Propel to launch ‘deep-dive’ parallel sessions at Excellence in Pub & Bar Retailing Conference: Propel is launching “parallel sessions” at this year’s Excellence in Pub & Bar Retailing Conference, which offer the chance to deep-dive into specialist subjects. There will be a chance for teams attending the conference to break away and absorb the parallel sessions. There will be ten parallel sessions in total, which will run alongside the main conference. Propel managing director Paul Charity said: “This is now the best attended pub and bar conference in the UK. We already have 90 more people to attend than last year’s big turnout. Our innovation this year is, aside from hearing from a lot of the UK’s best operators, there’s the opportunity for the first time to attend parallel sessions that will focus on the vital detail. We are announcing the first five sessions today with the final five to be announced next week.” 

The first five parallel sessions are: 

Airship – crafting the perfect value exchange: Take all your data on the same journey to drive up visit frequency and focus your customers to engage with you based on your key revenue occasions. In this session, Airship and Toggle founder and chief executive Dan Brookman will take you through live examples of how to quickly and easily identify and create customer journeys that can shift the dial on your CRM return on investment.

Harri – the nine metrics you should be concerned about when benchmarking against other UK pubs and bars: Instead of the traditional “let’s just cut hours”, there are nine different metrics that operators should actually be measuring themselves against, and they all point towards greater profitability. Don’t miss this exclusive session led by commercial director Pete Willis on real industry benchmarking data. He’ll run through how to address rising labour percentages, inaccurate forecasting and open the table up for discussion. All attendees will receive a free benchmarking consultation after the event.

Sideways presents video-first compliance training – smarter training for pubs and bars: In this session, find out how video-based training can help your teams learn better, faster, for half the price. The training now includes level 3 food safety, delivered in seven hours, for free.

Prestige Purchasing – strategic cost management: This session will focus on operational efficiency and supply chain resilience highlighting key areas like menu optimisation and streamlined processes. The session will focus on navigating availability and cost pressures in food and beverage, providing high-impact, valuable, practical advice relating to cost efficiency and operational improvements. Shaun Allen, chief executive of Prestige Purchasing, will explain how these strategies can be extended to encompass all areas of spend and provide actionable steps attendees can begin to implement. There will also be a question and answer period.

Purple Story – unlocking performance – the strategic role of coaching in pub and bar excellence: In today’s competitive hospitality landscape, operational coaching is not just a development tool – it’s a strategic driver of enhanced performance, revenue growth, and sustained profitability. This focused, interactive session led by Warrick Hegarty, Purple storyteller and head of its coaching division, explores how targeted coaching interventions can unlock the full potential of your teams and operations. Gain actionable insights and practical techniques designed to elevate standards, empower leadership at all levels, and deliver measurable business outcomes across your pub and bar portfolio.

The all-day conference takes place on Wednesday, 14 May at One Moorgate Place in London and is open for bookings. For the full speaker schedule, click here. Tickets are £295 plus VAT for operators and £345 plus VAT for suppliers. There is a 20% discount for operators and suppliers who are Premium Club subscribers. Email: kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com to book places.