Business boosters
Ideas for driving food sales at your pub
Retro nights
Where: the Larwood & Voce,
West Bridgford,
Nottingham
www.larwoodandvoce.co.uk
The idea: Moleface Pub Company chef/director John Molnar is always keen to try out new ideas, so when one of the pub's managers suggested hosting a series of retro nights, John embraced the return to favour of retro food. He says: "Everyone is talking about retro food so it seemed an obvious choice; even Gordon Ramsay is talking about the knickerbocker glory."
How it works: Starting with the '70s, the team are working through the decades, offering food, drink, music and films of the era at each retro night. For a three-course meal, diners are charged £19 with the pence depending on the decade - 70p for the '70s night and 80p for the '80s night. Staff dress in costumes of the time, with customers encouraged to follow suit. John says: "Customer participation is really high. At the '80s night less than 10 out of 200 didn't turn up in fancy dress."
Each menu is a tribute to the food of the decade. For '80s,
Stilton stuffed mushrooms,
melon and salmon gravadlax followed by mains of steak Diane, chicken Maryland, grilled sole and nut cutlets. John used an '80s sweet trolley to serve classics like sherry trifle, white chocolate cheesecake and crème caramel. Those not eating got into the swing of things with cocktails such as blue lagoon, sex on the beach and Taboo and lemonade, whilst watching Dirty Dancing on flat-screen TVs. A DJ playing '80s tunes kept everyone partying until well into the night.
Business benefit: Held every six weeks, the retro nights attract a full house in the 78-cover restaurant every time. "For the '80s night we were fully booked about four weeks in advance, but we encouraged people to come along to the bar anyway," says Molnar.
Top tip on making the idea work: Make sure your staff buy into the night - their enthusiasm is the best kind of advertising.
