Sweet Chemistry - it's quality not quantity that counts with your dessert offering

It is quality not quantity that counts with your desserts offering,says Richard Fox

Pastry expert Jus-Rol offers a range of frozen prepared pastry and a selection of vol-au-vents to help pub chefs create simple and cost-effective desserts.

Jus-Rol's frozen ingredient pastry is ideal for any dessert recipe as it provides convenience, minimises wastage and is simple to use. There are several varieties - puff, demi-puff, shortcrust, filo and sweet dessert pastry - available in a selection of formats to meet the requirements of different dishes.

The company's sweet dessert pastry has been specially created for dessert dishes and is enriched with butter and vanilla flavouring. It can be served as biscuits or used to create flans, tarts and pies with a variety of fillings.

Jus-Rol's shortcrust pastry offers chefs the versatility to create inspiring dessert menus with very little effort and is ideal for dishes such as pineapple & ginger meringue and Black Forest tart.

The pre-rolled sheets may be quickly cut into a variety of shapes for ease of portioning for individual items such as turnovers and pithiviers.

For more information telephone 0800 626893.

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Alveston Kitchens has recently researched the dessert market and uncovered many opportunities to improve profits:

Eight out of 10 consumers think a bad dessert ruins a meal and you will lose seven out of 10 diners if you serve a poor dessert.

Seven out of 10 consumers believe a good dessert can really make a meal and six out of 10 say they prefer dessert to a starter.

Because consumers are eating fewer "traditional" desserts at home,predominantly due to convenience factors, they are looking for traditional favourites that they know and love on menus when eating out - six out of 10 consumers would skip dessert when eating out if a classic favourite wasn't available on the menu.

Although the healthier eating mind-set does extend into dessert options,and more than half of consumers expressed a desire to see a healthier option on the menu, it is not at the expense of indulgence.

Nearly half of all consumers say a great dessert would impact on their desire to return to an outlet. This is especially true for women.

Presentation of the dessert plays just as important a role as what is actually being served. Consumers say they are more likely to order a dessert and are willing to pay up to 48% more if it looks great.

Mike Godwin, managing director of Schöller Ice Cream, suggests ways to maximise dessert sales:

1. Exceed consumer demands. Recent consumer trends have indicated a dramatic increase in demand for high-quality and sophisticated dessert products. Consumers are becoming much more adventurous in terms of flavours and are craving indulgence products with a difference. Licensees should look to exceed consumer demands by regularly updating their dessert offerings to keep tempting customers to new experiences each time they visit.

2. Make an impact. Table-top menus are a clear way of making sure consumers are tempted by dessert offerings before they've even started their appetisers. In fact, dessert sales increase by an average of 25% as a direct result of table-top menus. They are a great way to generate interest and, as a result, help boost profits.

3. Quick-to-serve products. Freezer-to-table desserts can be served with minimum labour, time and effort, yet look and taste homemade. They also offer minimum wastage, allowing licensees to reap more rewards. Dressing the ready-to-serve desserts with fresh cream, ice cream, fruit, sorbets, chocolates or sauces, helps add that individual, finishing touch in no time.

4. Lasting impression. With the dessert being the final course of a meal, it is the last chance to make an impression on consumers so that they return again in future. Thus, offer a varied dessert menu with different tastes and colours to appeal to all customers. At Schöller, we recommend eight ice cream flavours are used on menus to add a mix of classic, fruit or warm flavours, as well as colours. For example, mint or pistachio adds an unusual green colour.

5. First-class presentations. If licensees ensure a premium product is presented in an innovative way, they can charge a premium price. Review everything from the products, ingredients and accompaniments used, through to the glass and plateware each dessert is presented on.

Phil Marshall, Woodward Foodservice marketing manager, has the following advice:

1. Desserts don't sell themselves - publicans need to ensure they are tempting customers to indulge. Appealing photographs and descriptions can help persuade customers to order.

2. Publicans can also maximise dessert sales by offering them alongside morning coffees and drinks. Chalkboards or menus displayed around the pub can help lead to impulse purchases throughout the day.

3. As part of our complete service, Woodward offers a dessert menu design and print service to ensure our customers can make the most of the desserts they have on offer.

Julie Moore, 3663 marketing controller comments:

There's always room to experiment. A constantly-updated menu featuring regular favourites as well as specials can help maintain interest and encourage repeat visits.

Pastry chefs are catering's version of rock 'n' roll's sound engineers - first in, last to leave; tucked away in a world of their own, alienated from the main event; physically and emotionally sidelined from the hardcore action. It's a thankless task and it takes a disciplined, meticulous approach more akin to a chemist than a chef. And the only pleasure I can recall from my O-level chemistry days was setting fire to, and exploding things - let's face it, you won't win many brownie points for that kind of behaviour in a kitchen.

The fact is, none of this matters if you've got a kitchen the size of a basketball court, the cash flow of a small bank and a kitchen brigade that allows for a division of labour akin to an elite military unit. In other words, if you haven't chosen to be seconded to the dessert section, you won't have to do it.

Sadly for the vast majority of pub and restaurant chefs, this is not the case. The reality for most seems to be a series of bought-in clichés, which look exactly like just that, or a prep list resembling Larousse Gastronomique.

While buying in may seem to solve the time, prep and skills problem, it does seem a bit of a shame to spend hours skimming a hand-crafted stock for a main course, only to peel the plastic off a frozen disc of over-gelatinised mousse as the grand finalé.

Clearly some nifty manoeuvring is required if heads are to be held high at the end of service - bowed neither in shame nor fatigue. My advice then, is to keep it simple and classic: minimum prep, maximum result - unquestionably homemade. You don't need spun sugar baskets or tuiles resembling Spanish galleons to elicit dessert-fuelled moans of sensual pleasure.

For a start, what could be simpler than heating some sugar and water and poaching some fruit, serve with a bain mariemade chocolate sauce and you're well on your way to a stress-free sweet menu.Substitute the water for red wine and port, chuck in a couple of star anise and cinnamon sticks, and suddenly those glittering Michelin awards seem to be well within reach.

The poached fruit principle can work perfectly for the main desert, or indeed a fruit compote garnish for a crème brûlée, for example. Talking of crème brûlée, I regard it as one of the defining dishes of a kitchen's ability - not because it's incredibly difficult (which it isn't), but just because getting it right shows a clear understanding of what's right and what isn't. It should be smooth, silky and very soft. There's no need to employ a bain marie to make this delicious desert, just a watchful eye and a good stirring action. The minute it starts to become slightly gelatinous, whip it off the stove a