Food Sourcing focus: Reveal your sources
Seasonality has undoubtedly become a bit of a buzzword in catering, with seemingly every operation from Michelin starred chefs to roadside burger vans proclaiming the provenance and freshness of their fare.
The view of many businesses is that this justifies charging a premium for produce. However, this is at odds with the seemingly reasonable opinion of many customers that a dish made with ingredients from just down the road ought to cost less.
The reality is somewhere in the middle, says Ben Bartlett, food development manager with Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises (S&NPE). "Cooking with fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and meat is more than pandering to the latest foodie fad.
"Buying British and old traditional favourites are two of the latest trends. When food is in season it tends to be cheaper than preserved or imported alternatives and your local supplier will be happy to give you a great deal on surplus stock.
"Spiced carrot & butternut squash soup, wild mushroom pâté with cranberries, chocolate and chestnut tart are the perfect partners for autumn menus."
Bartlett works with S&NPE's lead pub estate to drive food sales, and find that menu design and dish descriptions are still areas where pubs have work to do. "Use eye catching artwork and prepare appetising food descriptions.
"Promote your food - for example don't just say: 'main courses', say: 'our home-cooked main courses'. Use words such as 'fresh', 'locally sourced', 'home-made' and 'seasonal' wherever possible."
Boxing items on a menu draws in customer's attention , and so is a good way to highlight seasonal specialities and high margin items."
While the specials board is a great shop window, paper insert in each menu highlighting seasonal produce wil help to reinforce this, especially if views of the specials board are restricted in the pub.
With pub food a popular internet search term, "put your regular and specials menus on your website and update them regularly. Also, include on your menu positive reviews or awards your pub has received. Good reviews from your local paper can increase your business dramatically,
Dwayne Kent, the Royal Oak, Great Bookham, Surrey: "We serve traditional English food and we source as many ingredients as possible from our local high street. We are still lucky enough to have a butcher, baker, greengrocer and fishmonger and they have all been able to give me fantastic deals.
"A local pub ought to support local suppliers and I am getting bonus benefits through excellent PR, mutual advertising and customer feedback. I recommend the butcher; he recommends the pub and so on. All of us supporting each other is just like having a free marketing campaign."
Stephen Butterworth, Turks Head, Oldham: "There is another community style pub in the area which does food but most of their menu is cooked from frozen. We prepare everything we can fresh on the premises especially the local favourite of 'rag puddings' which are mincemeat wrapped in a suet pastry case. Having this Oldham speciality on the menu is a great way to show our customers we are really committed to serving traditional, home cooked food."
