Money Spinners - Cash generating ideas
Hosts and chefs tell Mark Taylor about some of their cash-generating ideas.
Tapas nights
Where: Smiles Brewery Tap, Bristol
How it works: Rather than offering a full food menu on busy Friday nights, head chef Charlie Menter decided to change the menu to a choice of tapas dishes. There are six different tapas dishes on offer, including Spanish tortilla, patatas bravas, meat balls and couscous. Customers choose three from the six dishes at a cost of £6 per person. The dishes vary each week. "The reaction has been very good," says Charlie, "and we've been serving up to 40 covers. It's going really well.
"On a Friday night, when people may be going on to other pubs or clubs, it gives them the opportunity to have small dishes which they can pick at, rather than sitting down for a big meal. Tapas is colourful food with lots of flavour and it's ideal for sharing. One tapas dish can be enough for two or three people. I think there's a trend towards people sharing small dishes and people love it."
Posh Nosh Club
Where: the Hundred House, Norton, Shropshire
How it works: As well as running its usual menu in the restaurant, the Hundred House also hosts a Posh Nosh Club gourmet evening once a month in the function room. It started in April 2005 and past events have included a roast pig night, a French evening and a Spanish night. Prices vary, with the most recent costing £34.50 for six courses, excluding drinks. With a potential 75 covers at gourmet evenings, head chef Stuart Phillips admits that it's a lot of extra work for the kitchen, but they have proved very popular with customers and the sell-out events also create a buzz for the staff.
"The events are priced variously, but we try to keep the cost down as much as possible. We're in Shropshire, not London, and you have to get people through the door," he explains. People are starting to trust us and we're starting to see them booking up in advance: a lot of local business people pre-book the events before they even see the menus. It's a lot of hard work but, as we have a separate kitchen for the function room, we can dedicate three chefs to the gourmet evenings. Because It's a set menu, everybody's having the same thing and you don't have the interruptions of a normal service."
Breakfast Club
Where: the Royal Oak, Corsham, Wiltshire
How it works: After a few incidents of anti-social behaviour from week-end drinkers, landlord Nick Taylor took the unusual step of closing the Royal Oak at 6pm on Saturday evenings. To make up for lost trade, he decided to open on Saturday mornings instead for breakfast. For £5, customers enjoy a full English breakfast and tea or coffee in a relaxed environment, with chilled music and the Saturday newspapers. It proved a popular idea, with as many as 20 customers taking advantage of the scheme. Nick says: "We needed to look at different ways of making money and by having Saturday night off, there were no complaints from neighbours and the staff enjoyed the chance of going out on a Saturday night." Although the breakfast club was suspended at the end of 2005 due to declining numbers over Christmas, there are plans to bring it back.
Shared dishes for two or four people
Where: The Masons Arms, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
How it works: An increasingly popular menu item in fashionable London restaurants and gastro pubs, large dishes for people to share have been introduced at Chipping Norton pub, the Masons Arms. As well as the normal à la carte menu, head chef/licensee Bill Leadbeater now offers customers the option of ordering food to share for two or four people. The two-person menu costs £44.95 for two courses and £54.95 for three courses. It includes a starter of king prawns with garlic mayonnaise and mixed leaves, followed by a main course of roast côte de boeuf on the bone with gratin potatoes and fried green beans. For pudding, there's a baked Alaska. The menu for four people to share consists of a whole roast leg of Oxford Down lamb with rosemary and garlic, served with dauphinoise potatoes, haricot verts and rosemary jus, followed by homemade plum and apple crumble with custard. It costs £60 for one course, £80 for two courses and it must be ordered a minimum of 48 hours in advance.
Says Bill: "You have to continually think of ideas to promote your business and keep your customers happy - I just thought it seemed a good idea. I bounced the idea off people to test the water and everybody thought it was great."
