Ultimate Jargon Buster guide – Stonegate Employees

Ultimate Jargon buster guide – support teams

This document is intended to help a holistic view of problems. Our complex business often allows similar topics to evolve separately, and as a result, often we have different words for similar things.

If you are struggling to understand a question or feeling around for direction in relation to a word or abbreviation you don't understand. The chances are there’s helpful direction below.

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If you’ve spotted some jargon that isn't included or is captured incorrectly here, you can report back via this form General enquiry form. Pick the FAQ/Knowledge article creation drop down in the ‘What does your query/request relate to?’ field.

• 3CX – our telephone system, used in our offices and sites. The service provider is RTS. Queries should be raised via our IT service desk
• Academy Online – our L&D teams outputs embodied in a system. Access the system from the Ichoose app or from Stonegate Central.
• Account number – A unique identifier assigned to each customer in the Pub Partners or Commercial Properties estate. Not to be confused with BUN or Outlet code. These are site, and not customer specific. Account numbers will change with each new leasholder/tenant, but BUN and Outlet will remain the same.
• 'Again' glass recycling - a new service introduced to the Managed and Craft Union estates in 2024. Sites collect used bottles in Tote boxes which are collected and replaced weekly.
• AM – an Area Manager within the managed estate. An area manager is responsible for a group of sites, usually within a specific format.
• AToP – Alberts Theory of Progression
• BCFWSM – How drinks categories are broken down within Pub Partners. Pubs can be tied for any combination. B = Beer, C = Cider, F = FABs (ready to drink brands like WKD), W = Wine, S = Spirits and M = Minerals. Each category has further sub-categories. Minerals for example is broken up into Draught and Packaged minerals.
• Beacon – a batch of circa 100 pubs within the Pub Partners estate that are subscribed to an agreement where we take more control of their offer. Sites will be aligned to regular RM’s within the SGPP estate. Our marketing function will control communications about the offer.
• Bidood. Our food distributor for managed sites. Pub Partners sites can also take advantage of a direct relationship with additional benefits linked to Stonegate Group.
• BOC – British Oxygen Corporation (supplying beer dispense gas)
• BOH – Back of House, often meaning the kitchen team
• BUN – Business Unit Number. A unique identifier for each of our sites.
• Carlsberg Marstons Brewing Company – also known as CMBC. Our drinks distributor for metal containers within Managed and CUPC
• Celestra - linked to Wi-Fi and IP addresses - previously called out by Zonal to fix a printer issue after a sites Wi-fi system was updated
• Central operations – we have 3 central operations teams aligned to our major formats. Managed, CUPC and Pub Partners. These collaborative teams host briefing information and communications for their extended formats. 
• COE - Centre of excellence (A training house that all new Craft Union Operators get sent to for 2 weeks to conduct their Craft Union training).
• Collins – our booking system in managed
• Commercial Properties – also known as CP. Sites that have elected for a fully free of tie agreement with our business. Often via a MRO Market Rent opportunity
• Cubbit House – a small batch of pubs owned by TDR
• CUPC – Craft Union Pub Company
• CX – Customer Experience (for which we have a dedicated team in the Managed Estate)
• DBU – Divisional Business Unit (a regional team of RM's/OM's and an OD)
• Distribution Matrix - A Navision reference to the depot/s that a SGPP site is aligned to.
• DPS - Designated Premises Supervisor (The person in Craft Union who’s name is on the licence of the pub)
• Division – a pod of regions grouped into one geography. An example in Pub Partners, circa 20 Regional Managers make up the Northern Division.
• Ecolab – Our pest elimination resource
• Elsa - We have asked our HR function for a summary of what this system is intended for and whether it is still used.
• Epos – an electronic point of sale system (till) linked to Zonal as a provider
• Estates – a team responsible for the safe upkeep of our properties
