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The Lee Wood Hotel is a successful operation owned by John Millican a past Chairman of Best Western and run by his daughter and son-in-law. It's a long established business of 53 years, originally run by John's parents.
Centrally located in Buxton, it has excellent function and conference facilities, 38 bedrooms, many of which have been totally refurbished and a fine restaurant and bar operation.
The situation
John wanted to be assured that there were no stones unturned to maximise profit and to provide assistance to his daughter and son-in-law as they became partners.
The results
Working as a team, along with the help of the HBIM programme, a budget for the year was put together and several key areas identified where improvements could be made. There were other issues concerning operational matters to ensure the hotel was in prime position to meet modern requirements which were debated, decided and acted upon.
The food margin was targeted to improve by 7%, beverage by 7% also and wages by 4%, moving the GOP to 21%.
The challenge was commenced in May 2010 and at the financial year end in June 2011 the GOP was 22.7% which was well ahead of budget and this despite a 7% decrease in overall sales.
The HBIM programme goes way beyond theoretical instruction, they have not only taught us a wealth of highly professional and practical management tools and techniques, but also demonstrated how they work in practice, in real time, over the length of the course.
It has been a truly enlightening experience that has empowered our control over the business to a degree I would not have thought possible less than a year ago. We have learned in a very short time, how to truly control our business, and to drive it forward in an organized and structured manner..... and it's not very difficult, once you know how!
["God's own country pub" D. Telegraph]
The White Swan in Pickering, Yorkshire is owned and run by Victor Buchanan and his wife, who took over the business established by his parents.
Nowadays the Inn boasts some superbly styled new bedrooms which were added to the more traditional Inn rooms.
Its location in the market place in Pickering ensures that it is at the heart of the Yorkshire Moors community.
The Challenge
Although already successful the White Swan was encountering difficulties with bank funding and the banks insistence at renegotiating the existing overdraft.
A situation not unusual in the aftermath of the global banking crisis.
Victor asked HBIM to take an over-view and subsequently to come and work with the team - which comprised of several new members - to ensure the hotel achieved the maximum profitability.
The Results
At the White Swan there is a large and important food revenue stream and it was vital to work closely with the head chef to ensure margins were met.
The food cost was running at a little under 34% and in a short time this improved by 2% with a target of a further 3% by the year end which was achieved. Food costs now run at a consistent 29%.
Similar improvements were made to both beverage now running at 35% and wages with the biggest difference in cash terms being wages. Previously yearly average wage costs had been a struggle to keep below 33%. Now 30% is being achieved year to date but a tough winters trading perhaps masks the real improvement.
The overall GOP achieved was an additional 4% resulting in a greatly increased bottom line profit. August 2011 was the White Swan's best ever month with a GOP of 43% on sales of over £120,000 and wage costs at 23%.
The team took everything on board and fought hard to make the improvements whilst maintaining the already high levels of service and quality. They know it's still ‘work in progress' and another 2-3% overall is there to achieve.
I first came in to contact with HBIM after a recommendation from my colleague Adriaan Bartels, the General Manager of The Cliff House Hotel, Waterford.
My initial response was very sceptical but as the programme commenced and my management team started to take on board the sense of commercial urgency in this current climate, with so much competition surrounding us, it became clear that this was going to make a huge difference to our business.
The disciplines that HBIM have taught all of us in relation to our key indicators, our wage percentage, food and beverage percentages have already made an impact on our business.
What has really impressed me is somebody who is self taught and has come up through the ranks, Peter has help us to understand the rudiments of basic economics.
This has been the cornerstone of the success of this programme, I would only be delighted to recommend the programme and anyone who would like to talk to me personally I welcome their call.
Dear Peter
I have been meaning to write to you and John to thank you for conducting such an excellent course recently at the Club. One of the most important aspects of the exercise for me was that Troy, our Food and Beverage Manager, now understands the need for real time information and the importance of the office and paperwork.
The course was a real eye-opener. I am look forward to seeing the improvement in our margins, etc.
Again many thanks for your and John’s input and understanding of our operation. I look forward to seeing you again on in September
 Adriaan Bartels - General Manager - The Cliff House Hotel - Ardmore, Co Waterford, Ireland
Five Star Luxury Hotel with Michelin Star Restaurant.
