Business boosters
Ideas for driving food sales at your pub
School dinners evening
Where: Inn @ West End, West End, Surrey
www.the-inn.co.uk
The idea: Customers visiting the Inn @ West End one Sunday evening in March could have been forgiven for thinking they'd lost their way. In an effort to boost Sunday night trade, licensee Gerry Price had turned the Surrey gastropub into a schoolroom by hosting a school dinners event.
How it works: For £29.50 per person, diners were treated to a three-course themed menu and an evening of nostalgic fun. Donning their school uniforms, both customers and staff enjoyed a school dinner menu Jamie Oliver would have been proud of, before completing tests in English, maths, geography and history. Starters such as fish fingers (goujons of plaice served with tartar sauce and dressed leaves) and chicken nuggets (organic, free-range chicken in tempura batter with a home-made sun-blushed tomato and roasted red pepper ketchup) were followed by mains that included pie and mash, and fish stew with dumplings. The pupils enjoyed school dessert favourites such as chocolate sponge and jelly and ice cream. Music consisted of renditions of All Things Bright and Beautiful and Jerusalem, with prizes awarded for best-dressed boy and girl, and best test results.
Business benefit: The evening attracted 34 pre-booked covers, leaving enough room for walk-in trade. "We did involve customers who came on the evening and told them what our usual Sunday night offering consists of, to encourage them to come back another time," says Price.
Top tip on making the idea work: Make sure the event reinforces your key selling point. "In our case, this is the quality of our food — although we were offering school dinners, the food was of exceptional quality," he says.
