Food not the answer for pubs

Forget food if you want to make a profit - that was the motion carried during an Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) debate.

At the start of the event, held in Brighton last week, the audience had voted against the motion.

The supply is going to exceed demand quite soon and unless everyone starts to have four meals a day I don't see how it's going to work​Peter Hansen

But there was a stark turnaround after speeches from mergers and acquisitions expert Peter Hansen and Interpub operations director Eddie Passey.

The motion to forget food was carried after Hansen suggested that saturation and over-investment would damage the food market's prospects.

"The supply is going to exceed demand quite soon and unless everyone starts to have four meals a day I don't see how it's going to work,"​ he said.

Eddy Passey added: "Catering requires skills and the average pub just cannot do the sales to afford a cook and a KP let alone all the hardware needed to keep the EHO happy."​

In reply, Dan Marlow of Spirit Group argued: "The future is food - because of its growth potential, because of increasing consumer affluence, because women make the choices and because the government wants it."​

Hamish Stoddart of Peach Pub Company warned: "Forget food at your peril."​

ALMR chief executive Nick Bish concluded: "The serious message was that operators must watch out for their profits - and that food is not the universal answer to smoking bans, declining beer sales or the challenge of the supermarkets."​