Pub takeaways: a slice of the action
While every pub aims to persuade customers to eat, drink and be merry on the premises, in tough economic times it never hurts to have a plan B ready. More pub groups and individual operators are offering takeaway food as they look for ways to maximise income in a competitive market.
With analyst Mintel estimating that the takeaway market will be worth nearly £1.6bn this year, rising to £2bn by 2015, Sharon Hammond, marketing manager of Orchid Pub Group, believes takeaway customers should not be looked upon as lost trade, but as extra income.
"We see all takeaways as incremental business. They are sales that are out there to be had, and we want to have our share of them," she says.
Orchid's Dragon pubs, which combine a traditional local pub with an authentic, freshly cooked Thai menu, generate about 10% to 15% of their trade from takeaways.
Hammond says: "We don't put any restrictions on the choice of dishes, so customers can select from the full Dragon à la carte menu."
Takeaways can also help pubs make the most of occasions when the best-laid plans for driving trade fall flat. "The World Cup this summer was a prime example. Like every operator, we did everything we could to persuade customers to watch games at the pub. That didn't happen for any of us in the numbers that we'd hoped for. However, our takeaway business was up 20% during the tournament.
"It sounds a bit daft, but a popular programme like the X-Factor also has an impact on trade. People are staying in to watch the live shows, and trade is quieter than normal on what should be one of the busiest nights of the week. So at least if we sell a takeaway, we're getting something out of it."
Orchid also offers takeaway coffees at many of its pubs, which "appeals to business customers who may not have a lot of time", while at the group's carveries, customers have the option to take their dessert home.
Providing a choice
Takeaway desserts are also available at the Thatcher's Arms at Mount Bures, Essex. Licensee Mitch Adams says: "If you ask people if they want dessert just after a big meal, they often say, 'I couldn't manage another thing.' So our response to that is, 'Would you like to take it home with you?' We definitely sell more desserts that way."
The pub's home-made desserts are served up for takeaway in a carton, with a container of toffee sauce, coulis or similar accompaniment on the side. "Cheesecake and sticky toffee pudding are the most popular takeaway desserts," says Adams.
Pub takeaways can be a particularly popular option in areas where consumer choice is limited. The Mill Race in the village of Walford, Herefordshire, serves a rural community and offers meals including fish & chips, curry and chilli for collection.
Marketing manager Hayley Coombs says: "We don't advertise the fact that we do takeaways too widely, so it's not a big part of the business, but we typically serve 20 to 30 take-away meals a week.
"We have regulars — people who come in every Friday night for their takeaway fish & chips, for example. All the takeaways we serve are on the menu, so we take the view that it's all extra trade at no extra cost to us, apart from the packaging, which is minimal."
The Mill Race also offers picnic hampers. "They tend to be popular when there are big events in the area, such as racing, and we did quite a few for the Ryder Cup."
Prices range from £12 to £25 per person, with home-made quiche, sandwiches, Scotch eggs and other picnic fare to choose from. Customers pay a £20 returnable deposit for the wicker basket, and can choose wine and Champagne matches to go with their food.
Punter-pleasing pizzas
Pizzas are a very popular takeaway for pubs, but a little research into the local market can help hosts to get the offer right. Richard East-wood, licensee at the Half Moon Inn, Goole, Humberside, also makes the most of the best sounding board any pub has — its regulars.
"We asked our customers what they liked, and almost 100% told us they preferred thin crust. I be-lieve the quality of the base is as important as the toppings," he says. The pub sources thin-crust bases from supplier La Pizza Company, and customers can buy made-to-order pizzas to eat in or take away.
Eastwood says: "We have a chilled counter where we display the toppings and it certainly helps to make up the pizzas in front of customers. They tend to buy a drink while
they are waiting and like the theatre of it all.
"People buy with their eyes — I had a family come in once whose little boy would 'only' eat cheese. By the time he'd chosen his pizza, he had four toppings on it."
The Half Moon also offers customers curries to take away and Eastwood's advice is to make sure the packaging is up to the job.
"Customers expect to take their food home in the same packaging as they would get from the curry house — aluminium container, cardboard lid, carrier bag. Consider how they will transport it home and make sure the containers are up to the job."
Quality offer
The view that it's important not to skimp on quality when offering takeaways is supported by Harry MacRae, owner of the Seaforth pub, bistro and takeaway in Ullapool, north-west Scotland. The pub's offer includes an award-wining takeaway, the Chippy.
Alongside familiar fish & chip dishes such as haddock and scampi, the Chippy menu includes dishes that reflect the pub's Scottish heritage — venison burgers and haggis & chips, as well as fresh fish specials bought from the Ullapool harbour boats, such as lobster, scallops and squid.
Customers buy from the Chippy and sit on the harbour to watch the boats, or enjoy live music during the town's festival season, and at £10 for lobster and chips, "it's very good value," says MacRae.
Ultimately, takeaways are a shop window for a pub's food, sums up Sharon Hammond at Orchid. "If customers have a takeaway and enjoy it, or share it with friends, then next time they eat out there's every chance they'll come to you."
Super-fast pizza offer
For pub caterers looking to offer takeaway pizzas, the Chicago Town brand — owned by frozen branded pizza company Dr Oetker — has an ideal range of products. It has launched a selection of branded frozen fresh-dough pizzas into foodservice.
Served as whole pizzas or slices, the range — available from Brakes and 3663 — comprises four cheese, inferno, pepperoni and chicken supreme, all of which have the Chicago Town sauce-stuffed crust.
From freezer to oven to plate in three minutes, pubs can make around £6.50 profit on each pizza by selling it for £1 per slice. During the World Cup, for example, Chicago Town pizza sales accounted for a massive 5% of turnover in the busiest outlets where it
was sold.
Cheryll Snowden, foodservice controller at Dr Oetker Foodservice, says the takeaway pizza business is worth £749m, with 35% of consumers taking one away or having one delivered. She says: "Offering takeaway pizzas is, therefore, a golden, VAT-free opportunity for pubs to expand on an existing menu or complement wet-led sales.
"Offering a takeaway option also meets the demands of those who might otherwise leave to find a fast-food option between 9pm and closing time, with flexible eating patterns the order of the day. Essentially, it's a low-skill solution for pubs at a time when food is no longer just a useful way to increase customer traffic, but a means to financial success.
"This is particularly significant for smaller-than-average pub outlets, mostly independents, where space restriction is often a problem in terms of fitting in a kitchen of a decent size and finding somewhere where the customers can dine. Buying in pizzas that consumers love, which can be cooked and boxed up in five minutes, is an ideal solution."
Bigger cartons, more flexibility
Foodservice packaging company Cap-It-All has added a new 32oz size to its New Yorker range of one-piece food cartons.
The new size joins the existing 16oz and 26oz cartons and has been intr
