Party menus at the pub
With an impressive 15 different sausages, five types of mash and 11 types of gravy on the menu, the Hit or Miss in Stamford, Lincolnshire, is used to offering up a bit of variety.
The oldest pub serving beer outside the town wall, the Batemans tenancy has been run by licensee Darren Cheeseman for three years now.
Very much a traditional community pub, with a customer base ranging between
18 and 80 years old, the Hit or Miss keeps customers coming back with fair prices and regular events such as pub games and live music.
As well as the bangers & mash, Cheeseman offers a buffet menu for the festive season and the licensee recently trialled the Party Time menu from Moy Park with a view to livening up his offering from the standard sandwiches and pastry products ahead of the festive season.
Mixing up the menu
If you¹ve had one turkey dinner, you've had them all. That may only be partly true but it was customers' increasing boredom with the traditional Christmas meal that led Moy Park Foodservice to develop its Party Time buffet menu.
Customers at the Hit or Miss have recently enjoyed platters of battered natural onion rings with tomato and BBQ sauces for dipping, crispy coated baby camembert and brie wedges served with cranberry sauce, cajun mushroom boats with a sour cream & chive dip, hot 'n' spicy chicken dippers with cooling cucumber dip, crunchy chicken mini-fillets with lemon mayonnaise and wings of fire with a creamy blue cheese dip to name but a few.
The range was trialled through six separate events at the pub this autumn and Cheeseman was impressed with the results.
He explains: "The Party Time menu was very popular. We fed 192 people across the six events, resulting in us receiving additional Christmas party bookings. Feedback from the customers was very positive: everyone said the quality of the food was really high and the kitchen found the Moy Park products easy to cook.
"They're quick, efficient and there's no waste. The chef absolutely loved them."
Cheeseman picks out the Crunchy Chick 'n' Mini Fillets as a particular favourite with the customers, and one that will definitely be re-appearing on the Hit or Miss menu in the near future.
He concludes: "We've taken additional bookings from both existing and new customers drawn in by the Party Time menu, so I can highly recommend it as an incremental sales opportunity over the Christmas and New Year period."
For more on the Party Time menu visit www.moyparkfoodservice.com where you can create free tailored point-of-sale material and a specific menu via Moy Parks Menu Makers service
Darren's top tips for festive parties and events
* Offer a wide variety of foods on the menu
* Offer a fair price
* Offer added value and make it a proper party
