Western film fan fast on the draw

By ELLEN READ

Shane Armstrong has turned a lifelong passion for Western movies into an award-winning business creating themed bars.

In the mid 1990s the former electrician, tired of meeting hospitality workers who were having more fun than him, decided to throw in his job and change tack.

With a group of business partners, the Tauranga man began setting up themed bars around New Zealand under the Fat Ladies Arms banner, before deciding to go it alone.

He is now the man behind the country's largest chain of themed bars - The Grumpy Mole Saloons.

Armstrong had always loved Westerns and after a road trip cruising the landscape and bars of America's West he returned to New Zealand determined to turn his cowboy dreams into reality.

In 1996 he established the first The Grumpy Mole Saloon in Napier, as a test to see if a themed bar with a distinctive look and atmosphere would work.

The Napier experiment was an overnight success, and within a year he had opened another bar in Tauranga, bearing the same name.

"The idea took off, then I thought, why not franchise them?" Armstrong said. Soon he had franchise bars in Rotorua, Lower Hutt, Nelson and Christchurch. By the end of this year there will be three new bars in Auckland and one in New Plymouth.

The company forecasts growth of about 150 per cent this year.

"I've learned a lot from others, particularly older business people, about what to do and what not to do," Armstrong said.

One thing he is aware of is that the popularity of bars can change overnight.

"Our core customer is aged 18 to 25 years old, and after 10.30 at night they are looking for the most exciting, trendy place to be," he said.

Armstrong said attitude made his business stand out. "People are the most important thing, by a country mile. I think there are three things which make us stand out from the crowd: having themed outlets, the purchasing power we command, and our entrepreneurial spirit."

The company gets behind people with the entrepreneurial spirit, helping them to set up their own bars under The Grumpy Mole Saloon banner.

"We put great emphasis on developing our staff, and have seen staff grow from collecting glasses through to having their own bar earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year," Armstrong said.

Far from just sitting back and waiting for franchise money to roll in, said Armstrong, the business was a lot of hard work.

"My role is to provide direction for the company. But I don't sit at a desk. In fact, I don't like being stuck in an office, so over the last year I've travelled over 50,000km supporting existing franchisees and helping establish new ones around the country."

Armstrong admits that as his business has grown his attitude towards banks, accountants and lawyers has changed.

He said he now enjoyed a partnership with his advisers and they realised what he needed to achieve his goals.

An example of these relationships is Armstrong's business banking manager, Westpac's Lloyd Cloughley, who nominated The Grumpy Mole Saloon franchise for last year's Tauranga Regional Westpac Business Awards.

Armstrong was gobsmacked when The Grumpy Mole won the supreme award from 48 Tauranga and Bay of Plenty companies.

He got an instant response to the victory when negotiations on two deals were finalised instantly.

"It has helped us open more businesses, and helped fuel growth."

Armstrong is developing The Grumpy Mole brand with a view to taking it overseas.

"After seven years we are still going strong, and this year we'll almost double the number of bars we have. The world is our oyster."

So does he regret giving up his electrician trade? Not a bit. "I'm having more fun now."