After Marian and Nick Darter took over the Chequers Inn, Hertfordshire and completely renovated the building, they were in need of a marketing campaign to bring in local customers.
Chris Storey, local Dor-2-Dor franchisee and frequent visitor of the public house, offered to run the campaign and together they worked to get the word out about the new faces of The Chequers Inn.
The campaign featured 10,000 A4 folded to A5 leaflets delivered over a four week period, every other week to local households in Welwyn, Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Knebworth and surrounding areas. “Results were very favourable,” says Marian and Nick Darter. “People would see a leaflet and then pop down to visit us for an evening. We had a good response and leaflet distribution was certainly worth doing. Word of mouth has spread.”
Dating back to Tudor times and steeped in history, The Chequers Inn, Woolmer Green, Hertfordshire, (with its roaring fires), is warm and inviting with a colourful past and a promising future.
Running this business is a family affair. Proprietors Marian & Nick Darter took over the Coaching Inn, famously visited by Dick Turpin, and the head Chef is their son Ben. With extensive experience in the catering trade, Ben knows the importance that homemade food plays in building a pub’s reputation and customer loyalty. With the emphasis on fresh, local produce the enticing and reasonably priced menu is changed frequently, and all food is cooked to order.
When they took over the lease for the Chequers, the property was run down and uncared for, and as a result, a viable business was practically non-existent. They liked the layout and saw tremendous potential but knew they would have to start from scratch. The business was only closed for two weeks whilst a hectic schedule of redecoration and refurbishment took place. For the first twelve months after the place was run as standard. Since then the family has strived to consistently improve the surroundings, without sacrificing the character of the original building. Unlike the building, which remained standing for hundreds of years, the management team does not stand still.
Marion says: “We want our customers to feel we are making efforts to give them the best customer experience, and we are constantly looking for ways to improve it, and offer what other outlets are not. We are fresh food led and we are trying to cater for all levels, all occasions, and meet different people’s expectations. It’s simple really. We just want to be seen to be the best for miles around.”
“Dor-2-Dor is an excellent option if you want to get word out about what you are advertising. For the response we saw we enjoyed a reasonably priced, efficient service. Our local franchisee Chris Storey communicates very well with us and keeps us updated on our campaign.”
