Joel Mitchell.

Hospitality marketer

I help hospitality and leisure operators fill their venues, sell more at the bar and bring guests back.

Ten years marketing a bar and leisure group as it grew from 2 sites to 30. I ran bars before I ran marketing, so the work starts with how a venue actually trades. Drinks work runs through a dedicated drinks arm with senior bar and beverage experience.

Based in Leeds. Working with operators across the UK, on site and remote.

Message me for a free 30-minute call
2→30venues, grown in ten years
28venue openings, led personally
2xsupplier and partnership income
787kcustomers on a database built from zero

Awards won by the group while I led its marketing

  • Company of the Year Competitive Socialising Awards 2025
  • Multi-Site Operator of the Year Competitive Socialising Awards 2024
  • Finalist, Best Experiential Operator Publican Awards 2026

Who I work with

Sound familiar?

Built in competitive socialising. The same work fits bars, sports bars, pubs, restaurants and leisure, whatever the size.

A new site is on the way

And it needs to be busy from the very first weekend.

Quiet times are costing you

Midweek, lunch or off-peak trade isn't pulling its weight.

Guest data is sitting unused

Thousands of guest details and no plan to bring those people back.

Nobody senior owns marketing

The founder, the ops team or someone junior is doing it, and nobody is setting the direction.

The bar isn't pulling its weight

Drinks margins, supplier deals or cocktail sales aren't where they should be, and nobody has time to fix them.

The work

Four problems every operator hits.

Openings

A new site that fills from night one

The problem

A bar brand that had only ever traded in its home city was opening somewhere nobody knew it.

What I did

Split the new city into its separate crowds (locals, students and visitors) and built a pre-launch plan for each. Then wrote down everything that worked.

The result

28

That opening became the launch playbook. I've used it on 28 openings since, across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

For your business. Every new site gets the same timeline, checklist and budget split, so an opening doesn't depend on who happens to be running it.

Customer database

The cheapest guest is one who's already been

The problem

Guests booked once and drifted off. Their details sat in booking systems and tills and never got used.

What I did

Built one customer database from nothing, then put winning back lapsed guests ahead of paying for new ones in the group's digital strategy.

The result

787k

Customers on the database, and a strategy signed off by the senior leadership team that starts with the guests the business already has.

For your business. Most operators already own their easiest growth. A diagnostic shows how many guests you've lost and what bringing them back could look like.

New markets

Winning a city that didn't know the brand

The problem

The group's first London site. No brand awareness and some of the toughest competition in the country.

What I did

Built the launch around City corporate and group bookings first, instead of waiting for walk-in trade to find us.

The result

No.1

Site in a 30-venue estate. Corporate and group bookings make up 25–40% of its revenue.

For your business. Find the audience with the budget and the midweek gaps, and build the launch around them first.

Multi-brand

Four brands, four different crowds

The problem

One group with very different guests (big nights out, bowling, family days) all competing for the same marketing budget.

What I did

Gave each brand its own positioning, calendar and channels. Relaunched a sister brand after its only site had closed, and helped launch two new brands.

The result

1→7

Venues for the relaunched brand. Two new brands opened in 2023 and 2024.

For your business. Multi-brand groups waste money when every brand gets the same plan. Each one needs to know exactly who it's for.

Why me

What you get instead.

Instead of an agency

You get the senior person doing the work, not an account manager passing notes along.

Instead of a full-time hire

Director-level experience for a few days a month, with no recruitment risk.

Instead of another freelancer

I've run bars, opened 28 venues and built a 787,000-customer database. With a dedicated drinks arm, the bar side is covered too.

What people say

In their words.

“He’s really good at turning ideas and big-picture thinking into something you can actually deliver… He has a real understanding of the market, brands and different ways of working, but he also knows that work should be fun.”
Abi GreenBrand Manager, Professionals At Play
“I’ve been most impressed with Joel’s collaborative approach to projects. He always brings a creative and insightful edge to marketing campaigns and is an absolute pleasure to deal with.”
Lee O’ConnorCopywriter and narrative strategist
“You’ve always given everything to the job and your passion for it has never been in doubt. You’ve made a real difference to the business.”
Ben TurnockChief Financial Officer, Professionals At Play

How I work

Marketing that runs without me in the room.

Playbooks

Written steps for the moments that make money: openings, the big trading weeks and winning guests back.

