Meat feast

According to The Publican Food Report meat dishes are still as popular as ever. John Porter reports on how to attract the customer's attention and keep it.

Variety is the spice of life, so they say, and the range of menu options available to pub customers has never been wider. Even so, meat is as much a part of the pub offer as cask beer, soggy beermats and wobbly table legs. The annual survey carried out for The Publican Food Report​ regularly puts steak at the top of the list of best-selling main courses, with dishes such as carvery roasts, steak and kidney pie and sausage and mash all figuring strongly. However, familiarity is no excuse for complacency.

"Even though they're largely regarded as menu staples, there's still plenty of room for flair and creativity, whether publicans are creating a traditional favourite such as a first class, home-made steak and kidney pie or a signature dish," says Woodward Foodservice senior marketing manager, Phil Marshall.

"With much high profile debate and publicity over traceability, it's important to help customers make an informed menu decision by adding as much detail as possible.

"For example, if the meat has been sourced from a local supplier, then say so - and likewise if it's home-made. This helps to increase the perceived authenticity and quality of the dish."

If meat is sourced through foodservice suppliers, it should be fairly straightforward to get full origin and specification details. When sourcing through local suppliers, pubs need to pay particular attention to these traceability issues.

The old days when the local poacher would drop off a few rabbits or a brace of pheasants at the kitchen door may seem romantic - but try explaining that to an EHO investigating an outbreak of food poisoning or a customer considering legal action after breaking a tooth on a piece of lead shot. All meat and poultry deliveries should arrive in a temperature controlled van.

You also get what you pay for. "Work closely with your provider to select cuts that will produce a high-quality finished product rather than simply making decisions based on price alone," says Phil.

When thinking about ways to add extra appeal to favourites, chicken and other poultry is a prime candidate for a bit of sprucing up. Interesting flavour combinations will help to keep customers' attention, as will more unusual varieties.

Duck is an increasingly popular option, and new research suggests picking the right supplier can help to overcome some customers' concerns about fat content. Leatherhead Food International, the independent food testing agency, has carried out a duck comparison which concluded that supplier Cherry Valley not only has seven per cent more meat than its nearest rival but up to 28 per cent more than some brands.

The researchers also found that Cherry Valley ducks offer the most breast meat of any of the birds tested. Sales and marketing director Eric Jagger says of the findings: "It is great to have independent confirmation that our products are as strong as we've always believed them to be.

"This means that stocking and using our products gives you not only great taste but healthier profit margins, so vital in today's competitive market."

Case study: the Percy Arms​

Even the best marketing ideas sometimes need a little refining. Ted Docherty, licensee at the Percy Arms in Chilworth, Surrey, originally called his bespoke approach to serving meat "steak by the inch".

Bar and waiting staff were kitted out with t-shirts printed with the perfectly reasonable question "how many inches can you take"? However, even the most innocent query can be turned into innuendo by some low-minded people, so Ted soon modified the pub's offer to "Tailor Made Steaks".

That was probably a sound move, since the Percy Arms has gone on to establish a healthy trade ranging from families, business customers and couples, to the kind of macho diner - typically a bloke in his 20s or 30s - who isn't afraid of a 20-ounce steak, and doesn't mind spending a bit more to prove it.

"Men love it," says Ted. "Ordering a big steak is a great way to prove what you're made of." And, he insists, the pub doesn't get asked for nearly as many doggy bags as you might expect.

The concept is, like many clever ideas, fairly straightforward. Customers arriving at the pub are invited to select from a specially-built butcher's counter in the pub. The offer includes Aberdeen Angus fillet, ribeye, sirloin and rump steak.

The steak is cut to order, with customers choosing not only the type and size of steak, but how they would like it cooked, and what they want to accompany it from a range of extras including six side orders, five types of potato and six types of sauce.

Having worked for London brewer Young's as a manager in the early 1990s, Ted returned to his native South Africa 10 years ago, where he built up a successful bar operation - "but it's not just the UK that has issues in relation to town centre drinking," says Ted. "You can't stay at that game for too long."

Returning to the UK, Ted was ready for a different type of challenge. He originally saw a version of design-your-own-dinner at a trade show in the US, and believed it could be adapted to provide a means of differentiating the Percy Arms, which Ted took over as a Greene King Pub Partners lessee three years ago.

The pub now serves more than 2,000 meals a week. Not just steak, but home-made burgers - again with the option to "tailor-make" with a range of toppings - as well as a wide range of meat and fish dishes.

On Sunday, the Percy Arms offers a carvery which it modestly claims is one of the best in Surrey - those who've tried it might suggest it competes with the best in the UK.

"We offer five different meats for under a tenner. Where else can you get value like that?" he says. At £9.95 for adults and £4.95 for children, the carvery also reflects the Percy Arms approach to catering for children.

Selected items on the menu, including pork medallions, tempura battered hake, sweet and sour chicken and home-made lasagne feature a "building block" symbol which means half-sized children's portions are available. "We took nuggets and similar items off the menu. Most children like the idea of eating the same as their parents. Although we probably lost a few customers, we now attract the type of families who respond to the way we do things."

All the meat is sourced from specialist butchers. "We work with suppliers who can guarantee the quality we want," says Ted. The success of the offer has led to Ted's company Tailor Made Pubs taking on a second Greene King pub, the Sun Inn at Rake, in Hampshire, and Ted is looking for a third. The approach is to develop chefs and managers in-house and offer them a share in the equity as new outlets open. Staffing is the biggest issue for this industry, and giving people a stake really works.

Case studies​

• The Green Man, Wrotham, Kent​

However much they tell you that consumer tastes have become more adventurous, it can still take a little persuasion to convince customers to venture into the more unusual areas of the menu.

David Hayward, licensee of the Green Man in Wrotham, Kent, has worked with specialist supplier KFF to bring meat dishes such as guinea fowl and venison to his customer.

David, along with his parents John and Jean, took over the pub, now owned by Enterprise Inns, four years ago. The previous tenants had built a menu around a Thai food offer. However, trade had declined when the Hayward family to