Reaping tasty rewards

Given the impending smoking ban, the emphasis on offering customers food will only get stronger. Just last week, the Scottish Licensed Trade Association revealed warning figures for wet-led operations: the smoking ban in Scotland's pubs has led regulars to stay at home and caused an 11% drop in drinks sales. As the Irish experience shows, pubs offering food are suffering less.

Once you're clear about the type of offer your customers want - from soup and sandwiches or a bar-snacks operation to a substantial three-course job - it's time to get down to the finer details, such as what type of food to put on your menu and how to

make sure your hard work pays off in terms of hard profit.

Brakes channel marketing manager Fiona Wells says there is no point in putting on the most fantastic menu and being filled to capacity every day without calculating the establishment's gross profit (GP).

"Making sure you have the right menu is an intrinsic aspect of getting your GP right," Wells says. "Choose a food offer that suits the pub's location, facilities and your customers. Next, you have to work out the costings to ensure you're making money. GP calculators are available - our Brakes field sales team distributes them to pubs - and they make this job much easier."

Likewise it's pointless working out the

GP if the quality of food is so poor it drives customers away, rather than pulling them in.

The menu is the primary selling-tool to attract customers though the pub door. Pitch the language appropriately and new customers will arrive salivating and keen to try your fare; get it wrong and they'll go straight back out the door and put their money into the pockets of the competition instead.

"The menu is the window to your catering opportunity," agrees Daniel Thwaites

catering development manager Judi Houghton. "Some pubs just don't seem to understand the relevance and importance of accurate menu descriptions. Customers have no idea how hard you're working behind the scenes - all they see is the menu. If you fail to impress them, that's it - their custom has gone."

Regarding food selection for menus, Houghton says: "It's much more effective to offer smaller, good-quality dishes, rather than piling lots of average food on to the menu. You should also make a nice selection of snacks and sandwiches available. Make sure you use a good quality bloomer or panini and serve it with a few nachos or home-made coleslaw - this makes a massive difference at very

little cost."

Houghton also suggests it is possible to increase profits by thinking outside the box: "One of our town-centre pubs in Penrith has added scones with cream and jam and coffee to its menu. They can do 30 of these a day by attracting shoppers - every little helps!"

A clever approach to tackling menu compilation can produce rewards by raising efficiency and reducing waste, as Woodward Foodservice trading director Dave Howarth explains: "Choose products that can be used in starters, mains or side orders, such as potato wedges. This adds to consumers' choices and business profits. And it's a good idea to maintain the same style across the dishes - for example, a rural pub may want to serve rustic food and a city-centre pub may offer more specialist modern cuisine."

Getting into food does not have to be complicated in terms of menu selection. In fact, the message that comes over loud and clear from all the experts is to keep it as simple as possible and use quality ingredients. Putting on a few well-prepared dishes and using quality ingredients means that any pub

serving food should be on to a winner.

Howarth says: "Customers never forget a top-quality meal, so ensure all food is prepared to the highest standard."

Food development manager at Greene King Pub Company Joe Robb adds: "Ensure the quality of the ingredients is the very best you can afford. There's nothing wrong with doing burgers, but it helps to focus on a unique selling point such as the fact they're hand-made from locally farmed beef with fresh coriander or cooked on a char-grill and topped with home-made caramelised onions, served in toasted rustic bread with smoked tomato mayonnaise. Now, who could resist that?

Indeed, gourmet nights help boost profits at community pub the Hawk & Buckle in Etwall, Derbyshire, where Union Pub Company licensee Clive McIntyre introduced a food offer six years ago.

"Introducing food isn't easy, but taking a 'softly, softly' approach reduces potential problems. We built up our food business from a little fizzing rocket to a blazing, sky-high firework spectacular. We started out with sandwiches six years ago and now

we've progressed to five-course gourmet evenings - food has been fantastic for our business."