Pub Breakfasts - Early morning opportunities
Pubcos make the most of early-morning opportunities
Punch Taverns says that although attention to the new licensing regime has focused on later openings, early starts will also provide an opportunity to boost income. Steve Schaffer, catering development manager at Punch, said: "Breakfast can work well in many locations - in city or town centres, commuter routes or near busy workplaces. Each retailer has to judge whether there is local demand. If pubs ave the kitchen facilities and staff resources available it's definitely worth investigating." For retailers who have little or no previous food experience, or without existing catering facilities, Punch suggests its Food Solutions offer. This is a quick and easy breakfast panini option, backed by Delifrance and includes prefilled paninis, a grill and a marketing pack for £295 (plus VAT).
Thurston Sargent runs the Railway in Ramsbottom, Lancashire, and takes 70 orders a day for breakfast at the weekend. "It makes for long days, but I'm getting customers through the door, and that's my opportunity to impress, to make sure they come back for more - whatever time of day or night!" The Railway's standard English breakfast costs £2.99, the Jumbo is £3.99 and for £5.25 it serves a Mega breakfast, with tea, coffee or orange juice and includes two eggs, four rashers of bacon, two sausages and trimmings.
Walkabout pubs open up early for breakfast for major sporting occasions. The Antipodean link and topsy-turvy time difference makes for ideal breakfast viewing for Aussie rules footy or international cricket and rugby from the Southern hemisphere. And migrant travellers or workers now in the UK from Down Under, love sports events such as the ARL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup or a Lions Tour. Walkabout said its "Famous Aussie All-Dayer" breakfast, at £6.25, is one of its top-five food sellers. It includes two Cumberland sausages, grilled bacon, potato rösti, Heinz baked beans, grilled tomato and two fried eggs, served with hot, buttered toast. There's also a veggie version.
About 10% of JD Wetherspoon's 650-pub estate opens for breakfast from 8am, most in the North West, Merseyside and North Wales, and almost all its other sites open at 9am. The standard menu, of sausage, bacon, baked beans, grilled tomato, fried bread and fried egg, kicks off at £1.99. There's also an enhanced breakfast menu, which includes egg Benedict and smoked salmon or scrambled eggs on a bagel. Suzanne Baker, the pub group's commercial director, says: "We have more people than ever before coming in for breakfast."
