Olive Branch
Owner/licensees; Ben Jones and Sean Hope
Tenure: Freehold
Head chef: Sean Hope, chef proprietor
Turnover: £1.1m
Covers: 48, plus 24 outside
Covers per week: 700
Wet:dry split: 30:70
Best-selling dishes: Tempura-battered tiger prawns, sweet chilli sauce (£7.75); Olive Branch fish & chips, tomato sauce & minted peas (£12.50); roast loin of venison (Corby Glen), chestnut mash, stir-fried Brussels sprouts and bacon, (£22.50).
On the menu: Olive Branch Bresaola, celeriac remoulade; oven-baked sardines, soused aubergine; stuffed fillet of Dover sole, crab and scallop mousse; game casserole, rosemary gratin, juniper dumplings; rice pudding, crab-apple jelly.
New for 2008: Plans for small recycling site to be used by pub, customers and villagers, and a possible smallholding in the paddock opposite the pub.
Best business idea in 2007: Our own cookery book.
Chef's favourite ingredients: Inspired by whatever is in season and local - at the moment, quinces, crab apples, local game (venison and hare), sloes.
Three things that make your pub stand out from the crowd: Friendly, knowledgeable and informative staff, a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere and a passion for the product.
Best-selling beer and wine: Olive Oil House Bitter, £2.50; Domain du Laballe house white, £14.50; mulled wine, £2.50 a glass.
Extras: A pub shop list (a list of pub-made and local produce available to buy from the pub) and take-away wine list; a house across the road (Beech House) with three small suites and three bedrooms, with breakfast served in the barn at the Olive Branch; we have written and published our own small cookbook; we offer an at-home dinner-party service providing chefs and waiting staff; seasonal cookery demonstrations.
Olive Branch Main Street, Clipsham, Rutland, LE15 7SH % 01780 410355 * www.theolivebranchpub.com
