Member Article

Manchester student turned bar entrepreneur to expand across the North West

A Manchester university student is successfully running two bars with plans to expand to ten bars in the next five years.

Taps and Epernay on Watson street in Manchester are two very different places owned by a father and son duo.

Co-owner Chris Payne is still studying at Manchester university for a Masters in business and balances his studying with his company.

The company bought out the original owners in June 2014 using a combination of savings and a Natwest bank loan.

The exact six-figure amount cannot be disclosed.

The bars were previously run by a company based in Leeds and so came with a regular customer base.

Chris’s next challenge is to set up a bar from scratch and build up the customer base himself.

He plans on expanding to ten bars around the Manchester area creating jobs in the process over the next five years.

Chris said: “I’ve always wanted to be involved in the bar industry, all my part time jobs were around local pubs and bars so I have always been around it

“The biggest challenge is probably trying to change the culture of a bar that already existed.

“Things that we don’t think work for where we want to go are hard to change, but it’s always hard to change an existing culture

“The easiest thing about this business is that it came with a customer base so we don’t need to focus on generating income but can focus on improving income instead.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .