More Punch pubs serving food

More Punch Taverns licensees' than ever are offering food, after a drive to promote pub grub by Britain's biggest pub operator,

A year ago, only 67 per cent of Punch's tenants and lessees offered food. With a team of eight catering executives working across the estate, the figure has risen to 75 per cent of Punch's 7,600 pubs.

In all, the team has now worked with more than 1,200 pubs, either helping licensees introduce food for the first time or improve their offer.

In a survey of Punch licensees with a food offer in place, 87 per cent said that they believed it was important for retaining their customers.

The eight catering executives are aligned to each of Punch's regional territories. The company's business relationship managers (BRMs) identify licensees who could benefit and arrange for a catering visit.

Alan Todd, Punch's catering development manager, said: "The catering executives provide an advisory and consultancy service on any area of the food industry and that service is completely free to our licensees.

"They will visit the licensee for an initial session to assess their specific needs. It might be a pub that has no capacity for a kitchen and so the catering executive will look at alternative ways for them to offer food, for example with a pizza oven.

"Or it may be that a licensee has a food offer in place, but their margins aren't quite right. The catering executive will look at everything from getting better deals from suppliers, menu design and re-launches through to kitchen hygiene and identifying any relevant training programmes."

Bel Crompton, lessee at the Blue Lion in Marlborough, has been working with catering executive Karen Peacock. Bel said: "All of the menus and flyers are very attractive and our food trade is definitely improving following Karen's visit."