• F&F – Fixtures & Fittings
• FOH – Front of House, often meaning the guest facing team
• Food & Drinks Development – a team of people developing the food and drinks offers within our sites. 
• Food Buyers Club - a promotional offer available to SGPP sites enabling sites to set up a buying relationship with Bidfood.
• Format – a way to differentiate between the offers in our estate. Our formats are Managed, Craft Union, Pub Partners, Joint Ventures and Commercial Properties
• FOT – Free of Tie – where a Pub Partners or Commercial Property site has bought themselves out of a tied relationship for a category or everything.
• Fourth – a tech provider fulfilling several briefs within our business, including payroll systems, holiday and absence, our Ichoose HR system, the ordering and receipt system for Managed and Craft Union sites including the Starchef system + more
• FRA – Fire Risk Assessment
• General Manager or GM – the individual responsible for the day to day running of a Managed site.
• Heritage Pubs and Pubsmiths. Our newest Pub Formats within the Managed estate. See this article. Heritage Pubs and Pubsmiths – our new pub formats! 🍻
• Ichoose. The HR system all colleagues can download to their personal phone. View payslips, book annual leave, check Academy online, find rewards + loads more
• Invida – the system used to manage property queries. Accessed via different methods for our different business formats.
• Joint Ventures – Also known as Managed Investments and Managed Experts, JV and MI. A small group of pubs that are aligned to entrepreneurial partners. These businesses operate independently but they benefit from our pricing and we own a stake in them. Partners include… Bestplace, Frontier, Hush Heath, Mash, Six Cheers and Urban Vars.
• KMS – Kitchen Management System
• L&T = Leased and Tenanted pubs – sites that are ran as standalone businesses within our SGPP (Pub Partners) estate
• LFL – Like for Like
• Logistics – a team of individuals focused on ensuring our distribution partners meet the demands of our contracts
• Loomis – cash collections and coin/change deliveries
• LWC. Our drinks distributor for small pack in CUPC and some managed venues
• Marketing Club - a subscription service within SGPP allowing sites to received quarterly marketing support drops. 
• Matthew Clark Wholesale – also known as MCW. Our drinks distributor for small pack in Managed and CUPC
• Mission, Pillars and Values – Also known as FIRST values. Follow this link to learn more. Our new mission, pillars and values
• MiXR – the consumer facing app consumers use to claim rewards in our Managed sites. For our sites, a feature is digital screens marketing promotions to guests. It’s the largest media network in the UK!!  Link to Stonegate Central MiXR homepage
• MOQ - Minimum order quantity - usually used in relation to distribution. Example, the minimum order quantity for us to list a cask in distribution is 1 pick face or 12 casks (a week)
• MRO – An abbreviation of ‘Market Rent Only’. A term associated to the Pubs Code.
• MSA - Management service agreement (Agreement all Craft Union operators sign when they start working with us).
• My Pub - an area of the SGPP website the Pub Hub. Where Publicans manage their account.
• Navision - a support system used for managing products and distribution relationships in SGPP, JV and CP sites.
• NSF -  National Sanitation Foundation, regulators and consumers look to NSF for the development of public health standards and services that help protect the world’s food, water, consumer products and environment.
• OD – Operations Director. Usually, the individual responsible for a whole format or division. An OD will often have OM’s and/or RM’s reporting to them
• OM – Operations Manager. These individuals will pick up responsibility for a smaller group of RM’s/AM’s within a division. They usually report to an OD.
• Operations – usually the field-based team of RM’s/AM’s/OM’s/OD’s that look after a specific geography or format
• Operator
• Outlet code – a unique identifier used within Pub Partners and Commercial Properties – closely linked to the BUN number (which contains all the same characters + a couple more).
• PAR – Project Analysis Report
• PBS – Pre-booked Sales
• PCA – Pubs Code Adjudicator – associated to Pub Partners and the MRO process.
• PED - Pin Entry Device - used in sites to take payments