A weekly scorecard

A handful of numbers the whole team watches, tied to covers, bookings and spend.

One owner per job

Every task has a name next to it. Nothing drifts because everyone assumed someone else had it.

90-day plans

Short plans with clear goals, reviewed often. I built a team of seven from nothing this way and promoted three of them.

What I think

Three things I'd tell any operator.

Your cheapest guest has already been

Operators pay to find new people while thousands of past guests sit in the till and the booking system. Start with them.

Win the opening before the doors open

If the pre-bookings aren't there two weeks out, no launch party will fix it. The work is in the 12 weeks before.

The bar needs its own plan

Venues market the night out and leave the drinks to sell themselves. A drinks list that's priced, promoted and trained in pays for a lot of marketing.

Working together

Four ways in.

Marketing diagnostic

I look at your data, channels, spend and team, and tell you straight where the money is and what to fix first.

For operators who know something isn't working.

Fractional marketing director

Senior marketing leadership a few days a month. I set the plan, run the team and agencies, and report to the board.

For growing groups not ready for a full-time hire.

Opening support

The launch playbook, run on your next site, from the first announcement to the first full weekend.

For operators with a new site on the way.

Drinks

Menus, supplier deals, bar operations and drinks-led events, delivered by our specialist drinks arm.

For operators whose bar should be earning more.

Drinks

Make the bar pay its way.

Drinks run through everything we do. An opening needs a drinks list that sells. A diagnostic looks at GP and supplier deals as hard as it looks at marketing. I started behind the bar and doubled supplier and partnership income at group level. A specialist drinks arm brings senior, hands-on bar and beverage experience.

Drinks

A dedicated drinks arm

Drinks work is delivered by a specialist drinks team with senior experience running bars and beverage programmes across hospitality and leisure.

They know the bar. I know the deals and the marketing. You get a drinks plan that's priced, sold and promoted from the first shift.

What we cover

Menus and cocktails

Drinks and cocktail lists, signature serves, pricing and GP.

Supplier and brand deals

Listings, rebates and marketing support from the brands you already pour.

Bar operations and training

Bar set-up, speed of service, upselling, stock and waste.

Drinks-led events

Tastings, brand takeovers and drinks campaigns that bring people in.

Drinks work on its own, or inside any of the four ways in

Drinks audit

A fixed-price look at your menu, GP, suppliers and bar operations, with the fixes in order.

Menu project

A new drinks or cocktail menu, designed, priced, launched and trained in.

Supplier deal review

We go through your supplier and brand deals and renegotiate what should be worth more.

Ongoing drinks support

Monthly support on its own, or alongside the fractional marketing director role.

Background

Behind the bar first.

Joel Mitchell

I started out running bars, looking after sites with up to 50 staff and £80k weekly takings. That's where I learned wages, stock and GP before I ever wrote a marketing plan. I've since held four roles in one growing group, ending up as marketing director. I've completed Mark Ritson's Mini MBA in Marketing and the Mini MBA in Management.

Questions

Before you ask.

How does a fractional marketing director work?

We agree the number of days each month after the diagnostic, based on what your business needs. The minimum is three months, long enough to deliver a 90-day plan, then it rolls monthly.

Do you work with my existing team and agencies?

Yes. I run the team and agencies you already have, and only bring in new ones if something isn't working.

Do you only work in competitive socialising?

No. That's where I built the work, and it fits bars, sports bars, pubs, restaurants and leisure just as well.

Will you come on site?

Yes. Most jobs mix time in your venues with remote work in between. Anywhere in the UK.

How does the drinks side work?

You deal with me. Our drinks arm joins for drinks work, either as a project on its own or as part of a wider piece.

How much does it cost?

Diagnostics and projects are a fixed price. Retainers are a monthly fee. I'll give you a number after the first call, once I know the job.

Let's have a 30-minute chat.

Tell me what's going on in your venues. If I can help, I'll tell you how. If I can't, I'll tell you that too.

  1. Message meEmail or call, and we'll set up 30 minutes. No charge, no pitch deck.
  2. Get a straight readYou'll hear where I think the money is and what I'd fix first.
  3. DecideGo further with a diagnostic, or take the advice and run with it.
joel@joelmitchellconsulting.co.uk
07542 559849

Find me on LinkedIn