Any pub worth its salt pays close attention to what its customers order. However, anyone eating at the King's Head in Sarre, Kent, over the next few months can expect their choices to be analysed more closely than might be normal.
Not that the customers will know anything about it, of course. The King's Head, it's fair to say, was probably feeling a bit neglected when Teresa and John Smith took over on a lease with London & Edinburgh Swallow Group (L&ES) in August last year.
Trading since 1625, the pub is a few miles from Canterbury on one of the old coach routes through Kent to the coast. It had been going through a bit of a lean time. Previous licensees had tried to take the food offer upmarket but had struggled to compete with local restaurants, which covered that sector of the market better.
There were few loyal regular drinkers, and definitely no shortage of scope for improvement. The Smiths were looking for a change of career and were pointed in the direction of the King's Head when a relative saw it advertised in Daltons Weekly.
"We'd driven past the pub often, but had never been inside," says Teresa. "We fell in love with it while we were still in the car park, our offer was accepted the next day and we completed a couple of days after that."
Which explains, in a roundabout way, why one year later a very experienced team from foodservice specialist Brakes is sitting in the bar of the King's Head poring over newly printed menus and a specials board. They are making final tweaks to a revamped food offer, due to go live on a Sunday lunchtime less than 48 hours away.
Resurrecting the restaurant
The elements needed to make a success of the King's Head as a local were there when the Smiths took over. A local drinks trade, a high-profile roadside location, a dining area alongside a traditional bar, a well-fitted-out kitchen, a large garden and nine letting rooms were all in the mix.
What was missing from the equation was experience. "The food side of the business had been run right down," says Teresa, "so there was almost literally nothing in stock on day one.
"There were linen cloths and napkins on the tables, but we knew we didn't want to be that sort of business. We wanted to do proper pub food."
Working with two staff inherited from the previous licensees, Teresa and John "quickly put together a menu of the sort of things we thought should be on the menu". The range of dishes was revamped twice more in the first four months of the pub's trading, and the King's Head began to build a reputation for specialities such as home-cooked, hand-carved ham and fresh local vegetables.
However, it was clear that the food side of the business was struggling to pay its way. Help arrived in the unexpected shape of Simon Cannell, product marketing manager with Brakes.
"Through a friend, I'd heard about the King's Head," Simon says. "I'd thought for some time that we should find a pub to work with where we could showcase our products and menu development skills, as well as trial new lines."
The offer of expert advice and support seemed almost too good to be true, but once the Smiths had pinched themselves they agreed to work with Brakes. The cavalry, in the shape of senior business development chef John Homewood, was sent in to start rebuilding the King's Head menu.
John, who spent 15 years with Whitbread and now works with Brakes in companies such as Regent Inns and Fullers, says: "There's a typical pattern of trade for a pub like this, where you might get 20 covers one day and just five the next. You have to minimise wastage.
"We looked at the size of the kitchen, as well as the storage and equipment available. What we've done is kept the pub's specialities, such as hand-carved ham and fresh vegetables, and integrated them into a menu largely built around frozen dishes."
King's Head regulars play their part
Around 60 locals were invited to a menu-tasting evening, and from their feedback the King's Head created a core menu of five starters and 13 main courses, built around pub food classics such as sausage and mash, Irish stew and scampi. Sunday lunch includes roast turkey, beef and pork, and specials.
Some of the problems that Brakes has helped to resolve could form the basis of a pub food masterclass. "It didn't occur to us to put a curry on the menu," says Teresa, "but at the menu sampling, chicken tikka masala was one of the most popular choices."
Portion control was another issue. "John mostly handles the food side, and our portions were very big," Teresa explains. "Customers were saying to us: 'I was going to order a dessert, but I'm stuffed.' So we were losing sales."
Making the menu work
All the dishes on the menu should now generate a gross profit of at least 60 per cent, says Simon, and in some cases it will be higher. The menu also features salads, snacks, sandwiches and desserts, while a modular children's menu allows parents to mix and match to suit their offspring's taste.
"Some things will work, some we may need to tinker with," says Simon. "The beauty of it is that we can do that. The King's Head menu is something I want all our sales team to see, because they don't often get the chance to appreciate how all our products work together within a pub environment."
John Homewood has trained the Smiths to put together all the dishes quickly and efficiently, adding the finishing touches that give each meal that essential home-cooked feel.
"Trade will always be unpredictable," he says, "but I'm now confident that if a coach party turned up unannounced, Teresa and John could cope. They'd be starting to serve meals 15 minutes later."
The Publican will revisit the King's Head in a few months to find out how the menu revamp has worked out in practice. In the meantime, like most other L&ES lessees, the Smiths are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the company's current difficulties, which seems likely to see them paying rent to a new landlord in the near future. Whatever happens, though, they are facing the future of their business with a lot more confidence.