possible, employing Irish people in key positions, especially in the opening period, helps to promote an authentic pub culture. Having all employees understand the warmth, informality and conviviality of Irish Pubs is critically important.

ENGAGED MANAGEMENT & OWNERSHIP​

Having management or ownership that was intimately engaged with the business on a day to day basis was vital. Absentee ownership always led to poor standards of operation and therefore poor financial performance.

EXCELLENT OPERATIONAL CONTROLS & PROCESSES​

Have controls and processes in place that give you daily oversight into your business, insight into your guests and independent performance assessment.

 

[Murphy]

Same blurb

All successful food and beverage concepts possess certain key qualities that contribute to their success. However, without exception, they all deliver a consistently excellent experience to the consumer while supporting the management of the business with efficient systems and processes. Although the core offering of a very successful restaurant concept is usually not that different from its competitors, their success lies in their ability to understand who their consumer is, what that consumer wants, and then to execute exactly as the consumer expects. It’s about how to make the mundane very special and desirable. It’s about matching the desired consumer experience with the delivered consumer experience. This commitment to execution sets them apart from their competition and makes them giants in their category.

Similarly, to understand why the Irish Pub Concept is so successful, we need to distinguish between Irish Pubs that genuinely transport Irish culture, hospitality and tradition……and pubs with Irish names or Irish memorabilia hanging on the walls that deliver nothing other than a generic, sterile bar experience. In other words, we need to understand why the Irish Pub Concept takes the pub experience to a whole different level of excellence.

Unlike these other pubs and themed restaurants, the Irish Pub Concept consistently delivers an authentic consumer experience. By combining stunningly-accurate interior design with great food, drink, music and, most of all, people, guests are immersed in another world of warmth, conversation, laughter and fun. What the Irish call ‘the craic’….real fun.
From a financial perspective, this level of authenticity works hard to make consumers feel they are in a premium environment and therefore can indulge themselves. From this feeling comes the natural prompt to switch from domestic beers to import beers, from rye & bourbon to premium and single malt whiskies. Annually, this can translate into tens of thousands of dollars of incremental revenue and profit. The Irish Pub Concept differs from the generic bar experience not just because of its authenticity but because it is a robust vehicle for financial success in what is a very challenging industry.
To illustrate just how successful the Irish Pub Concept is, it should be looked at in the context of current casual-dining performance in the United States.
In a maelstrom of casual-dining competition and in a world of homogenous roadhouse food, the Irish Pub Concept emerges as probably one of the hottest trends in the industry. Not only does it deliver a powerful consumer experience, it also delivers one of the strongest bottom-lines in the industry and a minimal need for capital reinvestment.
Amongst the most important reasons for this strong bottom-line is the yield per square foot of retail space. This phenomenon is influenced by a number of factors which include but are not limited to a very favorable food to beverage ratio, the volume of day-part business that other restaurants cannot access and by the almost automatic switch that consumers make to import beers, adding considerably to the total guest check and average spend.
Below is an illustration of how a well-managed pub can perform when compared to the casual-dining segment:

Casual Dining Restaurant		Irish Pub
Food @ 75%	Beverage @ 75%		Food @ 60%	Beverage @ 40%
$1,500,000	$500,000		$1,200,000	$800,000
Labor @ 29%		Labor @ 25%
$580,000		$500,000
COS @ 30%		COS @ 28%
$450,000		$336,000
Total Prime Cost		Total Prime Cost
$1,030,000		$836,000
Contribution to Overhead		Contribution to Overhead
$970,000		$1,164,000
49%		58%

In addition, the appeal of the Irish Pub Concept is very strong across a very broad demographic and a very broad range of dining, drinking and entertainment occasions. Unlike the casual-dining restaurant or bar categories, the concept has the ability to flex its offering to consumers at different times of the day, maximising revenues from business lunches, cocktail hour, dinner and late-night entertainment.

The Irish Pub Concept defies standard industry assumptions, thriving successfully in towns of 25,000 people, and performing equally well in urban and suburban locations. Opened with adequate capital resources and managed diligently, the Irish Pub Concept can be a reliable route-map for success in the restaurant business.

 

[Murphy]

 

[Murphy]

 

[line b]

My wife just watched this show 'normal people' which is this very trendy acclaimed elevated tv romantic drama series thats an all irish production.

 

[shiels]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone I have an essay coming soon I’ll drop it in here

 

[versh]

 

[versh]

Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan seem to be Ireland's most popular exports at present, Mescal in particular's everywhere. I don't get a sense of them commodifying their Irishness, mind you. They're just Irish. Cillian Murphy too. Some of the fans online do get a bit weird about it though so it's perhaps happening to them anyway. The other day I saw a clip of Mescal talking about not being arsed about meeting King Charles because he's Irish and there were a bunch of commenters falling over themselves praising what was a pretty mild statement. I got the sense of a very superficial engagement with the politics and history that amounted to "omg, Irish celebrity criticising the monarchy, we stan!!".

 

[wg-]

Have you saw how much a can of Nitrosurge Guinness is

And you need to buy the £30 widget to pour them

World's gone mad

 

[Mr. Tea]

Have you saw how much a can of Nitrosurge Guinness is

And you need to buy the £30 widget to pour them

World's gone mad

Flann O'Brien must be turning in his grave. A pint of Plain, indeed!