Yates hits high street with two-for-one meal deals

by John Harrington

High-street managed company Yates Group has started offering two-for-one meal deals across its Yates's outlets, except for its Ha! Ha! Bar & Canteen brand.

Yates has also cut the salt and fat content of key items from its children's menus as it joins the drive to offer healthier kids options.

Yates's two-for-one promotion, which has been rolled out in the past few weeks, applies to all main meals but not lighter options, such as sandwiches and wraps.

"Effectively it means that for around £6 you can get fish and chips for two. And the food quality is very good," said Yates chief executive Mark Jones.

"It has become clear to us that the trend in community market is for value food and good portions, a la Hungry Horse and Two four One (the Spirit Group chain). This has proved to be very successful for them.

"We have been seeing this business in neighbourhood estates and we thought customers would be ready for it in the high street. We are very encouraged by the response from customers so far."

The salt and fat content of sausages and burgers from the children's menu has beenreduced while burger buns also have less salt than before.

"As far as we can make out, we are the first on the high street to offer low fat, low salt as standard for kids," said Jones. "We did research with mothers and they said this was something they couldn't find in pubs."

Meanwhile, Spirit Group has also introduced two-for-one deals on main meals at around 200 of Spirit's Qs and Mr Qs pubs. The dishes typically cost around £4 to £5. The brand is also offering a Wednesday curry club.

A Spirit spokeswoman said the number of pubs taking part in the deal was frequently changing and the success of the promotion was under constant review.

"It's about constantly trying to present the best offer to customers," she said.