Running a pub means juggling a dozen things at once, but nothing’s more visible to your punters than what happens front of house. Get this wrong, and it doesn’t matter how good your beer is – customers won’t come back.
Front of house management covers everything your customers see and experience when they walk through your doors. It’s the difference between a pub that thrives and one that struggles to fill seats on a Friday night.
Running this problem at your pub?
Here's the system I use at The Teal Farm to fix it — real-time labour %, cash position, and VAT liability in one dashboard. 30-minute setup. £97 once, no monthly fees.
Get Pub Command Centre — £97 →No monthly fees. 30-day money-back guarantee. Built by a working pub landlord.
What Does Front of House Include?
Front of house encompasses all customer-facing operations in your pub:
- Bar service – Your bar staff pulling pints, taking orders, and serving customers
- Table service – Waiting staff delivering food and drinks to tables
- Customer reception – Greeting punters, managing bookings, and handling enquiries
- Food service – Getting meals from kitchen to customer efficiently
- Event coordination – Managing quiz nights, live music, or private functions
- Cleanliness and atmosphere – Keeping the pub tidy, welcoming, and properly lit
Basically, if a customer can see it or interact with it, it’s front of house. Your back of house operations – kitchen prep, stock management, admin – support everything that happens out front.
Key Front of House Management Responsibilities
Staff Coordination: You need the right people in the right places at the right times. This means scheduling bar staff for busy periods, ensuring adequate table service coverage, and keeping your team engaged during quieter shifts.
Customer Experience: Every interaction matters. Train your staff to be friendly, efficient, and professional. Handle complaints quickly and fairly. The goal is punters leaving happy and planning their next visit.
Quality Control: Monitor service speed, drink quality, and food presentation. Regular checks ensure standards don’t slip when you’re not watching.
Team Management: Front of house staff are your pub’s face. Keep them motivated, address performance issues promptly, and create a positive working environment that shows in customer service.
Tools That Make Front of House Management Easier
Managing front of house operations manually is like trying to pull pints with one hand tied behind your back. Modern pub management tools help coordinate staff, track performance, and maintain service standards without the constant headaches.
The SmartPubTools front of house app handles staff scheduling, task management, and team communication – all free for UK pub landlords who want to streamline operations and focus on what matters most: happy customers and profitable service.
Get your free SmartPubTools account and see how much easier front of house management can be.
Free Tool for UK Pub Landlords
Used daily at Teal Farm Pub, Washington NE38
The Pub Command Centre handles everything in this article — without a spreadsheet.
Wet GP%, dry GP%, labour costs, beer line cleaning logs (12 lines), HACCP temperature checks, stock ordering, weekly P&L. All in one system. Used every shift at Teal Farm where labour runs at 15.1% against a UK pub average of 25-30%.
On a pub taking £900k a year, running labour at 15% instead of 25% is worth roughly £90,000. That is what tracking it daily — every shift, every week — actually looks like.
£97 once. No subscription. No monthly fee. Works on any phone, tablet or laptop. Setup under 10 minutes. Built and used by a Marston’s CRP licensee with a 5-star EHO rating and 180 covers.
See the Pub Command Centre — £97 →
One-off payment. Works on any device. Used by a working licensee, not a software company that’s never pulled a pint.
SmartPubTools FOH App — Free, Forever
Built by a real pub landlord from the North East. Staff gamification, shift tracking, leaderboards and rota tools — free, no subscription, no credit card needed.
📊 Your EPOS tells you what sold. Pub Command Centre tells you whether you made money.
Real-time labour %, cash position and VAT liability in one dashboard. Built by a working pub landlord. £97 once, no monthly fees. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Takes 2 minutes · Free forever · Made for UK pubs
Running your pub on gut feel?
The Pub Command Centre gives you wet GP%, cellar checks, staff cost and weekly P&L — from your phone, every shift. £97 once. No subscription.
See the Pub Command Centre →