Sunday special

Mark Taylor looks at how pubs can maximise food trade on one of the busiest trading days

Sundays may not be the traditional day of rest any longer, but for most people Sunday offers the only opportunity to stop for a couple of hours and relax with friends and family.

Sunday punctuates the working week - there's nothing quite like spending the afternoon in a pub with a great lunch, a few drinks and a pile of newspapers or a group of friends.

A good Sunday lunch is a wonderful thing - a meal to share with family and good friends. For many people, it's the only opportunity families have to eat together.

Sunday is the key trading day for many pubs, so it's worth taking advantage of this and maximising profits by offering customers as wide a range of food as your kitchen and staff can cope with.

At one time it was rude to mention the C-word, but carveries have shaken off their '70s image as more chefs realise that this is one of the easiest and quickest ways to serve hundreds of hungry customers on a Sunday.

Competition is stiff on Sundays, with pubs and restaurants vying for the same custom, so make sure your offer is competitively priced and a bit different.

If the pub down the road is happy to serve the cheapest cut of beef they can get their hands on and charges £6.95, don't forget there will be just as many customers prepared to pay double for a piece of well-sourced local meat from a named source.

When it comes to vegetables and accompaniments, try to serve fresh, seasonal produce, rather than reheated frozen products, and make your own sauces and gravies: it isn't rocket science or expensive and the enormous difference will be noticed by customers, many of whom judge a pub by its Sunday lunches.

Sunday lunch is an advert for food served on other days - so pull out all the stops.

Catering for all tastes

Janelle Tresidder, proprietor, Queens Inn, Hawkhurst, Kent

"Sunday is our busiest day, when we do between 200 and 300 covers. It's important for us because we run our famous "Queens Carvery" all day from 12.30pm until 8.30pm.

"Customers can choose from a selection of roast beef, Norfolk turkey, roast pork, roast leg of lamb or a vegetarian option, all served with roast potatoes, seasonal vegetables and Yorkshire puddings.

"Carvery options cost £8.99 for adults and £5.50 for children aged under 10 years. We serve them throughout the day because we're the only all-day food place in this area.

"As we're on the main road to Rye, many people visit the coast on Sundays and return for a meal later. We serve just as many customers between 3pm and 6pm as we do between 12pm and 3pm.

"As well as a carvery menu, we have

à la carte dishes as well as baguettes,

sandwiches, ploughmans and salads. We also offer a special breakfast and brunch menu from 8.30am until noon on Sundays so people can enjoy full English breakfasts and dishes such as kippers with poached eggs and scrambled eggs with salmon.

"Brunches are popular - one couple used to arrive from London by 11am, visit the coast and return for the carvery. We were the only place they knew of between London and the coast where they could do that."

Coping with pressure

Clive Fordham, co-owner of the French Horn, Alton, Hampshire

"Our restaurant holds 46 people, but we serve an average of 100 to 150 meals on a Sunday, which is easily our busiest day. We offer two roasts at £8.85 (£4.95 for children) between 12noon and 8.30pm. Until the end of last year we only served Sunday food until 3pm; extending our offer to the evening has probably added 50% to our business.

"Eventually, demand for our Sunday lunches was greater than our restaurant could cope with. We could squeeze in two sittings, but felt as if we were rushing people. Spreading out the food service provides a more relaxed eating environment.

"Instead of being so busy at midday, it starts gradually and builds through to 8.30pm. The kitchen has benefited because staff are no longer faced with orders arriving simultaneously. No manic rushing probably means the quality of food going out is better.

"Families stay here longer, especially in the garden in summer. Women and kids come down first, followed by the men, who tend to join their families mid-afternoon."

Ten ways to boost Sunday trading

1 Serve food all day, rather than just at traditional times

2 Offer a variety of menus, including traditional roasts and lighter alternatives

3 Open early for breakfast and brunch to catch morning trade

4 If you have a garden, serve Sunday lunch barbecues in the summer

5 Add shared dishes to the menu, such as whole legs of lamb for tables of six, or ribs of beef to carve at the table

6 Offer a carvery option - they used to be naff, but are making a comeback

7 Serve roast dinners with a twist by using different cuts of meat from your competitors, or serve dishes with innovative vegetables

8 Stagger Sunday lunches by serving in two or three sittings in the afternoon

9 Offer customers a special deal on house wines to accompany roasts, or choose suitable wines by the glass to match different main courses

10 Introduce live music on Sunday afternoons to encourage customers to stay longer

True hospitality

Scott Hessel, chef/patron, the Old Bore, Rishworth, West Yorkshire

"We've gained quite a reputation for our food and won Dining Pub of the Year 2007 in Les Routiers.

"Sundays are key for us and we regularly serve between 150 and 200 meals. Our Sunday meals are served from 12pm until 4pm and then from 5.30pm until 8pm.

"Rather than a traditional roast, we offer a set à la carte menu, which costs £14.95 for two courses and £17.95 for three courses.

"A typical menu might include a starter of rabbit and chicken liver terrine, main course of red wine-braised Dexter beef served with a miniature cottage pie, bacon, curly kale and baby onions, and dessert of English strawberry tart with crème Anglaise.

"Although we say we serve food in two sessions, we just have a break in the middle. In those two sessions, we can get four sittings of very different sets of customers.

"From 12pm, it tends to be families and

older people, but we attract quite a few people within the trade later in the day.

"Not many places are open on Sunday evenings, so workers in pubs and restaurants are always looking for somewhere to go, rather than having to cook for themselves."