About Us
Lead Consultant, Liz King
In 2012, Liz gave up a well paid career as a HR Director for a large charity and took on her first pub, a large 200 year-old coaching inn with 12 guest rooms, alongside her son and partner. It is fair to say that she was unsure exactly what she was taking on, and learnt by jumping into the deep end. She brought her expertise in strategy, HR and leadership, but had to learn very quickly about hospitality management, dealing with pub-cos, rent negotiation, marketing, and much more.
Her company took on 3 other pubs. All the pubs were failed businesses and she turned them into viable businesses with her son and partner. Two of the venues won the South West Great British Pub Awards for Best Turnaround. However, it was not all plain sailing and there were times when Liz thought the business was not going to make it. Throughout it all, Liz learnt the ins and outs of running a pub, accommodation and an external catering and bar service.
Along with her son, she successfully pitched for contracts with several large tour companies and regularly fed coach loads of tourists on their way to and from Stonehenge. She also successfully bid for outside bars at events such as UB40, Status Quo and Jools Holland concerts, alongside national shows such as the Landrover Show.
After Pubs
After seven years, she decided to return to HR and business coaching and left her son to run the business to set up Catalyst Coaches. She completed a Masters Level in Executive Coaching and Mentoring and mentors on the Government’s Help to Grow scheme, where her clients ranges from property managers, to local brewers, to a small cruise company and various charities.
Realising just how much she missed hospitality, she decided to specialise in business coaching and consultancy in the sector, and so set up Pub Doctors, helping other businesses learn from her successes and her mistakes.
Liz has a great team of associates that she can call on to help businesses if she feels she isn’t the right person for a specific issue, some who specialise in hospitality and others whose expertise lies in business areas such as strategy, value propositions, marketing and sales.
You can read about some of Liz’s experiences through her blogs – Reflections of a Reluctant Landlady, in which she relays some of her experiences, some which are humorous, others which are less so, but they all consider what the learning points are for other business owners. Click on the button to read them.
You can find out more about Liz’s experience on her Linked In profile.