• PHS – associated to Hygiene or Greenleaf. The company providing washroom services, including sanitary bins, flush sensors, air fresheners. Also responsible for garden services.
• PMO – the Project Management Office. We have 2 separate versions of this within the business. One generating work across teams, and another that is Property team specific.
• POD – proof of delivery, referencing the document/electric device that a site signs when taking in a delivery
• PSR – Pub Specific Request
• PSTHR – Pub Support Team Human Resources
• Purchasing – a team of colleagues that negotiate with third party suppliers to build our portfolio of products.
• Pub Hub - our Publican facing website for SGPP sites
• Regional Manager or RM – the operations team members aligned to a group of sites within our Pub Partners estate
• Rep.com – 3rd party partner that surfaces data reflecting our sites reputation. Our managed sites benefit from a Rep score, and feedback reflecting guest sentiment on various social media platforms.
• ROI – Return on Investment
• RPT – a type of agreement that our L&T SGPP Pub Partners sites can take
• RPT – Retail Partnership Tenancy– an agreement type within the Pub Partners estate
• S&L – An Abbreviation of Slug & Lettuce – one of the brands in our managed estate
• Sales Explosion. A term reflecting an output from the Zonal system used in our managed and Craft sites. A sales explosion reflects a breakdown of product used in a mixed serve. Example, all of the elements within a cocktail serve.
• Salestalk. The offline system our contact centre use to capture orders in Pub Partners
• Selima – our expenses system, used by team members to register expenses, and managers to approve them.
• Site – can have different meanings, mostly used to reflect one of our pubs, bars or venues. In distribution terms it can refer to a specific depot.
• SPK – an abbreviation of Social Pub and Kitchen. A format within our managed estate.
• Sports Viewing Club (SVC) - a subscription offer available to SGPP sites enabling access to Sky and TNT sports viewing packages.
• Star Chef – a part of the Fourth system managing our menus and ordering in Managed and Craft Union. Starchef hosts menu and recipe engineering.
• Stonegate Support – also known as Zendesk. Our query management system for drinks in Pub Partners, Drinks and services in Craft Union, and Drinks, Food and Services within Managed.
• Stonegate Support – portal, agent, light agent
• Talos – the system we use for recruitment
• TAW – Tenancy at Will – an agreement type within the Pub Partners estate
• TAW = Tenancy at will. A term associated with a Leased and Tenanted Pub Partners site. The Publican at this site can terminate their contract ‘at will’. Or exit the pub quickly if they want to.
• TDR Capital – TDR Capital, is a leading private investment firm, that has been backing Stonegate Group since its inception in 2010
• Tibard – our staff uniform supplier.
• Trade On Tap (ToT) - the online ordering system for SGPP sites - accessed via the Pub Hub
• Tradesimple – a part of the Fourth portfolio of systems. In this instance responsible for the ordering and receipting of stock
• Tradeteam – our drinks distributor in Pub Partners, Joint Ventures and Commercial Properties. Also sometimes known as DHL
• True commerce - the system provider for Netalogue which is the online ordering platform for SGPP sites (also known as Trade on Tap_
• UAT = User Acceptance Testing. The process of subject matter experts testing a new system solution.
• Ullage = Bad beer/Cider. The process of returning bad draught product to return a credit.
• Ultima – the third party company we use as an IT helpdesk
• UYR – our design and print provider
• UAT – User acceptance testing – the process of a team testing and deploying a new system or update
• Venues – A collection of sites within our Managed Estate forming a division. Sub formats include Clubs, Flares, Popworld, Reflex, Walkabout, LGBTQ+ and more
• Vergo – pest management
• Webcom - WebCom is a comprehensive web-based estate management and reporting tool; providing merchants with the ability to monitor, manage and analyse transaction processing, as well as generating reports.
• WoW – Ways of Working
• ZCF - a third party system that links Aztec to other systems like Collins
• Zonal – the system provider for the EPOS/Tills system used in Managed and Craft Union