Inventive sale’s off says McDonald

INVENTIVE Leisure, the group behind the Revolution vodka bar chain, has shelved a planned sale of the business.

According to co-founder and director John McDonald sale talks have been ditched because they were “detracting from everything”.

Speaking at a lunch in Manchester to mark 100 years of the training organisation Dale Carnegie, Mr McDonald said: “The sale’s off. We’re just going to get on and make sure this business works.”

Earlier in the year it was reported that Inventive’s private equity backer Alchemy Partners had ordered a sale of the firm which has its headquarters in Ashton-under-Lyne and owns 63 bars across the country.

But talking to TheBusinessDesk.com after the event Mr McDonald said, “Nothing’s ever completely off” and stressed the management team was keen to get back to opening bars with the new Revolucion de Cuba rum bar concept. Two have opened in Manchester and Macclesfield recently and more are planned in Derby and Bournemouth.

Inventive, which employs 2,427 people, is a regular in the Sunday Times’ ‘Best Companies to Work For’ list and has worked with Dale Carnegie on staff training.

Mr McDonald, who founded the business with Roy Ellis and Neil Macleod in the early 1990s, told the event that when the three were considering setting up the firm they said: “If we ever get into this bar business we’re going to have fun. If we’re not having fun let’s not do it. And anyone who comes on board must have fun too, they’re not there for the money or because it’s not a bad job.”

He said the directors had a “back to the shop floor” approach and always seek advice and opinion from their staff. “We’re still very much in the business, we can’t have a boardroom mentality. You can’t create fun by having locked doors and not engaging people.”

In the year to June the company recorded a 12% sales rise to £106m. Pre-tax profits grew by 13% to £6.1m.

At yesterday’s event Dale Carnegie’s regional vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa Jean-Louis Van Doorne presented Mr McDonald with an excellence award in recognition of Inventive’s employee engagement.