I first came across Peter Nannestad and HBIM at a meeting of hoteliers and was initially unimpressed with the presentation
However one sentence struck a chord with me - 'I can make you a profit'.
This was something we were hoping to achieve as we were just in our second year of operation but finding that target elusive.
Peter forecast that we would make a certain amount of profit in our next year, which I was very skeptical about. Despite our misgivings we did our homework and signed HBIM up for a year. All I can say is what a year! A real rollercoaster ride.
Probably one of the hardest years I have had to work in my 20 years in hospitality. Had this course (The HBIM Profit Improvement Programme) been taught to me when I was in hotel school my life in the business would have been so much easier.
I now have skills that I can use for the rest of my life.
Suffice to say that the profit we forecast to make by the end of the year was achieved in August. At the end of the year I thanked Peter for all his help but he told me to thank my team - this process is not possible if you don't have your team on board and I was blessed with a management group that stuck with me all the way. I thank them sincerely for that and am now a prophet for Peter.
 Sally Rowlands - General Manager/Proprietor - The Castle Hotel, Neath
The training provided by HBIM has had a huge impact on our business. As an independent, family run hotel, we were finding it increasingly difficult to compete with the chains and to cope with ever increasing costs. The course was quite intense and sometimes gruelling and it certainly left the weak by the wayside - Peter does not suffer fools gladly. Peter has developed our skills and given us the tools to run the hotel profitably. We now have a strong and highly motivated team capable of driving the business forward and achieving the desired results.
David & Rachel Hume - Proprietors, Wainstone’s Hotel
Having been part of the management team of the Wainstones Hotel for a number of years, we purchased the hotel outright in April 2008 with a high level of bank borrowings. While over our years as managers we had grown the turnover to around £1 million this never seemed to convert into greatly increased profits.
As a large element of our business is corporate based we quickly felt the effects of the recession and were aware that our profit levels were not enough to survive a downturn. During a chance meeting with Peter Nannestad, he was immediately of the opinion that we would gain hugely from the four day economic programme he offered.we weren’t fully convinced as we already felt we had a good, hard working management team who were all well qualified.
By the end of four days with Peter they were transformed from a group of people who got on well and worked hard to a completely focused management team with structure, targets and a high level of economic skill. The mangement duties were restructured, they learned the potential profits of the business, they learned to budget, forecast, review accounts and identify and correct weaknesses. All without cutting our levels of service (in fact in many areas they have improved). While sales was not a specific part of this programme, peter gave us great advice throughout which has helped us start to grow the level of trade despite the recession.
The team now lead their own management meetings and drive sales and profits. They celebrate achieving their targets and are hugely disappointed if they miss any.
Looking at the first five months accounts since we started the programme in August 2009, our net profits have increased by 90% over the same period the previous year, our food costs are down from 41% to 30% and our wages from 39 % to 31%.
This is not to say for a second that it has been easy, but we now have the skills to achieve our potential profits and to ensure that they grow as we move forward.
For the first time since we bought the business (and in only six months since Peter’s first day with us), we are not thinking about how we will survive but about how we will expand.
The HBIM economic programme has had an enormous impact on the ownership and accountability of heads of department to effectively manage their parts of the business.
Through an understanding of budgeting, costs, daily analysis and financial review managers have learnt how to set targets, analyse performance and implement activity to achieve the potential profit of the company. This has been achieved in a very short time and has had a major impact on the profitability of the business.
It has been a fascinating and at times painful journey but one that has already strengthened the company and allowed us to look to the next stage of business development
Glyn and Menna Heulyn, Harbourmaster Hotel, Aberaeron, Wales
We had been running our hotel successfully for over five years when we decided to bring in HBIM with a brief of giving us, as hands-on owners, a better work life balance. The course entailed a lot of work, effort and commitment. Peter Nannestad is a one-off, but by pushing us and the staff out of our comfort zones he got results.
The outcome of the course, not only to us, but to all of our team has been extremely worthwhile. The course has empowered staff, and given us the discipline to manage the business effectively. Evaluating performance against industry benchmarks has given us the confidence and knowledge to expand and grow the business.
The course has turned our successful hotel, into a prospering sustainable business.
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Richard Whitehouse - 
Terry Jermyn, General Manager, 
