Study tour - Sharing inspiration
Michelle Crook, chef and licensee at the Castle of Comfort Inn, won a study-tour trip to New York city where she found fresh inspiration for her pub's menu.
In October, PubChef together with Kitchen Range Foods as our educational partner organised a food study tour to New York city for two lucky competition winners. The competition was launched to highlight the success and potential sales opportunity of sharing platters and combos to licensees. The theme of the trip was sharing food and our guests visited a number of different restaurants, shops and bars to pick up new inspiration for their menus. New York is the ideal location for exploring new food trends. Social nibbling is a well-developed market in the US, so New York provided an ideal setting for discovering how successful the concept might become in the UK.
Competition winner Michelle Crook, chef/licensee of the Castle of Comfort Inn in East Harptree, Somerset, was inspired to change her menu even before setting foot in the US. As part of the prize, Michelle was invited for an educational visit to Kitchen Range Foods' head office in Huntingdon, and was "wowed" by the depth and breadth of products available. Michelle put some Kitchen Range products to the test during a four-week trial at her pub. The Castle of Comfort already has a successful combo offering and Michelle was keen to offer more to her guests. With her newfound product knowledge, she was able to personalise her selection to meet her customers' needs. A spicy combo was her chosen platter, which included sweetcorn chilli sticks, flamin' hot peppers, nice 'n' spicy onion rings, mozzarella and chilli sticks, Cajun mushroom boats and garlic and herb wedges, served with a salad garnish, sour cream and chives and cool salsa dips.
The trial was promoted using chalkboards throughout the pub, while members of staff also communicated the new combo directly to customers. Feedback from customers was fantastic. The unique Cajun mushroom boats were the customers' clear favourites. Michelle says: "Our customers were impressed with the interesting flavours they experienced when tasting the spicy combo, and they all commented on how filling the products are, representing value for money. "We also noticed during the trial that customers were staying in the pub longer and enjoying a drink after they'd snacked on a combo.
This shows the importance of food in maximising beverage sales." Michelle has also introduced a starter consisting of Kitchen Range Foods hot cheese products. The dish includes Camembert, brie, and a four-cheese foccacia, an appetising blend of cheese including Emmental, Cheddar and mozzarella, encased in a black-olive flavour foccacia crumb. The cheeses are served with a mixed-leaf salad and fruit coulis and the dish sells for £4.75. "Both the combos and hot cheese products are the best quality products on the market in their category. We're also seeing a trade-up effect from cheaper and less filling bar snacks such as crisps and nuts, so we're maximising our opportunity for profit too," she says.
Michelle is now looking into providing combos as a snack offering during the afternoon. Currently the pub does not offer any hot food at this time, but as the combos take so little time to prepare, they're ideally suited to growing afternoon food sales. Michelle says: "The main benefits of using these products are that the quality is guaranteed, the lack of prep time in the kitchen and the broad range of products." Michelle also has plans to expand the combos range in the summer months. "Summer is our busiest period, and also a time of year that really lends itself to relaxing in a beer garden with friends over a drink, sharing a combo platter rather than ordering big meals," she says. "I'm definitely going to expand our combo offering on our summer menus, I think it is a real area of opportunity for pubs at that time of year."
Another area that Michelle is focusing on following the study tour has been wine. The tour introduced her to a variety of new wines and styles. As a result, upon return to the Castle of Comfort, Michelle trialled a variety of wines from different suppliers and has now introduced a new wine list at her pub. "Our new wine list was launched just prior to Christmas and is proving to be a big success, with wine sales up on the same period last year," she said. "Overall the study tour was a great experience and has really allowed us to develop the snacking category on our menu and, of course, grow wine sales." For more information on Kitchen Range Foods' products and to discover what combos can do for your pub, contact the foodservice team on 01480 445 900 or pay a visit to www.kitchenrangefoods.co.uk
Tempura triumph PubChef's New York study tour was sponsored by Kitchen Range Foods as our educational partner. The company's wasabi tempura recently scooped an award at the Caterer Awards sponsored by 3663.
Fancy a study tour? Look out for information in future issues of PubChef about how to win a place on the 2006 PubChef/Kitchen Range Foods food study tour.
